Award winning songwriter, performer and born-again traveller Melissa Main will bring her 2018 collaborative music project to Brisbane next month. This collaborative music project involves Melissa visiting Australian townships and creating and listening to music with the people who host her. Melissa’s music project has come to be named Suitcase Cabarets as it has an emphasis on human stories and can be performed almost anywhere.
Based in Melbourne, Melissa has been on the road since August last year, collecting stories and making music with her generous hosts across the East Coast. Her gypsy lifestyle and hunger for collaboration has led to a show that relishes in tongue-in-cheek tales of the human experience. Melissa’s affectionate nature and predilection for inclusivity means that audiences can participate in her maverick philosophy: anyone can make music. Melissa’s expertise is grounded in the traditions of eclectic blues folk music and she has received acclaim for her impassioned lyrics and dazzling melodies. For her other show, The Patron Saints of Disappointment, Melissa will be collaborating with Kylie Morrigan and Jan Harvey to recount their travels from misery to contentment and asking audiences how they deal with disappointment. Melissa will also be collaborating with Novocastrian songwriters Anousha Victoire and Madeline Flowers for the former’s show Handle With Care, in which the three women will narrate on universal and personal stories of heartbreak.
Melissa’s performances will form part of the Anywhere Theatre Festival, which comprises over 500 performances held in a variety of unexpected locations. In previous years, audiences have enjoyed theatre in car parks, comedy in laneways, opera in reservoirs and dance in stairwells. The festival also includes arts and craft workshops and is dedicated to propelling exciting performances regardless of one’s access to traditional theatre infrastructure.
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