Children’s Cheering Carpet — Saltbush

COMPAGNIA TPO & Insite Arts

in co-production with Teatro Metas­ta­sio Sta­bile della Toscana

“…involv­ing, engag­ing, the­atri­cal magic that could and should play any the­atre in the world.” - Sun­day Mail, Ade­laide

“…enchant­ing and com­pletely cap­ti­vat­ing for four-to-eight year olds and every­one else as well.” — The Adver­tiser, Adelaide

“Children’s the­atre doesn’t get any bet­ter than this. This inspired array of Ital­ian and Abo­rig­i­nal artists is the per­fect fusion of dance, art and breath­tak­ing dig­i­tal design.” - Sun­day Mail, Adelaide

Children’s Cheer­ing Car­pet — Salt­bush is an immer­sive and inter­ac­tive jour­ney through the cul­ture and land­scape of Abo­rig­i­nal Australia.

TPO’s award win­ning artistry in multi-media the­atre for young peo­ple is com­bined with the work of acclaimed pro­fes­sional Abo­rig­i­nal artists Lou Ben­nett (music), Del­wyn Man­nix (visual art), Deon Hastie (dance) and Sasha Zahra (dra­maturgy) under the artis­tic direc­tion of for­mer Come Out direc­tor and Insite Arts direc­tor, Jason Cross and TPO direc­tor Davide Venturini.

Through its sen­sor and infra-red imag­ing tech­nol­ogy, TPO’s Children’s Cheer­ing Car­pet con­cept allows the chil­dren to inter­act, play and per­form in the pro­duc­tion and pro­vides an immer­sive expe­ri­ence of the art­work. This also pro­vides a unique expe­ri­ence for par­ents and teach­ers as they watch the chil­dren become involved.

The project is the result of col­lab­o­ra­tion between acclaimed Ital­ian the­atre com­pany TPO and Aus­tralian Abo­rig­i­nal artists. The work was a co-production with Teatro Metas­ta­sio Sta­bile della Toscana in Prato and was com­mis­sioned by the Aus­tralian Fes­ti­val for Young Peo­ple (Come Out 2009) in Ade­laide with the assis­tance of the City of Melbourne’s Art­Play and pro­duced by Insite Arts.

CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTORS:  Davide Ven­turini (Italy) & Jason Cross (Aus­tralia)
DRAMATURGY:  Sasha Zahra (Aus­tralia)
COMPOSER/MUSICIAN:  Lou Ben­nett (Australia/ Yorta Yorta/Dja Dja Wur­rung)
CHOREOGRAPHER:  Deon Hastie (Australia/ Tjapukai)
DANCER:  Rosealee Pearson(Australia/ Yol­ngu)
DANCER:  Sani Town­son (Australia/ Saibai Koedal
NARRATOR/PERFORMER:  Jada Alberts (Australia/ Lar­rakia)
VISUAL ARTIST/DESIGNER:  Del­wyn Man­nix (Australia/ Wangkan­gurru)
DIGITAL DESIGNER:  Elsa Mersi (Italy)
TECHNICAL DESIGNER:  Rossano Monti (Italy)
SOUND DESIGNER:  Spar­taco Cortesi (Italy)
ARTISTIC COLLABORATIONS:  Edoardo Dona­tini (Italy) and Francesco Gandi (Italy)
TECHNICAL OPERATORS:  Nic­colo Gal­lio, (Italy) Alberto Mar­tino, (Italy)
TOUR CREATIVE PRODUCER:  Insite Arts – Lee Cum­ber­lidge & Jason Cross (Aus­tralia)
TPO MANAGER:  Valentina Mar­tini (Italy)

Past Sea­sons:

2011

ASSITEJ KOREA SUMMER FESTIVAL
NATIONAL THEATRE OF KOREA
CHUNCHEON MIME FESTIVAL, KOREA
GOEJE ARTS CENTRE, KOREA
LIG ARTS CENTRE, KOREA
ADELAIDE FESTIVAL CENTRE, SA
CASTLEMAINE STATE FESTIVAL, VICTORIA
ARTPLAY, MELBOURNE

2010

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, SYDNEY
CAMPBELLTOWN ARTS CENTRE, CAMBELLTOWN
JOAN SUTHERLAND PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, PENRITH
RIVERSIDE THEATRES, PARRAMATTA