KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
Arts Market
Information
Steve is a support worker, making a living caring for people with disabilities. Through this line of work he became friends with Mirielle. They met at Cerebral Palsy Alliance ten years ago, where Steve ran group programs and Mirielle participated. They made short films together, remaking trailers from 'Priscilla: Queen of the Desert' and 'Fast and the Furious'. When the program was defunded and shut down, they kept in touch but never made another movie. Until now.
'KEEP YOUR HEAD UP' is a deep-dive into the casualisation of the care industry, the politics of incarceration, and art-making as escape. The project draws on lived experiences from re:group member Steve Wilson-Alexander and his friend, Mirielle Gabriel. Ten years after they stopped making movies together at Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Mirielle and Steve discuss their new idea for a gaolbreak film. As they reconnect and share stories from both sides of the NDIS, re:group use their video magic to create a prison escape movie live on stage in order to break them both free from the roles to which society has confined them.
Company
re:group performance collective
Company / Artist Bio
re:group performance collective is an independent theatre company comprised of dear friends who work together to make live cinema and contemporary performance. We are Mark Rogers, Solomon Thomas, Malcolm Whittaker, Steve Wilson-Alexander and Carly Young.
We are based between Sydney and Wollongong. Our growing body of work includes: 'Coil' (2022-2023), which draws on our collective memories to pay tribute to the glory days of the video store and commemorate the communities we made within them by using our own video-DJing technology to shoot an entire movie live on stage with one actor performing all the parts, 'POV' (2024-2026), wherein a child performer makes a documentary film on stage with unrehearsed adult actors performing reenactments under her direction to create each show, and 'AUTO-TUNE' (2024-2026), our rock opera about a man in a wolf-mask with strange superpowers.
These works and others have been made and presented extensively across the country, in both regional and metropolitan contexts, as well as in cahoots with major organisations and festivals including Sydney Opera House, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St. Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company and RISING Festival.
Location
NSW
Audience
No specific group
Venue suitability
Black boxProscenium arch
Reviews
"Experimental in form, intimate in emotion, and often oblique, re:group performance collective's theatre productions stretch the possibilities of the artform to strange new places while telling small, personal stories" - Time Out
Duration
60 minutes
Touring Party
3
Previous Seasons
-
Estimated Remount Cost
$15 - 20k
Weekly Sell-Off Fee
$10 - 15k
Royalty %
10
Availability
2026
Instagram
@regroup_
Contact Name
Malcolm Whittaker
Contact Phone
0403925392
Contact Email
dr.malcolm.whittaker@gmail.com
Program information
Presentation date
Tuesday 12 August 2025
Presentation type
Pitch