A Belloo creative (AUS), idiot savant theatre company (Japan) and good company arts (NZ) COLLABORATION

HOUSE IN THE DUNES

ひと粒の砂の記し

by katherine lyall-watson

directed by caroline dunphy & Koh-Toh-shi

Image of Chikako Arai by Daniel Belton, Good Company Arts

Contemporary theatre from Australia, Japan & New Zealand

House in the Dunes is a bilingual performance work and part of a long-term collaboration between theatre companies and artists from First Nations Australia, Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

The three companies: Idiot Savant Theatre Company, Japan; Belloo Creative, Australia; and Good Company Arts, New Zealand are working together to create original works that speak to important themes globally and locally for all of the artists involved.

House in the Dunes is a story of entrapment and an ode to the natural world in the looming threat of the climate emergency. The work explores connection to landscape through themes of journeying, belonging, migration and elemental forces of nature celebrating the beauty of impermanence in both scripted and physical story.

The Japanese version of the work premiered in the 400-year-old Teishoin Temple at TPAM (the Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting) in February 2020.

CREDITS

Cast
Nao Akao
Yasuhiro Kondou
Chikako Arai
Zachary Boulton
Ami Hirako
Aira Honma
Haruhi Ishizuka
Nozomu Kobayashi
Shunya Niibori
Aena Shin
Seiju Suzawa
Saki Tamai
Ukyo
Voice over by Kirk Page

Stage Manager & Still Photographer Hideo Kobayashi

Digital and audio support Good Company Arts (Jac Grenfell, Nigel Jenkins, Patxi Araujo & Donnine Harrison)

This production was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Queensland Government through their funding body Arts Queensland and the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

MAKING HOUSE IN THE DUNES

In February 2020, Belloo Creative collaborated with Good Company Arts (New Zealand) and Idiot Savant Theatre Company (Japan) to present our production of House in the Dunes at Teishoin Temple for Tokyo Performing Arts Market (TPAM) in Yokohama.

Behind the scenes footage of Belloo’s 2020 trip to Japan. Video compiled by Shaun Charles.

In 2018, Belloo Creative, Idiot Savant Theatre Company and Good Company Arts came together for an INFORM Critical Path residency at NORPA and a residency at Flowstate, South Bank, Brisbane to share processes and techniques and to start dreaming the ideas for House in the Dunes.

A short video about the process of making SAND.

CREATIVE TEAm for 2018 development at flowstate

Directors | Caroline Dunphy & Koh-Toh-Shi
Writer | Katherine Lyall-Watson
Trans-media creator & digital, visual & sound design | Daniel Belton
Cultural Choreographic Advisor & Performer | Kirk Page
Architect & Installation Design | Jon Shankey
Dramaturg | Kathryn Kelly
Producer | Danielle Shankey
Performers & Co-Devisors | Nao Akao, Yasuhiro Kondo, Chikako Arai, Madoka Kagawa, Yamato Miyazawa, Nerida Matthei & Zachary Boulton

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATING PARTNERS

Through cultural & artistic understanding, Belloo Creative (Australia), Idiot Savant Theatre Company (Japan), Daniel Belton (New Zealand) & NORPA (Australia) are building a substantial collaborative partnership to create a new performance aesthetic & poetic Australian/Japanese work.

The Belloo Creative Co-Production draws heavily on Caroline Dunphy’s 20 years of Suzuki practice & her long-standing artistic relationships in the Japanese performing arts sector. Playwright Katherine Lyall-Watson (Belloo) brings poetic performance writing to the piece and Kirk Page (NORPA) brings choreographic skill and Aboriginal connection to place.

Collaborating company Idiot Savant Theatre Company have 15 years' practice as a working ensemble, devising their own contemporary movement style and methodology of body expression. Performers and dancers from diverse training backgrounds (classical & contemporary dance, martial arts, sports) perform in the work.

New Zealand Arts Laureate Daniel Belton is an accomplished trans-media creator and brings digital, visual and sound design to the project.

SUPPOrters & acknowledgements

The creative development of SAND was supported by the Australian Government through the Australia-Japan Foundation of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, The Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, Arts Queensland, Flowstate, QUT, NORPA and Brisbane City Council.