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Charlotte Farrell was 19 and performing the role of a hairdresser in an advertising campaign when she realised she didn\u2019t want to be an actor \u2013 at least, not in the traditional sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cA person came in and said, \u2018She doesn\u2019t look anything like her photo. Well, she has a nice neck. Just put her hair up and just show her neck\u2019,\u201d Farrell recalls. \u201cIt was a pivot point for me. I just decided I couldn\u2019t do it any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Charlotte Farrell and Emma Maye Gibson have been friends since they met at uni in 2007.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Rhett Wyman<\/cite><\/p>\n Emma Maye Gibson, best known for her drag performance avatar Betty Grumble, had a similar experience trying to make it in the industry, having been twice rejected from drama school.<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to enter into the acting world, I just had an allergic reaction to how that made my body feel,\u201d she says. \u201cI always wanted to tell stories about how in love with life I was.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, the pair have set up their own theatre company, whose first show opens this week.<\/p>\n The duo met at a house party in 2007, where they bonded over the music of Prince, while they were both studying theatre and performance studies at the University of NSW.<\/p>\n They began performing together in the feminist performance art collective What Makes Men Blush, taking their shows to nightclubs, art galleries and fringe festivals. At the same time, Farrell introduced Gibson to queer spaces including Marrickville\u2019s Red Rattler Theatre.<\/p>\n What Makes Men Blush in their play inspired by Shirley Temple, Shirley.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Max Milne<\/cite><\/p>\n In 2011, Farrell\u2019s PhD on the work of Australian theatre director Barrie Kosky took her to Montreal, ending their creative partnership, but not their friendship. In the years since, she\u2019s built an academic career, while Gibson created Betty Grumble.<\/p>\n Now, Farrell and Gibson are working together again as Body of Work, combining Farrell\u2019s research skills with Gibson\u2019s embodied performance style \u2013 and their first show is their take on Shakespeare\u2019s romantic fairy comedy, titled A Midsummer Night\u2019s Cream<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cI genuinely believe in fairies,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cSo it will be conducted as a spell, to call in and bow to theatre fairies. It\u2019s always been magic between the two of us [her and Farrell].\u201d<\/p>\n Gibson auditioned for drama school with a monologue from the lovesick Helena in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>. In Gibson and Farrell\u2019s play, that character will embody aspects of the performer\u2019s \u201csometimes tragic love life\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re also poking fun at when we connected and our earnest desire to be actors, and celebrating our love of theatre,\u201d Gibson says.<\/p>\n Gibson helped care for Farrell after the birth of Farrell\u2019s daughter earlier this year. It\u2019s just one example of the intimacy and trust they share, which is the foundation of their new work and their theatre company. \u201cFriendship is certainly not required, but it\u2019s something that definitely, for us, is a big part of our process,\u201d Farrell says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re sharing the love that we have for each other,\u201d Gibson says. \u201cI feel very comforted in how much recognition there is between the two of us and how much we can share that with audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Farrell\u2019s baby has been a part of Farrell and Gibson\u2019s collaboration since before she was born: \u201cAs soon as I said that I was pregnant to Emma Maye, I could see the cogs turning, like, \u2018How can we do a performance with your pregnant body?\u2019 And so we did.\u201d<\/p>\n That performance was part of Gibson\u2019s 24 Hour Grumble Boogie<\/em> endurance work\/aerobics class, held in Sydney for this year\u2019s WorldPride. Farrell was then nine months pregnant.<\/p>\n Betty Grumble and Charlotte Farrell perform in 24 Hour Grumble Boogie.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Josie Hess<\/cite><\/p>\n That collaboration feeds into A Midsummer Night\u2019s Cream<\/em>, which speaks to motherhood in terms of Farrell\u2019s experience, the life-giving power of the planet, and Gibson\u2019s yearning to be a mother. In the original Shakespeare, the mother-child relationship is between Titania, queen of the fairies, and a changeling.<\/p>\n \u201cHer figure as the fairy queen mother is an archetype we want to use to unpack some of these questions, including what it is to be a new parent,\u201d Farrell says.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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