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Lauren Swain
Slow, Stop, Sit, Sip. | 2024
Slow, Stop, Sit, Sip.. @ Convent Chapel
I invite you to join me as I reclaim slow time, reclaim my nervous system, reclaim rest and reclaim my family’s cultural memory of this land. Immersive installation, meets interactive poetry collection, meets collective tea drinking and slowing down.
bio:
Lauren Swain is a proud Dabee Wiradjuri person also with mixed settler heritage. She grew up in a rural town in the mountains of Ngarigo Country (Cooma, NSW), and is now based in the big smoke of Naarm (Melbourne). Lauren’s upbringing in a small town but in a big family, underpins a multidisciplinary artistic practice grounded in community consciousness, care and working with what you’ve got. Lauren has spent many days building imaginary worlds in the back paddock, rummaging through the recycling bin for costume materials and putting on theatre shows in the lounge room with her cousins (little did Lauren know this would be the foundations of their practice as a theatre maker for years to come). Lauren is an artist with Polyglot Theatre Co and Bloomshed Theatre Co. She is also the program producer for the Australian First Nations Circus and Physical Theatre Circle and can be found teaching devising skills at the VCA, University of Melbourne.
statement:
I am a multidisciplinary theatre maker who weaves between performer, collaborator and facilitator. I’m interested in making non-traditional theatre that is accessible for the general public to engage with and love (Shakespeare? I don’t know the guy). The type of theatre I love to make usually takes the shape of immersive and participatory experiences for adults and children, satirical physical adaptations of “classic” texts or site responsive storytelling. I come from a long line of storytellers who have spent thousands of years sharing stories of people and Country. Sitting and listening to Country, mapping cultural memory of place and sharing those stories for past, current and future generations. If I’m not doing that, I’m probably dressed up in a suit playing a pig inspired by Scott Morrison. I’m versatile if nothing else.
Convent Chapel
The artist greatfully acknowledges the support and contribution of her grandmother (Gma), parents Stephen, Uncle Peter, Aunty Jo, her Ancestors, Country and all the young ones who shared their curiosities and voices in this work. Production credits: Emma Holgate and Hamish Toohey- Sound and system design and technical support. Sophia Derkenne- Dramaturgy and workshop facilitation support.
