The Glorias: Kathy Cogill, Nikki Heywood, Katia Molino
Pianists: Benjamin Au, Michael Bell
Director/composer: Nigel Kellaway
Writers: the company referencing John Cassavetes’ screenplay for Gloria (1980)
Music: The Brandenburg Concerti by J.S. Bach, re-imagined for piano duet.

Premiered as the closing season of the 2016 Disobedient Objects exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.

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what are you doing with that gun? … what’s going on here? …

I think I came at a bad time …

look, I don’t want any trouble from you, believe me! …

okay, you want to shoot me? … go ahead, shoot … I hope I’m not holding you up … or I’m going to get up and walk out of here now … you want to stop me, you can.

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The inspiration for Glorias was two-fold:  the 1980 movie (Gloria) of John Cassavetes exploring a relationship between two unlikely characters (a white middle-aged ex-gangster moll and a 7 year old Hispanic stranger) and J.S. Bach’s monumental orchestral work, the Brandenburg Concerti.  This is a re-imagining of extant material, exploring the odd disjunctions that might arise from a collision of language, bodies, sound and intentions.

Glorias is a theatre work concentrating on two pianists and the voices and physical presence of three exceptional female performers.  Bach and Cassavetes proffer an unlikely creative collision (culturally, aesthetically, thematically) – the interaction of complex spatial arrangements with musical and linguistic practices, bringing together disparate languages (acting, music making, installation, light, poetry, song, dance, etc.).  This is physical theatre exploring the discrete abstract qualities of dynamics, tempi and staging.