KAGE presents Gerard Van Dyck in ‘Picnic’

Part nightmare, part time capsule, part gift – Picnic is a new dance-theatre work conceived and performed by KAGE Creative Director Gerard Van Dyck. The world premiere performance will be presented on August 19 in Melbourne before a national tour in 2016.

Celebrating a return to the solo stage after his previous highly acclaimed show The Collapsible Man in 2001, Van Dyck presents a new, intimate performance that explores notions of innocence, naivety, creativity and chaos. Combining nuanced and athletic choreography, machine gun monologues, illusion and intelligent humour, Picnic presents an absurd meditation on the importance of creativity with an original script by Melbourne writer and provocateur Marieke Hardy and an inspired soundtrack by composer Alisdair Macindoe.

Picnic is, by its very nature, political. Blending irony, humour and dance, Van Dyck questions his own privileged position as an artist and reflects on his role in society. Leaping between childlike regression and adult responsibility in this surreal physical poem, Picnic aims to entertain, provoke and inspire creativity.  

Gerard Van Dyck says, “Picnic is an immensely personal project, born from my desire to ask the question of why the arts are not taken seriously across the majority of Australia, and why is the act of being creative dismissed as a worthwhile occupation?” 

As co-founder and creative director of KAGE, alongside Kate Denborough, Van Dyck has worked in the performing arts industry as a dancer, choreographer and most recently, as a teacher. KAGE is recognised nationally for producing memorable performances that explore current social issues while artfully entertaining audiences.

Van Dyck’s training and performance experience includes: dancing, acting, slapstick, puppetry, motion capture and aerial flying. He co-founded KAGE with Denborough 18 years ago and has performed in nearly all of KAGE’s award-winning works. He has toured extensively with other dance companies, including BalletLab and Polyglot Puppet Theatre. Van Dyck has also worked with artists such as Nat Cursio, Danielle Micich, Eleventh Hour Theatre, Legs on the Wall and desoxy Theatre.

Picnic scriptwriter Marieke Hardy is a writer, broadcaster, producer and artist. She is a regular panelist on ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club, the creator of the hit TV show Laid and curator of live art. A collection of her essays was published in 2011.

Alisdair Macindoe is an award-winning dancer, sound designer, composer and instrument maker. His professional engagements as a sound designer for dance include works by Antony Hamilton, Chunky Move, Lucy Guerin, Australian Dance Theatre, Next Wave and more.

For more information on Picnic, www.kage.com.au. The show will be presented Wednesday, August 19 through Sunday, August 30 at fortyfivedownstairs. To book tickets, visit fortyfivedownstairs.com/events/picnic.

Photo courtesy of KAGE.