The Container Festival SEALED & DELIVERED

A container is an apt metaphor for performance. A story, really, is a container for life. Yvonne Virsik, speaks to Simon Eales about capturing the arts at container festival.

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There’s perhaps no better theme for Monash University’s annual festival of performing arts, The Container Festival, at which big metal shipping containers are strewn across the campus to be performed in,  on, and about. As Monash University Student Theatre Artistic Director Yvonne Virsik explains, the festival ticks all the boxes that a good university program must, while still providing a platform for cutting edge ideas and diverse artistic practice.

“The festival basically came into existence via all these brainstorming groups on how to involve form and practice, and how to involve as many people as possible. Our main aim is to serve the student community here, but we’re also looking for a way to bring in other artists for the students here to be stimulated by and enter into discussions with.

“We wanted to enliven the campus! We thought it would be quite good if people could almost trip over the theatres. That was one reason for getting the ship containers out. The other reason is that we’ve found there’s been a huge interest from artists in more intimate works and a focus on providing a range of audience experiences.”

Monash invites artists to experiment with performance duration, cast size, audience participation and conceptual approach. Some use the festival to explore ideas other projects they’re working on cannot harbour, others are engaging with challenging content that may not otherwise find a voice, like the experience of having Asperger’s syndrome.

“We’ve sometimes helped hone in on what the artist was trying to get at, or what was different about their work, but we haven’t really been sitting in on rehearsals. A lot of the artists are doing that with each other, which is lovely. We were really keen for that networking to take place.”

The performing arts degree program and the Student Theatre at Monash have been impressive breeding grounds for talent in recent years. At this year’s Container Festival, professional artists like cabaret sensation Benny Dimas, Jack Beeby, The DIG Collective, and a slew of comedians and bands have their names next to fresh up-and-comers. With the journey to Monash’s Clayton campus from the city only taking 20 minutes, a night at the festival can act as an escape from the heady south banks of the Yarra or sheeny laneway gallery spaces. A container or two for a night out, for your ideas, for your enjoyment, or from which to spill.

1 – 16 Aug, Monash Uni Student Theatre, Campus Centre, Clayton