Two Adelaide Fringe stalwarts are causing a stir online at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe with their hybrid live/digital season of five critically acclaimed Australian shows, broadcast care of Black Box Live from Adelaide’s Bakehouse Theatre. All five are now available on-demand until 2 September 2021. Time to get booking!
Joanne Hartstone and Tom Kitney‘s production house Hartstone-Kitney Productions has become an Adelaide theatrical institution. The pair run the acclaimed ‘Black Box Theatres’ typically located in the Botanic Garden during the Adelaide Fringe and are long-time regular Edinburgh Festival Fringe participants.
Black Box Live: State-of-the-art streaming
This year, seeing themselves and other artists unable to attend the Fringe in person, Black Box Theatre evolved into Black Box Live, a digital platform home to a collection of five critically acclaimed shows across theatre, dance, cabaret and variety and physical theatre filmed using three state-of-the-art cameras, binaural microphones and integrated “switching” technology.
Having produced the world’s largest streaming event as part of Adelaide Fringe in February and March 2021, the broadcast capabilities of Black Box Live have been tried and tested to produce a cinema-standard dynamic viewing experience for audiences across the world.
Black Box Live’s EdFringe programme comprises:
- The globally renowned The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign, which won the Adelaide Fringe 2017 ‘Made in Adelaide Award’
- Still Alive And Kicking by Gill Hicks, which took home the ‘Edinburgh Fringe Award’ at the Adelaide Fringe 2021
- The Reichstag Is Burning, the newest award-winning theatrical offering from Hartstone-Kitney Productions
- EGG, a physical theatre show by Erin Fowler (Best Dance, 2019, Made in Adelaide, 2020, Best Dance, 2021)
- And the stunning world premiere of Spaces Between Us+ Satori by Australian Choreographer Lewis Major
Black Box Live at Edinburgh Fringe
Joanne Hartstone, Black Box Live Creative Director, who also performs two of the Edinburgh shows The Girl Who Jumped Off The Hollywood Sign and The Reichstag Is Burning, commented:
“The pandemic presented us with a challenge earlier this year, one that required creative thinking and problem-solving. The result was a portable model for performance where we are able to present shows partly or exclusively online – dependant on conditions, without compromising the quality of performances. Adapting our craft to a virtual platform has allowed us the freedom to engage with the international art scene at a time when that just isn’t happening for Aussies.”
Show trailers
During the 2021 Adelaide Fringe, Hartstone-Kitney Productions partnered with artists and companies who were performing at Black Box Theatres, and 16 productions were broadcast via Black Box Live over five weeks: 47 performances were seen by thousands of viewers from 38 countries, for which Black Box Live received the 2021 John Chataway Award for Innovation.
All of that knowledge and experience goes into the Edinburgh Fringe presentation.
