Axeman Lullaby

Premiere
August 7th-17th 2008
Melbourne

Choreography: Phillip Adams
Composer: David Chisholm
Film and decor: Phillip Adams
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson and Niklas Pajanti
Costume design and construction: Doyle Barrow
Dancers: Joanne White, Clair Peters, Carlee Mellow and Stuart Shugg
Axeman: Laurence O'Toole

Short video promo. Click here.


Synopsis
Axeman Lullaby is an collaborative exploration and reflection on the physical and climatic characteristics of Australian wood chopping and early Victorian bush settlements.

Axeman Lullaby recreates a sense of Australian cinematic landscapes. In the 70's Australian cinema produced a flood of films that captured a raw and experimental identity about suburban and indigenous myth. These films offered a surreal and eerie portrayal about our past and unsettled future.

The disquiet doesn't stop until the final pendulum swing of the axe. Axeman Lullaby is a hypnotic state, shattered. 
Images
Click here to view images

Reviews
Winner of the 2008 Betty Pounder Award for Choreography, Green Room Awards

Winner of Music Composition and Performance in Dance, Green Room Awards


"A frenzy of interwoven movement ensues, with heads and limbs tracing spirals atop complex footwork in trademark BalletLab style"
The Age Newspaper

"Adams is a profound exploiter of melodrama, walking a narrow edge between naive passion and stylised sophistication"
Theatre Notes