Festival Man
Brett Sheehy first came to festival prominence as Leo Schofield's right-hand man for successive Sydney Festivals. When he slid into the hot seat there were doubting Toms and Tomasinas who wrinkled their noses and wondered whether he was up to the big job on his own account.
Then, for his first line-up in 2002, he somehow persuaded the notoriously unpersuadable Ariane Mnouchkine to bring her Theatre du Soleil to Sydney. It was an extraordinary act of nailing colours to the mast on Sheehy's part. The company's four-hour epic The Flood Drummers, filled the Hall of Industries with its own culture and was the talking point and centrepiece of the festival.
For Sheehy The Flood Drummers remains a memorable moment as it does for so many who experienced it.
"People said to me - you must be bonkers," Sheehy recalls. "It's nearly five hours long, it's in French it's set in China a thousand years ago and it's got puppets."
This is in answer to the question: what's your ideal festival show? And Sheehy's full answer includes the observation: "One where the director has put his or her neck on the line. When you know you've taken the greatest risk. You know - the Star Trek thing - to boldly go. It could make or break you and you really don't know which it'll be. It's great fun."
Sheehy ran on adrenaline that year and has continued to stock up on the stuff ever since. After successful Sydney festivals he was hired by the biennial and venerable Adelaide festival. He's performed his same wired and wonderful magic there too, and moves on to Melbourne after the 2008 Adelaide festival in March. So what's different now than when he started?
"There are new things every day when it comes to festivals," says Sheehy. "But the thing I know is different is that I've learned to trust my instincts. When I started I tended to tick the boxes rather than go with the heart. You know: have I got one of these? Have I got one of those?"
Adelaide 2008 stars a unique production in Australian festival history: a brand new production and Australian premiere of Osvaldo Golijov's Aindamar. It's an example of Sheehy's confidence, he says.
"I'm not sure I'd have had the courage to mount a major opera eight years ago," he laughs. (What a surprise: with Mr Grand Opera Leo Schofield's beady eyes peering over your shoulder - who would?) "What I love is that we're producing it in house and I'm pretty sure it's the first time that's been done here."
Sheehy's decision to go to Melbourne after his critical and box office triumphs in Adelaide is an interesting one: it's not because it was the next mountain to climb.
"No, I had been looking around Australia and thinking I would have to look overseas for the next three to five years for the kind of work I wanted to do. But the climate has changed - politically - with the federal election. You can really feel the winds of change. Artistically I think we're in for a real sea change in the art being made here. And I want to be part of it."
Have audiences changed over his eight years festival directing?
"I think people are much more informed because of what comes to festivals now. And they recognise quality right across the board. We know what's going on in Finland or Argentina and we want to see it. I think the cities go on a journey with their directors - and the distinctive character of each city informs what a director brings to that journey. You don't impose on a city. Or if you do, you're likely to be in trouble."
Sheehy cackles like a loony when asked to list his past nightmares: shows that didn't work.
"Oh god! Well, there are always shows that do something unexpected. Or that just don't make it with audiences or critics. Here Lies Love is a good example, it probably needed more work and David Byrne has contined to work on it and it's being presented around the world now, but a lot of people - yourself included, I remember - hated it! And then there was Damaged Goods at the Town Hall in Sydney. I loved that show - Meg Stuart's choreography - and I can remember very clearly the audience bolting out of the Town Hall. Bolting!"
But there were others who sat through the two-hour dancers-in-a-box grunge extravaganza and loved it. You never can tell. That's what Sheehy likes - and instinctively brings to his festivals.
Adelaide Bank Festival of the Arts, 29 February-16 March 2008, www.adelaidefestival.com.au/
