Bring a jacket: Karen Berger is taking you underground

★ Bring a jacket: Karen Berger is taking you underground ★

Karen Berger is inviting audiences underground.

Literally. Underland, her first work in Castlemaine, takes place beneath the old hospital building - dirt floor, cool air, and a surround-sound setup. 

The show opens Friday as part of the Castlemaine State Festival.

“It’s a sound work,” Karen says. “There will be live music as well. We’re encouraging the audience to have their eyes closed as much as possible to just enter into this feeling of what it’s like to descend.” 

The descent is intentional. 

“We have really planned it so that you start off on the surface, then you descend,” she says. “Humans have an ancient relationship to caves and under the ground… refuge, community, but also initiation and really scary stuff.”

Karen is new to Castlemaine and has spent years developing performances with young people and communities around the world, with stints in Edinburgh, Port Moresby and Namibia.

Underland was first developed at Monash University with a 67-speaker system. The Castlemaine version is pared back. Fewer speakers, same idea, with sound moving through the space and around the audience.

It features interviews with local knowledge holders including Uncle Rick Nelson and geologist Clive Willman.

“Underland is very important for this vicinity because of the gold,” Karen says. “That’s something that we’ve investigated through the generosity of some wonderful local people. 

“At one point there were more trees under the ground than above the ground in this area,” she says, referring to the timber used in mine shafts.

Karen moved to Castlemaine about a year ago with her partner — a gardener now coming to terms with the local soil — and is teaching young teens at the Castlemaine Theatre Company’s Youth Theatre Lab alongside making new work.

She says she’s happy to be out of the city, though the shift hasn’t been entirely easy.

“I’ve had ups and downs. It’s tricky leaving friends, but I’m feeling much better. And to tell you the truth, having this show on at the festival makes a big difference — to be doing what I love, which is making theatre, making music, in the place that I live has always been important to me.”

“The great thing here is that the smallness is really positive,” she says. “I can ring up (celebrated author and researcher) Barry Golding and say, ‘hey, would you be up for an interview?’”

That local grounding runs through the piece. Co-creator and composer, Anthony Lyons is a Newstead local and a recording of his daughters playing music on the Loddon River makes its way into the show.

“There’s something about grounding oneself where you are,” Karen says.

The show features unusual instruments, played live by VCA trained musicians, to evoke the sounds of the deep. They include an ultra deep contraforte bassoon (there are only five in Australia) and a stone marimba made from local materials, because of course there is.

Underland opens Friday. Bring a jacket. It’s underground.

• Listen to our interview with Karen on MainFM

• Buy tickets to Underland and learn more about the show

• If you miss out on the Castlemaine show, buy tickets to see a version being performed at Monash Uni in June

❀ A book launch to jump out of bed for ❀

Wheeee! Beloved Castlemaine story catcher, Trace Balla, is launching her new book this weekend.

Treeshape is a memoir and graphic novel. It tells the story of Trace’s environmental activism, deep appreciation of place and connection with First Nations people. And, of course, it’s illustrated beautifully in Trace’s iconic style.

The book launch is happening at 10:30 AM Saturday, 21 March at the Castlemaine Library. And just to pour cherries on top of this delightful happening, Allie Hanly of the award winning podcast, Saltgrass, will be interviewing Trace about the book. How. Good.

There are a few (free) tickets left to a workshop Trace is running after the launch. Check it out!

♡˖ Events ˖♡

• 🎉 CSF Opening Night Street Party, Mostyn St, Fri, 20 Mar, 6:00 PM - 11:00 PM *Free, two stages, hip hop, Jamaican dancehall, circus + DJs

• 🎵 Castlemaine Jazz Lounge, Maurocco Bar, Fri, 20 Mar, 7:30 PM

• 🕺 After Dark, Underground, Theatre Royal & Maxi IGA underground carpark, Fri, 20 Mar, 9:00 PM *Feat. five epic DJs

• 🥀 Orchestra of Extinction, Tutes Cottage, every festival day, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM *Curiosities in a historic home

• 🔨 All At Once, Castlemaine Goods Shed, every festival day, 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM *large walk-through bamboo installation

• 🌹 Illuminated Flowers Workshop, Buda Historic House, Sat, 21 Mar, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM *Work in watercolour + gold leaf

• Leslie Thornton Open Studio, 10 Rowe St, Castlemaine, Sat, 21 Mar, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

• 🎵 Karaoke, The Albion, Sat, 21 Mar, 7:30 PM

• 🎵 The Broderick Smith Songbook, Theatre Royal, Sat, 21 Mar, 8:00 PM

• 🤩 Regional Dance Summit, Movement Zone, Sun, 22 Mar, 8:15 AM - 4:00 PM *Workshops for youth & adults; do one or many

• 🧘 Community Yoga, Wesley Hill Hall, Sun, 22 Mar, 9:00 AM *Donation-based ($5-$20, cash)

• 🎵 Forest Creek Fest with Lior, Theatre Royal, Sun, 22 Mar, 1:30 PM

• 💼 Situationist Travel Agency, Market Building, Sun, 22 Mar, 2:00 PM *A playful, potentially baffling experience

• 🎵 Loretta Miller w/Bad Debts, Shedshaker, Sun, 22 Mar, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

• 🎵 The Putbacks, Maurocco Bar, Thurs, 26 Mar, 8:00 PM *Tix at the door

• 🕺 Dusko Disco, West End Hall, Fri, 27 Mar, 9:30 AM - 10:20 AM *Run, relaxed dance movement class for all bodies

• 👶🏽 Banksia Buds Intergenerational Playgroup, Old Castlemaine Gaol, Fri, 27 Mar, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

• 🎵 Underland, Punctum ICU Basement, Fri, 27 Mar, 9:00 PM

• 🎵 The Meir Cats, Maurocco Bar, Sat, 28 Mar, 7:45 PM *Jazz, Latin, swing

• 🏳️‍⚧️ Trans Day of Visibility Afternoon Tea, Castlemaine Community House Kitchen, Tues, 31 Mar, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM

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