By arts editor Helen Musa

Canberra audiences are in for a wild ride as five distinctive productions bring independent creators to the stage in Canberra Theatre Centre’s The Independents – Festival of New Works.

The program ranges from physical performance to dance, live music and storytelling, with Canberra artists playing a prominent role in two of the works.

Among them is Canberra singer, songwriter and 2025 CityNews Artist of the Year, Michael Simic, better known as Mikelangelo, whose work combines music, comedy, storytelling and physical theatre in a personal tale. This reprises the production which debuted at Smith’s Alternative last year.

Canberra director Chenoeh Miller is behind The Fool (or Francesca Giselle), a dance theatre work, while at the end of the season, Canberra-raised choreographer Melanie Lane joins UK electronic artist Clark, fashion designer Akira Isogawa and musicians from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra for Mountain.

In the first week, Mikelangelo In The Belly Of The Whale sees Simic’s own experiences as a new father collide with the mythic adventures of his alter ego, Mikelangelo. Shipwrecked and swallowed by a giant sperm whale, the two must find a way out of its belly.

Alongside this is Ichor, created by physical theatre company TOI. The work centres on Ichor, a being existing in a state beyond happiness or sadness. But when confronted by his first survival instinct, he is thrust into an unfamiliar world of emotion, sensation and self-awareness.

The second week pairs Miller’s long-running Little Dove Theatre Art with Sydney-based Frumpus’s Landed, revealing a landscape of ever-shifting characters, seasons, props, costumes, projected imagery and soundscapes.

The Fool (or Francesca Giselle) is directed by Miller, with choreography and movement direction by Alicia Melonie Jones and Noa Rotem. It continues Little Dove’s exploration of love and connection.

The month concludes with Mountain. Lane’s choreography to the electronic soundscapes of Clark will see five dancers performing alongside five live CSO musicians to explore ascent and descent, the terror of collapse and the exhilaration of conquering seemingly unreachable peaks.

The Independents – Festival of New Works: Ichor and Mikelangelo In The Belly Of The Whale, October 9 to 11; The Fool (or Francesca Giselle) and Landed, October 14 to 16, all in The Courtyard Studio; and Mountain, The Playhouse, October 17. Bookings here.

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