Mem Morrison @ Arts House (19.3.10)

As promised im reporting back from seeing Mem Morrison last Friday night. It was my first visit to Arts House in North Melbourne (despite me living right across the road from it!!!) and i didnt know what to expect.

So i arrive with Rosie to go see the show and were given red carnations and are asked to pin them to the left side…which we do. There are women all over the place all dressed in back from head to toe also wearing the carnations but are also kinda bossing everyone around! We are then bundled into groups of about 8, told to wait behind the main doors into the space and then just as im about to lose the will to live, the doors storm open and were ushered into the space mega quickly. Were asked to stand on marked points on the ground, are given characters to remember and asked to pose to have our photo taken!

Straight away i hated this – this forced audience participation was NOT what i had signed up to. We are then seated having had out picture taken in a way that is abrupt and asked to put on our headsets.

The performance then begins with Mem running around like a lunatic whilst all his ‘guests’ look on from behind the white linen laid tables. You are immediately thrown by the voice suddenly appearing in your headset talking to you. Its Mem recounting past wedding and wedding party experiences as a young boy.

Slowly the drama and grace of the performance unfolds and calms me down into going full circle and really liking how its all put together. There is sadness, laughter and totally shocking bits but you ultimately do come out of the show slapping yourself for not liking it in the first place!

If you get a chance to see the performance RINGSIDE….make sure you go.

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