The Substation/ Aphids/ Class Act/
Wheelchair accessible
$30 General
$20 Concession
$20 Preview
High Tea Add-On + $20
In Class Act, working class unfortunate Mish Grigor tells the story of a grotesque world of class and social mobility straight from her dirty mouth. APHIDS have created a bombastic, unexpected deconstruction of My Fair Lady, albeit with less bonnets. Joined by dancer Alice Dixon, directed by Zoey Dawson, and with some experimentally arranged orchids, Grigor’s performance shines a light on the unseen costs of a social glow up. Plus there’ll be high tea (but only for the bourgeoisie).
Please note: High Tea seats are limited and will include hors d’oeuvres and sparkling wine upon arrival. Plus you’ll be able to skip the queue and settle in sooner than the great unwashed (just try not to look too smarmy when you do, it’s unbecoming).
ARTIST BIO
APHIDS is a 28-year-old artist-led experimental art organisation based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. Collaborative and future-focused, APHIDS is led by Co-Directors Lara Thoms and Mish Grigor with Executive Producer Anna Nalpantidis. The work of APHIDS is feminist, intersectional, angry, and funny; we bring artists into meaningful exchange with audiences through performance, screens, critical dialogue, and unpredictable encounters in the public realm.
ACCESS
The performance on Thursday 29 September will be Auslan interpreted by Nicole McRae (Auslan Stage Left).
This event is wheelchair accessible and gender neutral accessible toilets are available.
The Substation galleries, bar and bookshop will open one hour prior to the performance.
CONTENT WARNINGS
This performance contains smoke/haze, high noise levels, coarse language, nudity, sexual references, references to violence and references to sexual violence.
Filming and photography will take place during some performances and personal photography/videography is not permitted.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Created by APHIDS
Lead Artist / Performer: Mish Grigor
Designer / Dramaturg: Lara Thoms
Producer: Anna Nalpantidis
Director / Script Dramaturg: Zoey Dawson
Performer: Alice Dixon
Lighting Designer: Jenny Hector
Sound Designer: Nina Buchanan
Production / Stage Manager: Harmony Boucher
Tickets/
Presented by The Substation and APHIDS. Commissioned by The Substation.
This project was made possible through the generous support of The Substation, the Australia Council for the Arts, the City of Melbourne, and Creative Victoria. Development for Class Act was supported by The Substation and Yarra City Council’s Art Grants.
Dive deeper/
Related/
Flyway
Flyway is a performative walk that immerses audiences in the epic and enchanting journeys of migratory birds. Created responsively in each new location it explores our ecological connections, embedding field research of local birds, people and places into the urban fabric of the performance site. Wearing headphones and binoculars audiences are enveloped in a sonic landscape and guided through the city to encounter video artworks and a shifting, cinematic environment.
Flyway investigates the annual threatened journeys that migratory birds make across a changing globe in search of rest, food and a nest. Using video, sound and movement to merge foreground and background it points to an evolving understanding of ‘Nature’.
Flyway is created by artist Lz Dunn with Lawrence English and dramaturgy by Lara Thoms. It was nominated for a 2013 Green Room Award, was co-winner of the international Music Theatre Now (MTN) competition and received the 2013 MTN Operadagen Rotterdam Award. It has been presented at Operadagen Rotterdam (2014) and Varna Summer International Theatre Festival, Bulgaria (2014), and NOA Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania (2015).
About The Artists
Lz Dunn works with performance, movement, sound, video, site-responsive and experiential processes to think about ecologies, queerness and how we contextualise ourselves individually and collectively. DUNN grew up in regional Queensland, lives in Melbourne, and is an Artistic Associate with APHIDS.
Lawrence English is a composer, media artist and curator based in Australia. Working across an eclectic array of aesthetic investigations, his work investigates the politics of perception. Through live performance and installation, he creates works that ponder subtle transformations of space and ask audiences to become aware of that which exists at the edge of perception.
Aphids creates epic contemporary art projects using performance, music, site-specificity and new technologies. Collaborative and driven by a passionate belief in the social role of art, APHIDS investigates what is current and urgent in contemporary culture.
