Some Rooms (1983 - )

McMurdo, Don: Ross Philip and Janet Vernon in Graeme Murphy's 'Some Rooms', Sydney Dance Company, c. 1983

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Some Rooms premiered in Sydney in the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House on 22 November 1983. Choreographed by Graeme Murphy, with film and slide environment by Michelle Mahrer and Brett Cabot, set design by Murphy and Graham Johnson, costumes by Anthony Jones and lighting by David Malacari, the work was danced to music selected from the works of Keith Jarrett, Joseph Canteloube, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten and Samuel Barber.

Some Rooms is in four sections: 'Bedroom', 'Bathroom', 'Changing Room' and 'Reading Room' with each room being a metaphor for a stage in the the unfolding of interpersonal relationships. Murphy's program notes for the opening season explained: 'The first room, the bedroom, is a dwelling place of youthful dreams where the voyager creates his fantasy of idealised love. The second - the bathroom - belongs to a harsher, more sophisticated world where he in turn becomes the object of another's fantasy. In the confusion of the changing room the voyager encounters conflictions of sexuality and persona - and in the reading room there is a feeling of calm as the physical gives way to the spiritual. The voyager gains a perspective of his own tenuous world'.

The cast for the premiere performance was led by Paul Mercurio as the Voyager, Tonia Kelly as his Dream Love, Janet Vernon as the Woman and Ross Philip as the Man. Susan Barling took the lead role in the Changing Room section. Some Rooms toured nationally and internationally, notably to New York where it premiered at the City Center Theatre on 26 March 1985.

Murphy's restaging of Some Rooms opened on 27 September 2004 at Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay. This production was relit by Damien Cooper and had new video footage by Jason Lam. The cast was led by Bradley Chatfield as the Voyager, Tracey Carrodus as his Dream Love, Katherine Griffiths as the Woman and Simon Turner as the Man. Wakako Asano took the leading role in the Changing Room.

See also: Mercurio, Paul ; Murphy, Graeme ; Sydney Dance Company ; Vernon, Janet

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Research Materials

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Other resources

Find more about Some Rooms in:

• Internet - Google
• Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
• Pictures - Picture Australia