Melbourne Festival Chat: Sheridan Harbridge
Sheridan Harbridge is performing in Big hART’s Hipbone Sticking Out. The work’s a culmination of three years of collaboration with between the company and the community of Roebourne in WA.
What do you love most about your Melbourne Festival show?
That we made and performed this story in the place it all began, with the community whose story we are telling, and that I have witnessed the change that this piece of theatre is making.
What three words best describe the experience of seeing your show?
Vast, raw, celebratory.
Who shouldn’t miss your show?
No one should miss it because its confronts us with our past and is a clear and wondrous vision of where our future as a country should lie.
What other Melbourne Festival show will you NOT miss?
Mikelangelo’s album launch.
What was the first festival you were a part of?
Bienalle of Sydney, playing ukelele with UK cult band the Tiger Lilies.
If you’re a local, where in Melbourne do you always take visitors?
Flinders Lane, Degreaves Street, Collins Street arcades.
What’s one of the great things about being part of a festival?
It’s great feeling part of a vibrant world collective of artists.
What do you like to do when you have a day to yourself?
Sleep, drink coffee, sleep.
If you could invite anyone to see your show (and you know they would come), who would it be?
Every politician in this country.
If someone wants to buy you a drink at the Foxtel Festival Hub, what should they order?
A stiff gin.
What is the best theatre advice you’ve received?
“You’ll be alright, darling.”
What’s one piece of advice you’d give emerging theatre makers?
“You’ll be alright, darling.”
What’s the worst (or best) thing a review has said about you or your show?
Something like I looked like Winona Ryder from Heathers.
What was the last book you read?
Voss by Patrick White.
What was the last piece of theatre you saw that made you cry?
Hipbone Sticking Out. I can’t even get through a run!
What work changed how you make theatre? Why?
Black Rider, because I learnt that sometimes theatre doesn’t always have to provoke you thoughts it can give you tingly feelings and that’s as powerful
What is the first piece of theatre you remember seeing?
Beauty and the Beast.
What director/actor/writer/creator would you love to work with?
Barry Humphries, John Cameron Mitchell, Trey Parker and Matt Stone.Hipbone Sticking Out
17–21 Oct
melbournefestival.com.au
