This week on Let’s Talk…The Arts, Rachael meets multidisciplinary artist & producer Aidan Rowlingson. Aidan is a Butchulla man of the K’Gari and Wide Bay Area who graduated from the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Acting and Performance, before working in both classical and contemporary theatre. His theatrical writings include Capricorn, developed by QPAC, and currently showing at La Boite theatre in Brisbane.
The show, which Rowlingson also co-directs alongside Yuwi woman, playwright and director Nadine McDonald-Dowd, focuses on the doomed relationship of Sam and Ally; “ill-fated lovers” who keep being thrown together by fate. Through the lens of this relationship, “Capricorn explores culture, sexuality, personal growth and grief, as well as environmental issues, the importance of protest, and the effects of institutional corruption on society.
In this episode, Rachael learns a little about the current performance of Capricorn, and what it means to Aidan to be co-directing his own play and watching it come to life. In a wide-ranging yarn on all things acting, writing, poetry & performance, Rachael & Aidan talk about what it takes to navigate the art scene in the colony while making spaces to tell complicated stories of love, desire, resistance, and belonging.
