Melbourne Fringe | G2, 152 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006

OFFICE +61 3 9660 9600 | info@melbournefringe.com.au | melbournefringe.com.au

Juan Vesuvius Says RELAX!

Relaxed Performance Guide

Prepared by Carly Findlay, Cameron Stewart and Tom

Middleditch

VENUE: Fringe Hub, Trades Hall - Old Ballroom

Corner Lygon and Victoria Sts, Carlton (accessible entrance via

Lygon St)

DATE: Sunday 22nd September, 11AM

RUNTIME: 60 Minutes, Come and go as you please

In this Relaxed Guide

• What is a Relaxed Performance?

• Parents, Guardians, Carers; Lend us your ears!

• Getting to the venue

• When you Arrive

• The Space

• The Performer

• Music

• What will happen at the event

• Contact Us

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What is a Relaxed Performance?

A relaxed performance is essentially a piece of art that

acknowledges it is asking its audience to make an emotional

commitment. We know that that commitment is going to require

different things from different audience members.

Relaxed Performances were designed for those on the Autism

Spectrum, and with other sensory processing disorders. They try

to meet the audience halfway, giving reasonable permission for

people to be comfortable as themselves, and relaxing the often

rather strict rules of performance to allow this.

What does this mean for you and your family?

Practically, the performance on the day will have some

performance elements augmented to make the theatre space

more relaxed for those who have sensory requirements and

comfort behaviors.

Attendees are welcome to respond to the performance in

whatever way makes them most comfortable. This includes,

singing, stimming, pacing, dancing, rocking, humming or any

other movement or noise making the want

The lighting and sounds will be altered to be softer and less

intense.

The house lights will remain on throughout the event so there is

never any moment of complete darkness, and the door to the

front of house area will remain open, so that people may come

and go at any time.

Should you or your child need to leave to de-stress, a space

connected to the performance area has been designated the

relaxed room. Fringe or A_tistic staff will be on hand to take you

there and monitor the room.

Parents, Guardians, Carers; lend us your ears!

We have worked to make this event as relaxed and accessible as

possible within a Fringe Festival framework

However, even with that, we will need your help in ensuring the

event goes smoothly

We won’t be equipped to take care of your child on their own, so

please stick around to keep an eye on your child for the whole

event

You know your child better than anyone, so if you see behaviour

that indicates they are becoming stressed, feel free to make use

of the relaxed space that will be made available.

We have worked to explain the process of the day as best we

can, and we ask that you explain some of the concepts to your

children so they are as prepared as they can be.

You understand them better as individuals than we do, and while

we can provide an environment for them, and will be explaining

everything we can both in this pack and in person on the day,

explaining it to your child will go very far towards making the

event the best it can be.

Getting to the Venue

There are two public transport options from the Melbourne CBD to Trades Hall – train and tram, you can plan your journey using the Public Transport Victoria website Train Trades Hall is located 800 metres from Melbourne Central train station. Exit at Swanston Street/La Trobe Street, and make your way East up La Trobe Street. Turn left at Russell Street, and continue to Victoria Street, when Russell Street becomes Lygon Street. Trades Hall is on the corner of Victoria Street and Lygon Street. Bus Trades Hall is around a 15-minute bus trip from Melbourne CBD. Catch the 907 Bus from Swanston and Lonsdale Streets. Bus 907 is a Smart Bus – accessible for wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Tram Catch the number 30 and City Circle trams East along La Trobe Street. Alight at corner Russell and Swanston, and walk north on Russell Street. Continue to Victoria Street, when Russell Street becomes Lygon Street. Trades Hall is on the corner of Victoria Street and Lygon Street. These trams are not accessible for wheelchair or mobility scooters, nor are there accessible stops along La Trobe Street.

Parking There are a number of street car parks outside Trades Hall on Victoria Street, including an accessible parking bay. Lygon Street carpark is a short walk from Trades Hall – located at 204 – 218 Lygon Street. You can view a Melbourne CBD mobility map here This is what the venue looks like from the outside

Photos of the inside of Trades Hall are further down the document. When you Arrive Everyone will be greeted by a Melbourne Fringe Festival Volunteer in an orange shirt.

They will then be given a medallion with three different coloured medals on them. These colours can be changed at any time and mean different things The Red Medallion This means that you would be most comfortable keeping to yourself. This means the performer won’t interact with them and other attendees are encouraged to do the same. Ideal for very shy children. The Yellow Medallion This means the you aren’t sure how much they want to engage with the performer or the other attendees. The performer may engage with the attendee if they feel the attendee is open to interaction but will stop engaging with the attendee if they don’t respond to the engagement and will begin interacting with another attendee. Other attendees will also be informed that people with yellow medallions may choose to interact but should respect their choice if they don’t want to. The Green Medallion This means the attendee is comfortable engaging with both the performer and the other attendees. This means the performer may talk directly to the attendee, dance with them and/or ask them to be part of the performance in some capacity. Do not feel you have to change your medallion for anyone but yourself. These medallions are designed to put the choice of engaging in social conversation into a solid form. Once the attendee has had a chat with our front of house team

and received a medallion they should place it over their head with the coloured token that best suits them placed at the front. The Space: The Old Ballroom is a performance space with timber floors and black drapes around the outside. For this performance the performer will be using the stage at the front of the room. On this stage will be a set of DJ decks that will be decorated with items and lights and a small table where the performer will keep any props they need for the performance. On the floor there will be some specific areas marked up in coloured tape which highlight what activities are best suited to those spaces. The Green Area will be directly in front of the stage and this is the area where you can dance and interact with the performer. The Yellow Area will be at the back and is where attendees who would prefer to stand back and watch can hang out without needing to participate. The Red Walkway leads to the breakout space where attendees can spend some time away from the action without needing to leave the space. The Blue Circles and Squares are areas where attendees who want to show other people in the room their dance moves can jump into for a moment in the spotlight.

This is a layout of the space:

The Performer

This is Juan Vesuvius (You say it H-wan Ve-soo-vi-us)

Juan Vesuvius is a character played by Barnie Duncan. Juan is a silly music loving DJ from the Caribbean. He often plays percussion alongside his DJ sets and uses props for silly comedic moments. You can view a trailer for one of his adult shows here: https://vimeo.com/252038647

Music: Family Friendly Music will play throughout this event and will be set at an audio level that is suitable for a relaxed environment. Juan Vesuvius will play a variety of music genres as part of the performance. He will make music selections on the day based on the response from the audience. While the exact playlist for the day is not available, broadly, these are some of the main music genres he will play: Calypso: Calypso music is an Afro-Caribbean style of music that is highly rhythmic and often has harmonic vocals. Sometimes the lyrics are in English, sometimes they are in another language and sometimes there are no lyrics at all. A playlist of examples of Calypso music can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/user/cocoxshanell/playlist/44klCIFJcvGrWu6Eii1mwk Disco: The disco sound is typified by “four-on-the-floor” beats and syncopated bass lines. It is generally uptempo, has an electronic sound and can include a wide variety of instruments. A playlist of examples of Disco music can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX1MUPbVKMgJE Dance Pop: Dance Pop is a subgenre of pop and is generally uptempo and danceable with repeated lyrics and musical phrases. Juan will mainly be playing retro dance-pop hits from the 80s and 90s. A playlist of examples of Dance Pop music can be found here:

https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX82SvZY6fOWx What will happen at the event: Unlike a theatre show, there is no story to this event. It is just a disco. Having said that, while we can’t offer you a beat for beat of the script, here is as thorough an outline of the events of the day. At the start of the event Juan will be playing music and welcoming the audience into the room. At various times he will talk over the music to give information about the space to the audience. He may also play instruments alongside his DJ set at this time and may come into the audience and dance along with the attendees. After this Juan will have a storytelling moment. He will play a short well-known story on his DJ decks and pause it at various times and ask the attendees to fill in the blanks to create a new story. After story time, Juan will continue playing music and interacting with the crowd. During this time he may play with some props and do some silly physical comedy. He may look like he is hurt, but that is all acting and he will be ok. There will then be another break in the DJ set where Juan runs an interactive moment. This could be teaching everyone to do a something with him. This will be either some dance moves, or a call and response to a song. This will culminate in anyone who wants to being a part of a big participatory number! Juan will then resume his DJ set before closing with a short farewell performance.

Contact Us

Did this pack give you everything you need? Anything that hasn’t

been explained clearly enough? Want to give feedback?

We are always wanting to grow and make better Relaxed

Performances, making the most of what we have available, and

you can help us to do this!

We will be updating this document as more information and

images becomes available. In the meantime, if you have require

any further information please contact Melbourne Fringe Festival

on 9660 9600, or email Carly Findlay, Access and Inclusion

Coordinator at

carly@melbournefringe.com.au

You can also stay up to date by following the event on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/events/445606416029611/

Trades Hall visual guide

Trades Hall is Melbourne Fringe Festival’s new home. It is located

on the corner of Victoria and Lygon Streets, Carlton.

This is a visual guide to help people prepare for a visit to

Melbourne Fringe at Trades Hall. These photos were taken during

construction of venues within Trades Hall, so there are some

construction material and workers, and boxes waiting to be

unpacked. The venues will look different at night – darker and set

up as performance spaces. This document will be updated as the

venues inside Trades Hall are built.

You can find information about getting to Trades Hall on the

Melbourne Fringe website.

Outside of Trades Hall

Image: Trades Hall viewed from across the road. A large beige

building, with a pointed triangle roof and two turret features either

side. Construction scaffolding is two thirds up on the left turret. A

tree obscures the right turret. On the roof are three flags – the

Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait islander flag and a red flag which

is a symbol of the international Labor movement. The building has

eight pillars in the centre – representing the eight hour day. There

are long thin rectangle windows up high, and arch windows either

side of a large arch doorway with a dark green door below the

rectangle windows. A number of cars are parked on the street on

front of the building.

Image: a close up of part of the Lygon Street frontage of Trades

Hall. Arch windows are in beige exterior walls. There are a

number of beige pillars that are set into the concrete steps. Next

to the pillars is a grassy area with an iron fence. The footpath is

concrete.

Image: an external mobility lift. A metal cubed lift is in between

two beige pillars. The lift’s metal is slightly transparent. The front

door section is low, and the back section is double the height of

the front.

Image: the concrete entry at the top of the steps, and entry/exit of

the external mobility lift. The entry of the mobility lift one side of

the metal cube, as described In image 2. Some metal railing is on

the right hand of the steps, right angling into a pillar (out of view).

On the left is beige external wall. A green double door is at the top

of the steps. These will be open during Festival time. A spherical

white light is above the doors, and it’s framed with an arch detail

on the external wall.

Inside Trades Hall

Image: the interior of Trades Hall. To the right is an ascending

staircase, with a wooden rail on the wall. To the left is a corridor

which turns right. A dark door is at the end of the corridor. The top

two thirds of the walls are beige, with a green feature between the

wooden skirting board and frieze. A floral patterned frieze curves

around the wall and runs along it. The floor is dark green. Lights

hang from the ceiling.

Image: an internal corridor with greyish walls, green floors and

doorways that are on the left. One doorway is the entrance to an

accessible toilet – a silver and blue sign with a wheelchair symbol

is on the wall, indicating its purpose. The next doorway is partially

in view – it’s open, and part of a yellow wet floor sign is resting on

the inside edge of the doorway. At the end of the corridor are

some double doors, that are open, and through the doors is more

green floor and open space.

Image: A closeup of the accessible toilet door. The walls are

greyish, and the door is taupe. The door has four horizontal vents

at the bottom. On the wall is a silver sign with two black symbols

that depict people standing, and a white and blue wheelchair

symbol. “Unisex toilet LH” is in bold black text below the symbols,

and braille is below the text. The floor is green.

Image: the inside of the accessible toilet. A toilet with a grey seat

and white backrest is in the right corner of the room. Silver metal

railings are along the wall parallel to the toilet, and adjacent to the

toilet cistern. Below the railing adjacent to the cistern is a blue

sanitary bin. A roll of toilet paper is on the wall next to the toilet,

and a spare roll sits on the railing. The floor has dark grey tiles. A

drain is on the floor. The walls are greyish.

Image: Another view of the accessible toilet. This time, the sink on

the wall, with a silver tap and container of handwash on the basin

and a mirror is above the sink.

Image: The outside of an internal lift. It has silver doors. A silver

button is on the left side. The walls around the lift are greyish and

the floor is green.

Image: the inside of a lift. There is green protective fabric on the

walls. The wall of buttons is partially in view.

Image: The inside of the Old ballroom. It’s large room with black

drapes around the edge. There is a stage at the opposite end of

the ballroom from where the photo was taken. To the right is a

wooden bar. The ceiling is high, and the floor is polished wood.

Image: a flat floor and two large double doors, leading into the Old

Ballroom. The doors are almost closed.

Image: internal corridors. The corridor facing the viewer has a

closed brown door with glass windows, and a number 2 in the

centre. Next to the door is a small wall. The top two thirds of the

wall is beige, with a dark green feature between the wooden

skirting board and a frieze. A floral patterned frieze runs

horizontally along the centre of the wall between the beige and

green. The floor is green. The wall stops as it’s a corner leading

to an adjacent corridor.