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‘Like This Little Spirit That Wafts’: Contemporary Theatre in Australia

Lorin Clarke

Autumn 2010

It’s a warm summer evening, Sydney Festival, 2007. Peak hour at Circular Quay. We’ve been standing here for forty minutes, like a row of prisoners in the sun, fidgety and self-conscious. Commuters glance suspiciously at us as they hurry past. ‘What are they here for?’ someone asks. Once we’ve finally clambered up the wooden rostra and taken a seat on the raised platforms, our purpose becomes obvious to everybody, and we relax. We’re the audience.

It’s fun to be up here together, looking down at the commuters looking up at us. There are headphones on our chairs—big, clumpy, earmuff-type ones. We put them on, smiling at each other. We’re like a team now. The headphones are playing a soundscape: atmospheric sounds and music. We settle in. The people in Circular Quay are stopping, discussing us. Swivelling their necks around to find whatever screen we must be watching. Some of them act out, waving or poking out their tongues. One guy—after a brief conference with his mates—does a cartwheel and, after a smattering of applause, politely bows. It’s been a while now. The guy behind me says, ‘I get it. This is the show.’

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  • In Print
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    • Latest Pieces
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  • Read
    • The Meanjin Papers
    • Poetry
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    • Fiction
    • Memoir
    • The Meanjin Interviews
    • Experiments
    • State of the Nation
    • The Year In…
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    • Australia in Three Books
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