New show about sharing stories

SEVEN women aged from their teens to their seventies will take to the stage at Freight Bar next month as part of a storytelling presentation.

The free event, called Lifting the Lid, has been spearheaded by co-producers Lynden Nicholls and Delia Allen, with a theme of generational experiences.

Nicholls said the presentation is about capturing the universality of the human experience.

“It’s sort of lifting the lid on stories of ordinary people across many spectra,” she said. “The difference between the women is their age but they all have the same topic.

“I sometimes think Ballarat can be a bit grouped. I’ve never liked elitism. We want to have ordinary people and the occasional big-wig so us listeners can see no-one’s much better than anyone.

“It’s an evening out. We wanted the topic to offer something broad and stimulating enough for people to personalise their story.

“All the topics, no matter what groups we choose, will try to do that. For this first one I was keen to get people I know who would have confidence with public reading.”

Presenters will include Nivash Neil, Zerene Jaadwa, Sarah van de Wouw, Sophie Livitsanis, Rebecca Russell and Kate Serrurier, with each person representing a different decade in age.

Their presentations will be 1000 words long, and Allen said they’ve been given minimal editing.

“It’s their story,” she said. “The editing has been we’ve got 1000 words and five to seven minutes to read.

“Sometimes people will want to write more, up to 2000, so I’m there to limit that and help guide it along. But it’s absolutely people’s voices.”

Artist, Heather Horrocks, will be one of the presenters and said her presentation will encompass a long life lived.

“I’ve tried to look at my generation rather than just me. I span two millennia and eight decades and all the changes mentioned of anybody who’s alive now,” she said.

“The fact I’ve had to look backwards is an enormous challenge because I don’t very often.

“The fact this is live theatre attracted me. We’ve almost lost the joy and thrill of it. I love the idea of people stumbling over their line or the lights going out.”

The upcoming event is set to be the first in the Lifting the Lid series, with further instalments to take place later this year focusing on male and non-binary groups.

Lifting the Lid will take place from 6.30pm to 9pm on Thursday, 6 April at Freight Bar.