Invitation to a Playback Theatre Performance

You will have read about Brendan McPhillips and his Playback Theatre activities a few posts ago. Here is an invitation from Brendan to see for yourself what it’s all about this Saturday afternoon at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe.

Nick Brennan - guitarist / singer-songwriter

Before you read what Nick has to say about himself here's a link to his album which will speak for itself:

"I am a geriatrician, UNSW conjoint Associate Professor at St Vincent’s in Sydney, for years department head of Acute Geriatrics at St Vincent's, but now concentrating more on sub-acute and geriatric rehabilitation and community geriatrics, based at War Memorial hospital as well as continuing in acute care at Vinnies.

Nick Brennan at Camelot 2014

I have always been a guitarist and played semi-professionally for a while (great ambitions, not so much talent) and have recorded an album of Scottish folk music whilst living overseas in Scotland.  I played in the Edinburgh Festival two years running in a band called Seannachie, as well as many other folk festivals in Scotland.  A few years ago I started writing songs about life, ageing, politics, life and love, and released my first solo album last year.  This was released as a fund raising effort for War Memorial Hospital and raised $15,000 for a hospital art fund that I set up, to get decent artwork on the walls of our little hospital.  As well as some large framed prints on the walls of the wards, we now have a large mural painted on a wall and are planning a second mural to be funded by our next fund raiser, which will be a “folk night” in November.  I think joining the music with the art program has been a great success.

I have written a lot more music and am planning to record another album next year."

Isabel McTigue - Representing Australia on Roller Skates

Medical student Isabel McTigue wowed the crowd at Camelot last year with her illuminated hula hoops and, in 2014, returned to do it again, this time with her sister Annie, and both of them on roller skates!

Isabel at Camelot in 2013

Inspired by the figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Isabel and her younger sister Annie (also a medical student) did the best they could to emulate the Olympic stars with the facilities they could find in rural south-western WA. There wasn't a lot of ice available, so the roller skating rink in Bunbury, 20 minutes drive from their home town, became their second home.

"We’d always loved rollerblading, dancing and athletics, and artistic roller skating looked like the perfect combination of these. We started classes there on weekends and before we knew it we were at the rink six days a week. I love the fact that skating is a high impact sport that combines fitness, strength and agility with grace and artistry."

Isabel and her sister Annie in a quieter moment
at Camelot in 2014

Now Isabel is off to Spain to compete in the World Artistic Roller Skating Championships in late September. She won silver and gold medals at the National Championships this year and is representing Australia in Spain in inline figure skating.

"This will be my first World Championships - I can't explain how excited I am! Even better, I'm studying Medicine/Arts with Spanish as my Arts major, so the location couldn't be more perfect" 

Click here to read more about Isabel and see some great pictures of her in both her roles.

There'll be more news about Isabel (and lots of sparkling pictures) next month, after the World Championships.

Pictures from Camelot

Sponsor Judith Babich
of Active Locums

MC Jan Orman

Here are some images from the Camelot Lounge last Thursday night when our creative doctors took to the stage:

Singer-songwriter Alana Bruce and a lot of camels

Spoken word performer Chendu Gnaneswaren

Singer Becky Everist with guitarist Mark Horsely and Becky's Dad Steve

Roller skating sisters Isabel and Annie McTigue

Sujata Allan

Loyola McLean and the von Crapp Family Singers

Singer-songwriter Nick Brennan

Singer-songwriter Brian Gutkin

Improvisational Poet
Denis Lewis-Enright

Slam Poet - Mariam Chalaan

Singer-songwriter Myles Gutkin

Brendan McPhillips and Playback Theatre

Dr Brendan McPhillips performing at the Camelot Lounge, Sept 2014

The man in the picture is a psychotherapist and a performer. This his story:

"My name is Brendan McPhillips and I am a member of the improvised playback theatre group Out of the Box. There are around 10 of us in the group, and we perform publicly 4 times a year, usually upstairs at the Roxbury Hotel in Glebe in Sydney's inner west.

Playback was started 30 years ago by Jonathan Fox in America. It grew out of Psychodrama, but, rather than being therapeutic, it was designed as performance - performance for communities that enabled them to reflect on themselves, and see the common human threads that run through all groups of people. 

At a playback performance a 'conductor' stands in front of the audience. Behind the conductor are 4 actors and a musician. The conductor asks audience members to tell stories from their lives. These are then enacted immediately and without rehearsal by the performers. Often something seemingly ordinary that would otherwise pass by without notice becomes startling and moving.

I became involved in playback theatre myself 20 years ago, when, on a whim, I did a course in improvised theatre. It has subsequently seamed my life with such a vein of gold that I still often stand on stage in wonder at how this extraordinary path opened to me"

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Important Link

This video clip is too important for you to miss.
click here
Unfortunately it was not created by one of our doctors but I'm sure it will be of interest to all of you - there was a doctor involved!

Our Evening at Camelot

It was Creative Doctors Performers Night last night and what a great time we had!

Surrounded by camels (yes, I mean it) we sat stunned while act after act of talented medicos showed us how they wasted their leisure hours. From bluegrass fiddle to jazz piano, from slam poetry to spoken word performance; singer-songwiters, impromptu poets and hula hoop skaters all graced the stage of Camelot. Several short films rounded thing as out nicely. Doctors can do anything (and they do it very well)!

A number of performers came back for more this year after we cheered loudly for them in 2013, but we also had quite a few newcomers. The well of talent is very deep. It was also very satisfying to see many people there who had just come to see and hear the spectacle.

We are so lucky that our event sponsor, Judith Babich from Active Locums, is as taken with the Camelot Lounge as we are – she’s keen to do it all again next year, and so are we.

I’ll be back with more detail on the performers and performances when I catch my breath. Howard tells me he has some great photos.