Feisty feminist performance artists to perform at BATS

Auckland’s feistiest feminist performance artists to perform at Wellington’s BATS Theatre

The Town Centre presents a double bill of feminist performance art by two leading forces in the Auckland theatre scene. TITLED by Nisha Madhan and If There’s Not Dancing at The Revolution, I’m Not Coming by Julia Croft both premiered in Auckland in 2015 to sell-out houses and critical acclaim. In April they will stage a takeover of BATS Theatre in Wellington bringing their bold, provocative and unapologetically political agendas with them.

If There’s Not Dancing at The Revolution, I’m Not Coming by Julia Croft is an explicitly feminist expression against complacent attitudes towards the representation of women in media. Created in New York City where Croft studied performance in 2015, it is a wild, anarchic and poetic response to when powerful men feel so much ownership over a woman’s body that pulling a ponytail is “just joking around”.

“I wanted to look at the cultural context, looking specifically at popular culture, the way women are objectified and the relationship between that and violence against women” says Croft.

Croft has appeared in productions by Auckland Theatre Company, Red Leap and Indian Ink Theatre Company with whom she won a Best Supporting Actress Chapman Tripp Theatre Award. If There’s Not Dancing... was heralded as the Best and Most Original show by every Auckland theatre blog that exists.

“Audacious, Liberating, Outstanding...” (Theatreview)

Feminine and mystic, TITLED by Nisha Madhan treats power structures like a house of cards, building them up only to smash them down and create an entirely new order out of the shreds.

“This is a ritualistic and fundamental exchange between You, Me and the Army of Administrators that run the world” says Madhan.

Celebrated for her humorous and deconstructed style, Madhan has consistently delivered work that plays by its own rules for the past six years. She has performed in Paris, Brussels, Perth and Helsinki and is a recurring name in Auckland’s Best and Most Original Production lists. Along with collaborator and designer Stephen Bain, she has built a following for performances that pull the rug out from under your feet.

"Part Kafka-esque comedy part Skull and Crossbones secret society...cleansing, exuberant, and wickedly wry... " (The Pantograph Punch)

Both works are presented by production company The Town Centre, a cult of deconstructionist theatre makers who treat the theatrical experience as something that is full of social potential.

A night with The Town Centre is a party. It’s an elaborate rouse to get you in the same room as them. Because they think you’re sexy and it’s just not as fun without you.

BATS Theatre, 12- 16 April / Time: 6.30pm/8.30pm, Bookings: www.bats.co.nz $20 full, $15 concession, $30 for both

PR Contact: Fiona McNamara / 027 631 0742 / fionamcnamararapublicity@gmail.com

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JULIA CROFT performer/creator If There’s Not Dancing At The Revolution

Julia is a performer who trained at Toi Whakaari, L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier (Paris) and Anne Bogart’s SITI Company (New York). She has worked for Red Leap Theatre, Indian Ink, Auckland Theatre Company, The Town Centre and The Fortune Theatre as well as appearing in numerous independent theatre works. She has toured work nationally and internationally including tours of Australia, Asia and the USA. In
2014, she received a Chapman Tripp for Best Supporting Actress in Indian Ink’s Kiss The Fish. She has created her own work including
The Keepers, which was named in Metro Magazines Best Theatre of 2011 and was nominated for a Chapman Tripp. She recently premiered her solo performance If There’s Not Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming, which played to sold out houses and received critical and audience acclaim. Her New York based company Future Husband has shown work at in New York City at Dixon Place, SITI studios, Grace Exhibition space, Glasshouse Brooklyn and HB Playwrights Theatre.

NISHA MADHAN performer/creator TITLED

Nisha Madhan is the artistic director of The Town Centre. Her work ranges from commercial television to contemporary theatre and public
installations. She has toured many works nationally and internationally with The Town Centre and Indian Ink. She is also a producer of independent theatre having worked for companies like The Dust Palace and Theatre Beating. As a dramaturg with particular approaches to participation she has worked with The Playground Collective, Pressure Point Collective and Vibracorp Productions. The Town Centre has produced 6 works, Cowboy Mouth/Love It Up, LIES, This Is My Real Job, TITLED, If There’s No Dancing At The Revolution, I’m Not coming and What Have You Done To Me? which toured to Finland in 2014. All of these shows have received consistent critical acclaim, many being nominated for Most Original Production at Fringe Festivals and Auckland Theatre Awards. She is also a senior company member of Indian Ink.

I'm emailing about the opportunity to interview celebrated performance makers Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan. The two are regular faces on the Auckland Stage as well as having toured NZ and internationally, both as performers and devisors with Indian Ink and with their own independent work.

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