Emma Beech
Creative development/residency
Commissioned by Brink Productions and Vitalstatistix
In 2019 artist Emma Beech was gifted a box of family photographs by her elderly parents, a not uncommon experience for middle-aged adults. What is less common is that Beech is the youngest of nine children, from a family who have been central to the life of a regional South Australian town.
This box of fleeting moments in time, soon revealed itself as a kind of balm, releasing in Beech half-memories, sudden recollections and a profound curiosity for unravelling unsentimental truths about how we all grow from childhood to adulthood.
Well known for making compelling theatrical portraits of real-life characters through deep conversations with other people, The Photo Box sees Beech turn her docu-drama lens on herself, in a work that, from the deeply personal, draws us into the truly universal.
The Photo Box by Emma Beech will be a surprising, heartfelt story-telling experience – think performance lecture meets cinematic installation – about family, choice, mythmaking and memory.
Creative Team:
Creator and performer – Emma Beech
Conceptual director – Mish Grigor
Production director – Chris Drummond
Dramaturg – Anne Thompson
Cinematic co-director and writer – Craig Behenna
Documenter/film maker – Shalom Almond
Set and costume design – Renate Henschke
Composer – Jason Sweeney
Lighting design – Chris Petridis
Movement consultant – Larissa McGowan
Outside eye – Alexis West
Stage Manager – Françoise Piron
Image: Sam Roberts
The Scene is the Seen performance night at Holy Rollers Studio.