Stolen Time 1986

Stolen Time 1986

Stolen Time was inspired by the musical term Tempo rubato. It was the first experimental theatre commission offered by Performance Space (Artistic Director, Alan Vizents) in 1986 and was funded by the Australia Council for the Arts.

Stolen Time references the musical term, Tempo rubato (an Italian term for the verb rubare, “to steal or rob”), which allows the performer to use expressive rhythmic freedom by slightly speeding up or slowing down when transitioning musical tempo. Structurally, Stolen Time moved between and merged physical movement, images, text, music and sound to create the performance.

For the most part, the performance was built around live tableaux with musical accompaniment, both of which could be collapsed or expand into movement to form other tableaux, creating and merging small compositions within a larger one to create transitions between various scenes.

The work’s spoken word used ‘stolen time’ as a metaphor for the development of content regarding the impact of environmental issues that could steal our future, such as the use of certain chemicals in agriculture, water quality and land clearing.

Performers:

Sarah Blacklock
Nellie Grundel
Lucy Guerin
Sue-Ellen Kohler
Vineta Lagzdina
Reno Oechslin
Jenny Plumstead
Annette Tesoriero

Angela Zivkovics

Photographer Ruby Davies
Direction and staging Derek Kreckler
Musical development Vineta Lagzdina, Annette Tesoriero, Nellie Grundel, Caroline Wilkins.