Sisters Grimm are hot property. The delightfully trashy, clever, and queer brainchild of Ash Flanders and Declan Greene, this company has seen productions premiered in lounge rooms and basements snapped up by major stages and companies along the east coast.
Summertime In The Garden Of Eden, a drag-queen Southern gothic directed by Greene taking cues from Gone With The Wind was first staged last year in a Thornbury garage. Think big families, bigger plantations and an even bigger Daddy. A hit, it took Time Out Melbourne's Best Show – Small Stage award for 2012, and, like previous Sisters Grimm show, Little Mercy, has been scooped up for a new production in actual theatre spaces.
Part of the transition from garage to stage was bringing a designer into the fold – cue Marg Horwell. The show will tour with productions at Griffin's SBW Stables in Sydney and Theatre Works in Melbourne, and it's a first time working in both for Horwell. “Having both new venues for me is really exciting,” she says. “Griffin is a great little space that makes a great original intimate work, but Theatre Works is a big cave, so we're trying to recreate the Griffin space within the Theatre Works space.”
With only a day between the first run closing and the bump-in for the Sydney production, the ability to turn the show around quickly is crucial. But it's not all hurdles though; this is, after all, a Sisters Grimm show, and the duo is known for their kitschy, chaotic and outlandish aesthetic.
“The thing I love about Sisters Grimm work is that it's never one thing. It's been a great balancing act so it's not a period piece, but lots of elements contributing to a big rich mess. The script is such a tight, intelligent piece of writing [that] it's a wealth of images already. Then I spent twenty hours watching all these great, cinematic, epic Southern films. And also Declan has been listening to a lot of Kanye West and we've been working with this hip hop, nouveau riche aesthetic as well. We've been really interested in clichéd America, like middle-American craft, quilting and knitting and that classic American stuff – Twinkies and popcorn and things.”
In light of the difficulties a touring theatre show presents, it's no surprise to hear Horwell's gleeful excitement when recounting Greene's governing design philosophy for the show: “Nothing is too much!”
Summertime in the Garden of Eden shows at Theatre Works, St Kilda from 7 to 16 Nov and SBW Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst 20 Nov to 14 Dec
