BIOS
BIOS
BIOS
An enchantingly loony dreamscape … Wolfe Bowart specializes in a magic realism that evokes childlike wonder.
The Australian
ABOUT LALA LUNA
A surreal and enchanting tale of the moon’s caretaker as he struggles to re-light the darkened moon, LaLaLuna is circus, theatre and film woven together with a poetic and comic physical language all its own. Since its first performance in 2005, LaLaLuna has elicited raves from critics and audiences of every age in all corners of the planet. LaLaLuna ’s Australian tour in 2006 spanned 5 states, 7 months, 3 festival seasons, 49 venues and 113 performances. Bowart’s distinctive appeal to all age groups was none more apparent than during this tour, when he performed LaLaLuna first at the Melbourne Comedy Festival for adult audiences aged largely between 18 and 34, and then moved the production to Brisbane for QPAC’s family-oriented Out of the Box Festival, where nearly 10,000 school children and their families witnessed the magical mayhem. In 2007, LaLaLuna premiered in the UK at the Southbank Centre as part of the London International Mime Festival, and in Greece at the Volos International Theatre Festival. Also that year, SpoonTree was awarded its first Playing Australia grant to facilitate a second national tour of Australia with LaLaLuna.
Bowart is the ultimate physical performer. He has a breathtaking awareness of his own body, and glides effortlessly across the stage with balletic skill. His slight of hand is magnificent and fits in so neatly that you sometimes barely notice that it’s there, which allows the audience to be swept away in the dreamy mystique that Bowart seeks to create. LaLaLuna ... is sheer brilliance.
The Arts Program, Australia
Reviews
Through it all Bowart is the master of ceremonies and there is never a lapse, not a stray move. Every breath, it seems, is within the control of a clear and very precise physicalized expression of a magical imagination.
Australian Stage
Endearingly humorous and bizarrely ingenious.
The Daily Telegraph, Australia
LaLaLuna … injects real joie de vivre into the 29th London International Mime Festival.
The Stage, UK
Wolfe Bowart’s show about the night the light in the moon went out will have you howling with laughter at the dark circle in the sky.
Luminously inventive and magically silly, LaLaLuna flies you to the moon and back on a winged unicycle to a symphony of whoopee cushions and ukulele. It plumbs the collective unconsciousness with a toilet plunger; embosoms the collective imagination in a giant balloon; animates musical sketches and further charms with an interactive clothes-line film.
LaLaLuna is a topsy-turvy world in which gravity isn’t always on its best behaviour and the universal cart of dreams is upturned. Bowart’s roundabout quest to illuminate the moon will take you to the top of a windswept stack of suitcases and spear your bum with cactus spines.
When the moon’s a balloon, or a pretty bubble, it’s impossible to resist rekindling warm childhood memories with LaLaLuna.
The Age, Australia
Awards and Nominations
Awarded, Playing Australia grant 2007
Nominated, Drover Award, Excellent Audience Response 2008
Awarded, Best Young People’s Event, Brighton Int’l Arts Festival (UK) 2010
Finalist, Australian Arts in Asia Awards 2013
In 2008, SpoonTree Productions continued touring LaLaLuna , with a 23-show season at Sydney’s Seymour Centre, a 10-show season at the Melbourne Arts Centre, and tours to Tasmania, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Greece and Brazil. In 2009, LaLaLuna was invited back to the UK to headline the Theatre Royal Bath’s inaugural Family Theatre Festival. In 2010, LaLaLuna reached an ever-widening UK audience via a 7-city tour that included seasons at the Salisbury Arts Festival and the Brian Eno-curated Brighton Arts Festival, where the production was awarded Best Young People’s Event. SpoonTree also toured LaLaLuna through New Zealand, and in Austria the production was part of the 20th anniversary edition of the Festival der Träume, the eminent European clown theatre festival. In 2013, Bowart toured LaLaLuna to South Korea. Arising from a collaborative effort between SpoonTree, Seoul-based Ludi Co, Austrade Korea and the Australia-Korea Foundation, the multi-city tour marked Bowart’s premiere appearance in South Korea. He was invited to undertake a return tour the following year.
TOUR Highlights
Australia
Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2006
Adelaide Fringe Festival 2006
Out of the Box Festival, QPAC Playhouse, Brisbane 2006
National Tour (49 venues through WA, QLD, NSW, VIC) 2006
National Tour (Playing Australia grant, 20 venues) 2007
Seymour Centre, Sydney 2008
Arts Centre, Melbourne 2008
Theatre Royal, Hobart 2008
United Kingdom
Southbank Centre, London International Mime Festival 2007
Theatre Royal, Family Theatre Festival, Bath 2009
Warwick Arts Centre 2009
The Lighthouse, Poole 2009
Brighton International Arts Festival (Curator: Brian Eno) 2010
Salisbury International Arts Festival 2010
Spark Childrens’ Arts Festival, Leicester 2010
York Theatre Royal 2010
Northern Stage, Newcastle 2010
The Lowry, Salford, Manchester 2010
Artsdepot, London 2010
New Zealand
FUEL Festival, Hamilton 2008
Regent Theatre, Dunedin 2010
Isaac Theatre Royal, Christchurch 2010
Civic Theatre, Invercargill 2010
Theatre Royal, Nelson 2010
Austria
Festival der Träume 2010
Brazil
Festival Internacional de Teatro 2008
Hong Kong
Sha Tin Cultural Activities Hall 2008
Sheung Wan Civic Centre Theatre 2008
Ngau Chi Wan Civic Centre Theatre 2008 Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre Theatre 2008
Greece
Volos International Theatre Festival 2007
International Puppet & Mime Festival 2008
USA
Berger Performing Arts Centre, Arizona 2005
Bangor Opera House, Maine 2005
South Korea
Guro Arts Valley, Seoul 2013
Suseong ArtPia Theatre, Daegu 2013
Garden 5 Arts Hall, Seoul 2013
