Dreaming of Leo
The man may have a history in advertising and the arts stretching three decades, but by the end of his Sydney Festival tenure he was a fogey. Plain and simple. Boring, stuck in his ways, and running a festival that was polarised between (a) a majority of elitist events celebrating the work of dead white dudes and (b) a few low-brow mainstream events, who could forget how middle of the road Jazz in the Domain was. And his regular columns were fixated on grafitti artists.
I guess he’s retired, at 72, though he’s still writing a column for the Bulletin and doing the talks circuit.
The reason I bring it up is Daily Tele writer Nick Pickard’s comment that people are complaining about the festival.
In the Oz, Matthew Westwood said this year’s festival “lacks balance and is a disappointment to some … Theatre has only a small presence, as does visual art. Classical music is absent altogether.”
The Herald Sun’s Chris Boyd said Linehan’s 2008 program is “seriously lacking in good judgement and good taste.”
Pickard reckons critics are dreaming of the past and forgetting the reality of that past.
I am not sure where it all comes from, but I suspect it is certain sections of festival going people who have a shared nostalgia for the days when Leo Schofield and Brett Sheehy were the festival directors. They were the days when chamber music and good old text based theatre were the big hit numbers.
I have a different recollection of those days, and am firmly planted in the camp relieved by current artistic director Fergus Linehan’s vision to create not only an exciting festival, but an energy that fills the streets. It’s a less dusty and more accessible programme that makes The Arts sexy, beautiful and brazen.
Me too. It’d be great to see some more challenging works presented. But the festival’s mandate isn’t polite music, arts and theatre programming you can get year round in Sydney. It should be new or new to us. It should make people think differently. It should fascinate and inspire. And while that may not be true for Brian Wilson, it’s been true for a lot of Festival shows I have seen over the past three years.
Haha! The reception for Brian’s been phenomenal. But anyway, I agree about the festival. Very exciting and cool.
Peter
9 Jan 08 at 6:50 pm
(some late night ramblings)
Yeah this year is probably one of the first years of the Sydney Festival when I’ve felt ‘in the target market’. This either means I am getting old, or the festival has shifted away from ‘heritage arts’. It has also shifted more towards ‘fun’ . . . which, for some puritanical reason seems to equate with ‘bad art’ in a lot of circles.
Given we are a very divided city, perhaps ‘fun’ is exactly what we need for a while to get people back in the mood to experience some experimental things.
And you shouldn’t be so down on Wilson. I just got back from Pet Sounds and the actual ‘whole of Pet Sounds’ section was great although the other ‘greatest hits’ moments were passable at best. Dad rock - but I guess we’re all entering that demographic now.
seb
9 Jan 08 at 6:55 pm
I realise the “seriously lacking in good judgement and good taste” line probably makes me look like a conservative opera-loving cloak-wearing tosser — from Melbourne no less — but good art is good art… whether it’s a poetry slam, a burlesque show or a chamber music recital.
I’ve seen about a dozen of the acts that Fergus has scheduled and, well, I’m wondering if *he’s* seen them. (And, if so, why the hell he scheduled them!)
Bits of the ‘08 festival are gonna be brilliant, bits are gonna be shite. Really good and really bad. That’s what I mean when I question Linehan’s judgement and taste.
The festivals I’m pining for are not Leo-the-Lobster’s. They are are the last two! (Sheehy’s last and Linehan’s first.) They were festivals to cross state lines for.
Chris Boyd
9 Jan 08 at 8:06 pm
Thanks for posting Chris, I’m not up on the international theatre circuit - do you think the Sydney Festival programming reflects a dearth of good talent in those areas (e.g. Linehan’s said that they were offered plenty of theatre, but the quality wasn’t there this year)?
Seb, the Beach Boys in their prime were amazing. But Wilson is no longer compos mentis. You pay 130 dollars to see this old guy, who couldn’t care less about the show, reads from an autocue and fronts a band of talented session musos doing a super polished version of his songs. It’s just the opposite of what a festival like this should be doing - one of the big guys should be touring this commercially.
matt
11 Jan 08 at 6:52 am
Did he really say they were *offered* plenty of theatre? They should be grubbing around for it themselves!
Sad about Wilson. At least Lou Reed, last year, wasn’t on autopilot. Damn passionate in fact.
And Joanna Newsom should be pretty special.
Chris Boyd
11 Jan 08 at 6:06 pm
Fair call… Kev Carmody, the Drones, the Herd, Pigman Bros and the rest were fantastic tonight - this year’s Come So Far For Beauty I guess. But actually so much more in terms of festival programming.
matt
11 Jan 08 at 6:39 pm
I agree the festival should strive to do somethng out of the ordinary, take risks not on the normal cultural menu in this town. And while its possibly not as bad as the Leo days I’m a bit dissapointed by the heavy weighting toward pop music. Not that I didn’t enjoy seeing Sufjan (more than you perhaps) and even Brian Wilson (albeit for free in the Domain) and Bjork and Low. Its not exactly adventurous programming or even in the realm of acts that wouldn’t tour as a matter of course in any given year. I hear this situation is more related to the lack of subsidy the festival gets as opposed to those in other state capitals. But it seems a missed opportunity.
Beardwagon
25 Jan 08 at 9:47 am
Nice post Matt. I am firmly in the camp that the Sydney festival (under fergus’ directorship) has finally moved on from an obsession with heritage music practices to something a little more contemporary and relevant. Beardwagon, why are you disappointed by the ‘heavy weighting towards pop music’? After all, if you look at CD sales, it represents 98% of musical practice, so focusing your program on 2% of musical practice would be a bit skewed, don’t you think? Do you think there is something inherently less valuable about music outside the classical tradition? From my perspective, the contemporary classical scene isn’t exactly dynamic hotbed of creativity these days.
I’m not sure terms like ‘popular music’ have a lot of meaning in this context, other than to designate music outside the classical and jazz traditions.
Adventurous programming is good and should have a strong presence in any decent festival, but let’s not forget that these guys have serious income KPIs to meet, so need some bums on seats acts to pull in some revenue. It’s a tough gig and I think Fergus is doing well.
Julian
12 Feb 08 at 7:19 pm
Hi Julian, I’m certainly not saying it should all be Bach & Stockhausen & its wonderful in a way to see contemporary popular forms in the festival as part of a cultural conversation. I do take your point however that a lot of the difficult job of programming a festival is about bums on seats, especially given the lack of subsidy the Sydney Festival gets. What arts festivals are supposed to be able to do though (and heres where I think this one falls down a little) is program challenging and unusual stuff that the festival audience would not normally get the chance to be exposed to. And while I agree we’ve moved on a long way from Leo, its a pity Fergus isn’t given the financial scope to be more adventurous.
Beardwagon
13 Feb 08 at 8:02 am
[...] Clearly people have differing opinions on the programming at this year’s Sydney Festival - I’ll show my cards and say that every year for the past three or four (that I’ve been in Sydney) I’ve found more in the program I want to see and hear. [...]
Fortune Grey » Blog Archive » Pushing a ladder to the Sydney Festival
15 Feb 08 at 8:37 am
hi beardwagon - i agree that a good festival will present some material which challenges its audiences, alongside more accessible work, and challenging work exists across a range of genres. Historically, the Sydney Festival has not been one of the more adventurous. That said, as mentioned by others here, i have been more attracted to the musical content in the last couple of years than in previous years.
Julian
17 Feb 08 at 7:52 pm