
THEATRE WORKS AND THE THURSDAY GROUP PRESENT
Corporare - Evan Task in Outer Space
BY MATTHEW CROSBY

17-27 JUNE | EXPLOSIVES FACTORY
Corporare - Evan Task in Outer Space
BY MATTHEW CROSBY
Behold a tech bro horror genre in outer space.
Created and performed by Matthew Crosby, Corporare presents a child, his rocket and his sociopathic fantasies. Corporare looks at the corporate body, a metaphor of madness made real.
The complexity of a celebrity ‘founder’ entrepreneur who governs a company seemingly whimsically with little regard for personal liability or consequence for worker or the community in which they operate became the performance story of my research; the horror trope of alien invasion in space is for me delicious theatrical terrain. So it is that my Evan Task, boy prodigy, is faced with the (horrible) dilemma of outward invasions and inner eruptions. Corporare becomes a kind of retribution for wrongs done without remedy and tries to understand how, yes, male businesspeople can delude themselves so successfully.
"Hidden behind my veil, I am a corporate fiction… neither culpable nor accessible. Space though, is a storied frontier of delusions. It is a silent and cold vacuum where the loudest must finally listen. It is the medium in which my body forms: corporare! Where I am punished most horribly. Where my skin lets in the red lamé art-worms of Mars. Come witness my final reckoning. Come! Formare corpus!"
Development of Corporare was facilitated by the generous support of The City of Melbourne.
VENUE
EXPLOSIVES FACTORY
Rear Laneway, 67 Inkerman Street, St Kilda
DURATION
60 minutes
WARNINGS
ACCESSIBILITY
Explosives Factory is accessed via a flight of stairs and is not wheelchair accessible.
"What a show! Just bloody gorgeous. Elegant, funny, gently caustic. I felt so privileged to live in a city where this kind of event might happen, a coming together of artists to witness someone at the height of his expressive powers!"
- Maude Davey
"Light and space are obvious in the matter of space travel, but that combo also works on many other levels, physically, emotionally, and metaphorically. The whirling, spiralling constellations on your geegaw world are reduced at the end by human decay and infantile ambition to nursery room playthings, like bubby's mobile"
- Jim Daley


DATES + TIMES
Wednesday 17 June - 7:30pm (Preview)
Thursday 18 June - 7:30 pm(Opening)
Friday 19 June - 7:30pm
Saturday 20 June - 7:30pm
Tuesday 23 June - 7:30pm
Wednesday 24 June - 7:30pm
Thursday 25 June - 7:30pm
Friday 26 June - 7:30pm
Saturday 27 June - 7:30pm

Theatre Works has a lockout policy for latecomers. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early to ensure you don't miss out.
Refunds will not be issued to latecomers.
TICKETS
FULL PRICE
CONCESSION*
PREVIEW
$48.00
$38.00
$30.00
*Seniors, Student, MEAA, Health Care and Low Income card holders
Shows in the WITH THEATRE WORKS stream align strongly our values and missions - these works we co-produce and co-present with independent artists and/or companies. Projects within this stream receive significant producing, marketing, PR and production support in addition to free use of the venue and a generous box office split.

CREDITS
WRITER
Matthew Crosby
DIRECTOR
Tessa Marie Luminati
PRODUCER
Diego Fajardo
PRODUCER ASSISTANT
Angelique Zhou

MEET THE ARTIST
MATTHEW CROSBY
My practice is formed from a collection of influences: Asia—Suzuki Tadashi, Kim Sujin, Kara Juro; Europe—Jerzi Grotowski, Tadeus Kantor; Australia—Yumi Umiumare, Barrie Kosky, Lech Mackiewicz. In Thursday Group I have written and directed in an actor-focused theatre practice with my collaborators. With the Corporare solo, I am excited to step inside this Poor Theatre and Constructivist aesthetic and see where my director and long-term collaborator Tessa Marie Luminati guides me.


