Resting B*tch Face, Brisbane 2017
Words by Madeleine Grant
We were and are Madeleine Grant (Librarian, clown, acrobat), Maite Miramontes (Teacher, acrobat, aerialist), Eliza Dolly (Occupational Therapist, Aerialist, Hooper, Acrobat) and Shannon Egans (Academic, Aerialist, Acrobat and Drag performer). We made a show for Wonderland 2017 called Resting Bitch Face, and this is my take on the process and the creation of the show
The show was born out of our desire to create a narrative about working women, using our circus and physical theatre skills to tell the story. All of us work to support our circus, and circus to survive our jobs and we wanted to make a show that explored themes about working, expectations women place on themselves (both personal and professional), and the expectations the world places on us. We wanted to make a comedic piece, but the show did end up veering into some fairly dark territory at times. The show is political and feminist in its intent, although many of the scenes are quite personal.
Each of us already had some fairly specific ideas for characterisation and a rough narrative arc for our own material within the show. A lot of development time was spent on figuring out our opening, and other group scenes trying to understand what our characters were doing and trying to stamp them each with a unique identity. Also trying to link tricks and skills in a cohesive way so it wasn’t just a blur of people standing on people. In order to have an outside eye and to keep the process moving more effectively, we worked with a director for the second half of the development. I don’t think the show would have been anywhere near as good without Alex Mizzen’s thoughtful creative input as our director.
In the end, the show was a success, we sold out two nights and the feedback was incredible. I am incredibly proud that we decided to try and do something so overly ambitious for our first show and it ended up better than I could have hoped. The process broke us, it rebuilt us and then broke us again, it tested relationships and stole all our sleeping time. But honestly, the only thing I would change is the number of props we used. Because while it looks cool to have a 40 hula hoops, a bucket of confetti, all the costumes, a wig, some shoes, 2 reams of paper, makeup smeared on everything, some used wax strips, an office chair, a few books and 40 pairs of Spanx’s strewn across the stage like a bomb has gone off, just remember your allocated bump out time is 15 minutes and you are very very tired.
We would like to thank Alex Mizzen for her direction, Georgia Bale for her amazing stage management, Celia White for helping us design the lighting during our tech, and Vulcana Women’s Circus for their support in the development of the work.
– Madeleine
Madeleine Grant
Madeleine Grant
Maddy Grant is a Brisbane based circus performer, clown and physical theatre artist. Her background is Fringe Theatre and performance art, she started learning to circus 8 years ago during an early mid-life crisis. Her work is best characterised as surreal, and frequently involves disagreements with inanimate objects and a lot of loud noises. She co-wrote and appeared in resting Bitch Face at the Wonderland Festival 2017. Is a member of Product Display Unit and was part of the Vulcana Women’s Circus Ensemble 2016-2017. She has also performed as a solo artist at festivals and Cabarets in and around South East Qld since 2014. She is currently working on a new show for the Anywhere Theatre festival 2019.
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