Next Wave Festival (a world of creative discovery).

Nat Randall (Team MESS, Hissy Fit) throws herself into a strange loop of framing and spectacle in this 24-hour performance and cinema experiment.

As Randall repeatedly performs a single scene inspired by John Cassavetes’ cult filmOpening Night, on-stage sparks fly. Starring opposite Randall are 100 different men ranging in age, background and acting ability. Through this repeated performative exchange, Randall aims to explore the trade of emotion, intimacy, chemistry and authenticity.

Randall plays the role of silver screen actress Gena Rowlands, co-star and real-life spouse of Opening Night director John Cassavetes. Performing a single scene inspired by Rowlands’ original award-winning portrayal of Myrtle Gordon, an ageing theatre star on the brink of self-destruction, Randall takes elements of Cassavetes’ signature style and rewires them through live performance and simulcasts. Randall twists the auteur’s legacy for her own purposes – cutting across layered realities, smudging the line between acting and being, attempting to discover a space of enduring intimacy, en masse.

Come for an hour, stay for the night – this is performance at its most epic, a complex game of fiction and reality.

(Auslan Interpreted present from 330pm – 5pm)