As I leave this show I’m thinking if this won Best Experimental Performance in the 2011 Melbourne Fringe, that festival must have been in poor shape that year. Then I wonder if their Fringe had become so sophisticated that something which subverted any expectation one might have of a show made by a 2007 graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts with a Post Graduate Diploma in theatre making (Animateuring)* was a breath of fresh air to those steeped in – and possibly stifled by – the earnest academicification (if that’s a word) of performing arts practice.

I mean, it’s a piss-take, right? She’s ‘having a loan of us’ as they say in Australia. The question is, what’s in it for us?

If you’re a committed artist (in any discipline) whose parents have a tenuous grip on what exactly it is you do, let alone why you do it, you’ll be amused by the video clips of Bron Batten’s parents – James and Linda Batten – trying to articulate their understandings and support. You may also squirm a little at this somewhat judgemental exploitation of their viewpoints.

Mind you, although Bron is clearly leading and they are awkwardly at her mercy, all three are credited as ‘Performer and Devisor’. Is this a conscience-salver or an established convention in the ‘cross-modal performance’ genre?  

If your worst nightmare is that your father will share the stage with you – or occupy it while you’re off getting changed – despite having no performance skills beyond mediocre ‘Dad jokes’ and what he might offer in a humdrum ‘father-of-the-bride’ speech, you will cringe at what occurs in Sweet Child of Mine. At the very end it does turns out he can sing somewhat (having been in a band with some mates back in the day) but even then his mode is anti-theatrical.  

Even though this show has been ‘on the road’ for four years, garnering awards, nominations and commendations en route, James seems to be a ‘wild card’, saying stuff he says will probably get him into trouble with Bron. On opening night this includes an extremely ill-judged statement about why she is under emotional pressure, given what happened last week. (It take it at face value; if it is scripted that makes it even worse.)

If you’re into your thirties and still devoted to your vocation while your peers from high school are buying houses and having families, you will relate to Bron and her circumstances. Many a play-maker and stand-up comedian has explored this existential territory – not that she goes deeply into it.

Describing herself in the programme as a “theatre-maker, choreographer, producer and performer”, Bron performs in her undies. She dances aimlessly, as you might expect someone to do in the privacy of their bedroom: standing, reaching, flailing, falling, rolling … This is the first time we’re moved to wonder if she’s ‘having a loan’ or not.

She also chats to us on mic, in a friendly manner, appropriating a stand-up comedy style, albeit without the punchlines, to tell us stuff about her life. She’s one of six kids, her twin sister and she being the youngest. (Being a twin myself I am interested in that aspect but it is never explored; we never discover what her twin is doing let alone how each feels about the other’s choices.)

In response to what her parents are saying on screen, Bron uses two columns of butcher’s paper to list criteria for good performance art. So much so deconstructive. A verbal spew of academic jargon in her description of herself as “a theatre artist in the post-modern tradition devoted to the eradication of character and the death of plot” … etc, etc … concluding (hold the phone!): “all meaning is subjective” seems to suggest her purpose could be to exorcise the mind-numbing verbiage and move on. But no, all that intra-justification still seems to inform her work.

Structurally she does set things up early on that pay off later, including playing out something in literal terms that was mentioned as an imagination exercise in the first place. Is the idea here, I wonder, to prove she failed to grasp the object of the exercise in the first place or is she testing our ability to see the difference and make a judgement?

When Linda (who chooses not to appear live) says, “How can you have an opinion if you don’t know the purpose of it,” I empathise whole-heartedly. It is the overall purpose of this ‘animateurist cross-modal’ work that finally eludes me. Yes, I do realise the obvious response to that is “well what do YOU think the purpose is?” and that everyone’s answer will be valid no matter what.

So, the way I see it is that, having chosen her vocation, Bron has felt compelled to come up with something to justify her own investment in time and energy, let alone her parents’ investment of money and faith. She has used the questions that have arisen in the process as her raw material, moulding it into an our-long show she hopes will impress the teachers and peers who are likewise deeply embedded in the animateuring of cross-modal works.

The question remains: what’s in it for us? Perhaps it’s just that we get to spend one hour trying to maintain the faith her parents have so staunchly kept for years and years.  
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*Macmillan Dictionary defines ‘Animateurist’ as “someone whose job is to organize cultural projects or social events and get people interested in them”; Oxford Dictionaries online defines it as “A person who enlivens or encourages something, especially a promoter of artistic projects”.

*VCA’s Graduate Diploma in Animateuring:
A one year course in cross-modal performance based in the School of Drama. Animateuring involves the creation of new performances through :
– the mobilisation of expressive, artistic and imaginative faculties in a variety of artistic and community contexts;
– the capacity to work within and across art forms.
The animateur is a skilled performance artist with a central commitment to artistic leadership. He or she may be involved in various ways with the processes of creation, direction, facilitation and performance. The role played is a pivotal one, with the success measured not only in artistic terms, but other indicators such as level of community support, participation, ownership and achievement of social and political goals.

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