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Description
What The Critics Say
Performance History
Choreography & Concept
Graeme Murphy
Creative Associate
Janet Vernon
Music
Michael Askill
[commissioned score]
Set Design
John Rayment /
Graeme Murphy
Costume Design
Akira Isogawa
Lighting Design
John Rayment
Duration
90 minutes [no interval]
Ensemble
16–18 dancers
2 percussionists
Description
Graeme Murphy’s dance interpretation of this fascinating biblical tale premiered in Melbourne at the The Arts Centre in April 1998, and has since been performed across Australia, including two sell-out seasons in Sydney, the United States, Mexico, China and New Zealand. Salome is a highly theatrical production. The world music influences and evocative rhythms of Michael Askill's original score are one of Salome's great strengths, along with the costume design of award winning fashion designer Akira Isogawa, for whom Salome was a theatrical debut. The music and staging of Salome, together with Graeme Murphy's sinuous choreography and sly wit and spectacular performances from the perfectly cast quartet of central characters - Salome, John the Baptist, Kind Herod and Queen Herodias, have brought Salome much critical and audience acclaim.
Graeme Murphy’s dance interpretation of this fascinating biblical tale premiered in Melbourne at the The Arts Centre in April 1998, and has since been performed across Australia, including two sell-out seasons in Sydney, the United States, Mexico, China and New Zealand. Salome is a highly theatrical production. The world music influences and evocative rhythms of Michael Askill's original score are one of Salome's great strengths, along with the costume design of award winning fashion designer Akira Isogawa, for whom Salome was a theatrical debut. The music and staging of Salome, together with Graeme Murphy's sinuous choreography and sly wit and spectacular performances from the perfectly cast quartet of central characters - Salome, John the Baptist, Kind Herod and Queen Herodias, have brought Salome much critical and audience acclaim.
Venues, Dates & Bookings
What The Critics Say
This ancient story of power and lust, vengeance and gruesome death, is told in spectacular style with high production values, striking choreographic motifs and seductive music.
JILL SYKES, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1998
Graeme Murphy’s Salome is a feast for the senses, an exotic fusion of sound, light, colour, texture and movement that results in a mesmerising interpretation of this haunting biblical tale.
JULIE CHANDLER, SUN-HERALD, 1998
One of Murphy’s supreme triumphs… The cast is magnificent. Tracey Carrodus’ waifish Salome, Josef Brown’s physically towering John the Baptist; Bradley Chatfield’s creepily lustful Herod; and Janet Vernon’s serpentine Herodias are characters whose presence rivets the attention.
BOB CRIMEEN, SUNDAY HERALD SUN, MELBOURNE, 1998
This is an exciting and erotically charged production.
STEWART HAWKINS, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, 1998
Murphy has assembled a powerful creative team for this production. Michael Askill’s music works like a film score, emphasising character and emotion; while the bodies of the dancers are etched in black and white by the brilliance of John Rayment’s lighting and the stark lines of Akira Isogawa’s costumes.
SHIRLEY MCKECHNIE, THE BULLETIN, 1998
Salome is possibly the finest work I have seen by Graeme Murphy.
PATRICIA LAUGHLIN, DANCE AUSTRALIA, 1998
Graeme Murphy, is a genius. With Salome, he demonstrates once more, and perhaps more brilliantly than ever, that he has a constantly astonishing talent for finding new ideas.
PETER MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN JEWISH NEWS, 1998
Murphy has his dancers doing some extraordinary things.
ERIN BRANNIGAN, CITY HUB, 1998
probably Murphy’s best work to date
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 1999
a most amazing, highly vibed and skilled performance
REVOLVER, 1999
This performance of Salome has a hyper-sensuality and saturnine brilliance that Wilde could only have dreamed of.
DRUM MEDIA, 1999
Salome is an eighty minute masterpiece of multimedia contemporary ballet staging. It may demonstrate that Australians are light years ahead of us in this dance form… A stunning visual and aural feast.
SAN MATEO TIMES, CALIFORNIA, 2000
One has come to expect superb production value from Sydney Dance Company, and this Salome does not disappoint.
ALLAN ULRICH, SAN FRANCSICO EXAMINER, 2000
This high level performance made it clear that Australia’s artistic portrayals are among the highest expressions of world avant-garde.
VERTIGO MAGAZINE, MEXICO, 2001
Performance History
11–25 April 1998
Playhouse, The Arts Centre
Melbourne, Victoria
7–10 April 1999
The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre
Canberra, Australia
1–23 May 1998
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
3–6 June 1998
Lyric Theatre
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Brisbane, Australia
6–28 May 1999
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
16–19 Feb 2000
Aotea Centre
Auckland, New Zealand
23–26 Feb 2000
St. James Theatre
Wellington, New Zealand
12–14 Oct 2000
Memorial Theater, Stanford University
Palo Alto, United States
24 Oct 2000
Civic Auditorium
Portland, United States
26–28 Oct 2000
Meany Theater
Seattle, United States
University of Washington
4 Nov 2000
Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts
New Orleans, United States
10–11 Nov 2000
Fox Theater
St. Louis, United States
17 Nov 2000
Staller Center for the Arts, SUNY
Stony Brook, United States
11–14 Oct 2001
Auditorio del Estado
Guanajuato, Mexico
11–12 Nov 2002
Shanghai Grand Theatre
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
11–25 April 1998
Playhouse, The Arts Centre
Melbourne, Victoria
7–10 April 1999
The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre
Canberra, Australia
1–23 May 1998
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
3–6 June 1998
Lyric Theatre
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Brisbane, Australia
6–28 May 1999
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
16–19 Feb 2000
Aotea Centre
Auckland, New Zealand
23–26 Feb 2000
St. James Theatre
Wellington, New Zealand
12–14 Oct 2000
Memorial Theater, Stanford University
Palo Alto, United States
24 Oct 2000
Civic Auditorium
Portland, United States
26–28 Oct 2000
Meany Theater
Seattle, United States
University of Washington
4 Nov 2000
Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts
New Orleans, United States
10–11 Nov 2000
Fox Theater
St. Louis, United States
17 Nov 2000
Staller Center for the Arts, SUNY
Stony Brook, United States
11–14 Oct 2001
Auditorio del Estado
Guanajuato, Mexico
11–12 Nov 2002
Shanghai Grand Theatre
Shanghai, People's Republic of China