Archival photography by Robert Catto, promotional photography by Jasmin Simmons, development photography by Christina Mishell (all 2023).
NEW BALANCE by Christopher Bryant & Emma Palackic
April 19-23, 2023 at The Old Fitz Theatre (Red Line Productions)
February 4 - 8, 2020 at Theatre Works - as part of the Melbourne Midsumma Festival
“I remember when I was 8 watching SBS through the crack of my bedroom door. I could see two women getting it on. It was a dangerous and exciting image, and I knew I should forget it… but instead I took it to bed with me. I remember promising myself each time: ‘this is the last time I’ll do this.’ I also remember not believing it, not even one little bit.”
Built from a tapestry of intersecting stories of the queer-disabled experience, New Balance celebrates the intimacy and surprising universality of the experience growing up on the outside. In doing so, Bryant and Palackic interrogate and constellate the moments that formed and hurt us in equal measure.
What are the points of connection that are unique for the queer community? What formulates these points of connection and makes them special? And how can we be truly self-reflexive within a community that is trying to progress while still under attack?
From the inaugural winners of the Melbourne Fringe & Midsumma Queer Development award (Intoxication), New Balance was developed with a mentorship from Nicola Gunn. Universal, uniting, and empowering, New Balance moves beyond trauma to imagine a brightly queer new future.
PRODUCTION TEAM (2023):
Director/Dramaturg: Emma Palackic
Writer/Performer: Christopher Bryant
A/V Design: Justin Gardam
Sound Composition: Romy Seven Fox
Lighting Design: Chris Milburn
Producer: Dino Dimitriadis
SM & Op: Madeliene Picard
Movement Coach: Ashley Dougan
Mentor: Nicola Gunn
New Balance was created with the support of a Create NSW Small Project Grant (Quick Response).
Developed with support from Brand X/The Flying Nun, Sydney World Pride 2023.
“New Balance” featured anecdotes from:
2023: Emma Palackic, Anthony Severino, Jamila Main, Jacqueline Tooley, Rebekah Robertson.
2020: Emma Palackic, Katherine Gwynn, Jacob Thomas, Jeremy Wells.
PRESS:
“A brilliantly engrossing 60-minute show created by Bryant and Emma Palackic, to firmly renounce that collective refusal to acknowledge the gremlins in our system, put in place to privilege the few, but that are perversely upheld by the masses.” - Suzy Wrong, Suzy Goes See
"Bryant’s writing on the whole is well-rounded: intellectual, sharp and witty, trying its best to reflect diversity in queer experiences which include anecdotes from people with disabilities and people who have eating disorders. New Balance manages to uncover the realities and difficulties of what it is to grow up queer, but also the defiance, resilience and happiness which comes from self-acceptance." – Sabine Brix, Arts Hub
“Each show I see… tells me more about him; even if it just tells me how good of a writer he is - how insightful and thoughtful he is about the world around him and his process of making theatre.
Chris is also disabled. His new show, New Balance, partly reckons with that new facet of his self and identity - and it also places his story in the wider context of the queer community. How does Chris see his cis, queer, disabled self? How does he see himself inside the community he lives in? How does that same community see him? Complicated, thorny questions to be addressed in only an hour of theatre - but potent and galvanizing. A fascinating hour of theatre.” – Keith Gow
“Bryant is an engaging performer, and some anecdotes earned the laughter of recognition from the audience. There are some interesting ideas to ponder in New Balance. One is that, following Plato’s teachings, there’s an ideal of “Queerness” that people can’t realise. Bryant notes that whilst Queerness should be intersectional, people of colour, or those with disabilities, might find that the Queer mainstream doesn’t have a place for them. Some voices in the piece acknowledge their complicity in this.” – Jason Whyte, Arts Review
“An hour-long monologue performed with such directness and honesty that it compels attention. What we learn (for this is a learning experience), is that despite some few ‘universal’ connections in gay experience, there is no ‘universality’.” – Michael Brindley, Stage Whispers