BY RACHEL BRUERVILLE
A girl walks. She walks alone at night. When she ran, the world watched. What big eyes they have. Our Daughters run with wolves, and we throw them to the dogs.
First performed in 2016, Tender Young Creatures, devised by the young female voices of The House That Dan Built is a powerful live art installation centred around the theme of young women walking alone at night. Inspired by the classic tale of Red Riding Hood, the performance is a contemporary look at the wolf which lives inside us.
The House creates platforms for cross-age female artists to work together and create. Despite the serious themes explored in Tender Young Creatures, artistic director Danielle O’Keefe says: “We don’t have to stay angry. We have ukuleles!” Such is the power of the collaborative creation of art.
This National Youth Week, during the upcoming April school holidays (16-29 April), The House That Dan Built will take over the Bondi Pavilion Gallery with a return season of Tender Young Creatures, as well as a series of theatre and music skill development workshop opportunities for girls aged 9 to 20.
In this interview with CutCommon, Danielle shares her passion for supporting and empowering young women, and cross-age/cross-disciplinary collaboration, in the lead up to The House’s imminent Youth Week “take over”.
Thanks so much for chatting with us, Danielle. How did your company The House That Dan Built come to be?
I have worked creatively with young people for over 15 years, and have identified a real opportunity to create something with young women that can have a lasting impact: not only on the girls who participate, but on society.
Just over eight years ago, I ran a one-day workshop in a tiny rural town with teenage girls. I could not get them to stand up. They were not being defiant or rebellious, they just didn’t care. Apathy had eaten them alive. My heart broke a little bit that day.
Over the years that followed, I have heard story after story from the mouths of girls and young women that tell me we have a long way to go towards equality in this country. A long way. The stories all seem so outrageous. How can this still be happening?
For example, one morning I was standing outside a nursing home with a small group of girls waiting for others to arrive, and they were chatting excitedly about something near a tree on a wide sidewalk. An elderly couple walked past holding hands. ‘Oh, they are so cute!’ A woman was pushed past in a wheelchair by a nurse, saying she would be back to hear them sing later.
Then, a man my age coming back from the gym, pushed through the group, saying ‘Girls, you are in the way’. So they all scattered to make room for him, and then seamlessly went back to chatting. He could have easily walked around them on the footpath.
The thing that resonated for me, though, was that these girls knew they were just as entitled to public space as he was. Things like this happen all the time.
All of us here at The House agree that empowering young women its very much in our present zeitgeist. But the question is, how do we do it? The arts industry is one where the boys club is very present. This is on every level.
So about five years ago, I thought it was time I created a gang. A gang of girls who have spark, who want to sing, and believe that by using their voice they can make the world a better place. The House began as a way to make sure that all girls across Australia who put their hand up will have an opportunity.
What happened during the development process of Tender Young Creatures? How long did it take to devise this production?
This production was devised ‘in the room’. I would provide stimulus and provocations and then we would create as a group.
Firstly, we have to be ready to sing, harmonise and create melodies. This comes through training and understanding musical structures. We play with this in the Toy Choir. The music for Tender Young Creatures is sung in eight parts, and all originally composed.
This production is also very physical, so the ensemble all train together with [Sydney actor and director] Shy Magsalin to be physically capable of holding the show.
We begin each session training together, so that we always work as an ensemble. Then we get into the creativity and experimentation – it is always ‘on the floor’ – don’t tell me, show me. Everyone directs and is directed, and about 95 per cent of what we create never makes it to seeing an audience.
The ensemble has worked together on other shows, so we had a process to play with before we began devising this time. All up, we spent about four months developing stage one of this show; two months in stage two; and this is now stage three.
So Danielle…what do you love about ukuleles?
The Toy choir uses ukes to compose on. There is so much to love about the ukulele. It is portable, and it is easy to learn, so you can start writing your own music very quickly. It is considered a toy, and therefore much of the pressure of classical instruments is alleviated. There are no ukuleles in Tender Young Creatures.
Your description of Tender Young Creatures reads: “The experience of girls walking home alone at night invites contemporary audiences to examine the wolf that lives inside us”. Could you expand on this idea a bit more for us? Do you think that a wolf does live inside all of us in this society?
The wolf has come to symbolise fear for us. The girls all spoke about the advice they are given to be safe when ever they are out alone. They talked about this ‘feeding the wolf’.
What do you hope your audience gets out of seeing this production?
Tender Young Creatures is a chance to explore the wolf in your own world. There are many ways to access this production, the music is beautiful, the text is powerful and the performers are able to give you an experience through their eyes.
See Tender Young Creatures at Bondi Pavilion Gallery from 19-29 April.
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