Carriageworks Presents: Simple Infinity

A man walks into a bar… Bookended by two texts by Gertrude Stein, Simple Infinity is a play within a play. Interweaving performance and a live string quartet, three unlikely people strike up a conversation that shifts between the ephemeral and the everyday. At times sad and touching, yet framed within an age-old joke, Simple Infinity is a poetic reminder that we all see the world a little differently.

Created by Urban Theatre Projects’ Artistic Director Rosie Dennis, Simple Infinity features an installation, build and designed by David Hawkes, new music by composer Liberty Kerr, performances by Vicki Van Hout, Luke Waterlow and Cheng Moy Yeow.

Listen to an excerpt of the new music composed by Liberty Kerr, and performed by our string quartet during rehearsals, here.

Carriageworks and Urban Theatre Projects support and acknowledge those working with trauma and those members of the community that have experienced trauma.

Please note some content has come from trauma, and may effect those that work with or have experienced trauma. If you have any concerns, please contact the following services: Beyond Blue, Lifeline, Black Dog Institute, Blue Knot Foundation.

Simple Infinity is part of Carriageworks’ National Arts and Disability Strategy New Normal. Simple Infinity is supported by the NSW Government through the NSW Department of Family and Community Services and Arts NSW.

This project has been assisted by the Australian government through the Ministry for the Arts’ Catalyst—Australian Arts and Culture Fund.

Director: Rosie DennisRosie Dennis is the Artistic Director of Urban Theatre Projects. Her work is technically simple, emotionally evocative and has a strong connection with the everyday. Her work has been presented at more than 25 festivals across Central Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Recent works Rosie has directed for Urban Theatre Projects include the award-winning BANKSTOWN:LIVE, presented by Sydney Festival in 2015, and One Day For Peace, a film about faith and the everyday presented in 7 outdoor locations across Western Sydney.

Designer: David Hawkes

Hawkes is a visual artist who lives and works from his studio in Wedderburn near Campbelltown. Primarily a painter, David uses his knowledge of sculpture and building to inform his design work. David has collaborated and builder/designer on two previous UTP works: Life As We Know It and Democratic Garden. David is represented by Watters Gallery, Sydney and has had over 20 solo exhibitions and several group shows. His work is in many private, corporate and public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria.

Composer: Liberty Kerr

Kerr is an accomplished electronic artist, guitarist and experimental cellist. Liberty’s stylistically diverse music and soundscapes have provided the sonic environment for a variety of works across performance, film and installation for more than two decades. Liberty has worked with several companies including Belvoir, Performing Lines, Sydney Fashion Week, De Quincey Co. and has had her music licensed for SBS, ABC, BBC and Channel 9.

Musicians

• Eleanore Vuong is currently completing her Master of Music Studies degree at the Sydney Conservatorium. Eleanore participated in the Sydney Conservatorium New Northern Tour with her fellow colleagues under the guidance of David Miller AM – visiting schools and performing chamber music in regional NSW. She has performed with the Sydney Youth Orchestras, Australian Youth Orchestra (National Music Camp 2014), University of Sydney Graduate Choir Orchestra, Sydney Contemporary Orchestra.
• Hamish Gullick had his first double bass lessons in 2007 with late Jazz Great Ed Gaston. He has since learnt with Mardi Chillingworth and later Kees Boersma. On entry to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2013, he won the Frank Hammond Scholarship for his outstanding audition. Hamish is currently completing a Bachelor of Music (Performance), studying with Alex Henery. He has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, Sydney Sinfonia and has been a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra
• Alastair Duff-Forbes began playing the violin at the age of five and the piano at the age of seven. He studied the violin with Alice Waten and Goetz Richter, and the piano with Stephanie McCallum. Alastair obtained his A.Mus.A for violin in 1998 and for piano the following year. He was awarded the L.Mus.A for violin in 2002. Alastair has performed many concerti including the Barber Violin Concerto with the Sydney Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart A Major Violin Concerto with Orchestra 143, and the world premiere of Chernobyl, violin concerto, by Aaron Kenny with the Bourbaki Ensemble – a work that was written especially for Alastair.

Performers

• Vicki Van Hout is a Wiradjuri woman born on the south coast of NSW and is a graduate of the National Aboriginal Islander Dance College (NAISDA). Vicki also studied at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York and has danced with companies including Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre and Bangarra Dance Theatre. As an independent choreographer, performance‐maker and teacher, she has worked across a range of performance mediums nationally and internationally and more recently choreographed works for Sydney Festival and the newly founded National Theatre of Parramatta.
• Luke Waterlow is a performance maker, with a BA in Performance Studies from the Victoria University of Technology, which provides a foundation in the production and analysis of innovative, cross-disciplinary performance. Luke performed in 100 Confessions, directed by David Williams, at PACT Centre for Emerging Artists in 2001, and in 2002 participated in the residency and showing Remixing the Aftermath at Performance Space, working with Shagging Julie and Sam James.
• Yeow Cheng Moy is a member of the Auslan Friendship Group in Liverpool, made up of members of the Deaf Community and Auslan practitioners, who meet up for coffee and sign-chat. Moy is an elderly deaf woman from Belle Vista and Simple Infinity will be Moy’s first ever performance.

Costume Designer: Katia Molino

Molino is a performer/devisor who graduated from performance at University of Wollongong and holds a diploma as a Radiographer. She has toured all over Australia, Europe, Asia and South America, and worked with a range of companies including Stalker, Marrugekku, Kantanka, Urban Theatre Projects and the Opera Project. Katia also devises her own work, which spans across performance and video work, and occasional costume design.

Consultant: Sofya Gollan

Gollan is a director, writer and one of the presenters for the educational television show for children Playschool since 1991. She recently made a short film called Gimpsey, a short drama about a young woman with Cerebral Palsy struggling with a toxic friendship that screened at St Kilda Film Festival. Sofya is currently the Deaf Arts Officer for Accessible Arts.

Production Manager: Frank Mainoo

Carriageworks, Arts NSW, Australian Council for the Arts, Catalyst - Australian Arts and Cultural Fund, Phillips