RIOT
This jaw-dropping spectacle is just the king of thing that will leave audiences dizzy, dazzled and ready to change the world. Infusing the magic of theatre with the excitement of variety and the energy of the dance floor, Riot serves up a disorderly cocktail of wild theatre, slapstick comedy, eye-popping circus and banging jigs. The incredible cast led by the ever vivacious Panti Bliss, a name that needs no introduction to many a local audience. But we at The Melbourne Critique had our curiosity spiked by the curious tale of a man that left the world of competitive sports behind to quite literally run away and join the circus.
Ronan, talk to us about life before Cabaret, and what made you run away and join this world of performance and art?
Life before Cabaret was very different. It was made up of teaching secondary school kids during the day, and training and playing football in the evenings and weekends. Rinse and repeat. Life was set up and designed around playing inter-county football for my beloved county of Roscommon.
Initially it was injury and needing to rest from football that allowed me get my head up and notice other options. I began to train in aerial acrobatics as a way to get stronger as opposed to typical strength and conditioning methods. This allowed me to identify lots of imbalances, weaknesses and immobility in my body. This new style of training then became a way for me to heal my body as competitive football hadn’t been kind to it and was essentially breaking me down.
The idea of performance was always fascinating and something I was generally afraid of. But I will usually pursue things I am uncomfortable with and force myself to at least experience it once. I will either grow from the experience, or decide it’s something I’m not into. Luckily performance is something I’ve grown to like.
With so many of these kinds of works doing the rounds at festivals across the globe, what sets Riot apart? What should we expect from it?
Well this is the million dollar question.. Riot is really hard to describe. It is a hat tip to the power of communities and the strength of active citizenship, celebrating everything about an evolving Irish culture, while simultaneously addressing current culture and social issues from around the globe. You should expect an emotional roller coaster. RIOT mixes the absurd with the profound and it is like attending an enlightening rave party!
How has the Irish traditions of poetry, dance and song infiltrated the work, and was this an easy process?
We are traditionally story tellers in Ireland. We have drawn on all aspects of Irish culture to tell our story with Riot. Poetry, dance and song are all part of that story telling process as they always have been in Irish culture.
Talk to us about some of the other performers in the troupe. what do they each bring to the ensemble and to the performance?
The troupe is so diverse. We have acrobats, singers, poets, Irish dancers, drag queens and actors. The fact that everyone is so different, and that they come from so many different backgrounds makes this so special. Having come from outside of the performing arts sector, it’s so interesting to see everyone’s different processes. From physical and vocal warm ups, to getting focused and exploring pre-show routines, it all is such a great learning experience.
The skills of our troupe tie together the entire piece by keeping the tempo of the show moving just right. They include: the energy of the dancers, the humor and physicality of the Lords of Strut, the accuracy and delivery of the spoken word and beautiful sounds of our sirens. One of the most driving influences of the show is the mashups and reworking of music by Alma Kelleher. It gives all the right energies at the right times and she has completely transformed some tracks!
A world without art, would be?
What is art? It is essentially self expression in some form I think. So as long as there are people, there will always be some form of art, even if it’s not called “art”.
I feel there is a real opportunity to encourage more to get involved in art. Whatever your area of interest, accessibility is important. It cant be too high brow or inaccessible. When I was growing up and being told what certain poems meant and “I had interpreted them wrong” it put me off pursuing it further. I didn’t realise it was okay to interpret your own thing and this was totally fine. More people should know this.
What are you future hopes for yourself, RIOT and the world at large?
For myself, I just hope to stay curious. Never to get too fixed in a mindset to stop experiencing new things. For Riot, I just hope we can resonate with other countries. We all have our own troubles and problems unique to our own nations, and sometimes not. Let’s work together and fix them. For the world, if everyone could get a little more comfortable with who they are, and practicing to love and appreciate themselves, we would all be a little bit kinder to each other.
