Melbourne Fringe | G2, 152 Sturt Street, Southbank, VIC, 3006
OFFICE +61 3 9660 9600 | [email protected] | melbournefringe.com.au
Juan Vesuvius Says RELAX!
Relaxed Performance Guide
Prepared by Carly Findlay, Cameron Stewart and Tom
Middleditch
VENUE: Fringe Hub, Trades Hall - Old Ballroom
Corner Lygon and Victoria Sts, Carlton (accessible entrance via
Lygon St)
DATE: Sunday 22nd September, 11AM
RUNTIME: 60 Minutes, Come and go as you please
In this Relaxed Guide
• What is a Relaxed Performance?
• Parents, Guardians, Carers; Lend us your ears!
• Getting to the venue
• When you Arrive
• The Space
• The Performer
• Music
• What will happen at the event
• Contact Us
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What is a Relaxed Performance?
A relaxed performance is essentially a piece of art that
acknowledges it is asking its audience to make an emotional
commitment. We know that that commitment is going to require
different things from different audience members.
Relaxed Performances were designed for those on the Autism
Spectrum, and with other sensory processing disorders. They try
to meet the audience halfway, giving reasonable permission for
people to be comfortable as themselves, and relaxing the often
rather strict rules of performance to allow this.
What does this mean for you and your family?
Practically, the performance on the day will have some
performance elements augmented to make the theatre space
more relaxed for those who have sensory requirements and
comfort behaviors.
Attendees are welcome to respond to the performance in
whatever way makes them most comfortable. This includes,
singing, stimming, pacing, dancing, rocking, humming or any
other movement or noise making the want
The lighting and sounds will be altered to be softer and less
intense.
The house lights will remain on throughout the event so there is
never any moment of complete darkness, and the door to the
front of house area will remain open, so that people may come
and go at any time.
Should you or your child need to leave to de-stress, a space
connected to the performance area has been designated the
relaxed room. Fringe or A_tistic staff will be on hand to take you
there and monitor the room.
Parents, Guardians, Carers; lend us your ears!
We have worked to make this event as relaxed and accessible as
possible within a Fringe Festival framework
However, even with that, we will need your help in ensuring the
event goes smoothly
We won’t be equipped to take care of your child on their own, so
please stick around to keep an eye on your child for the whole
event
You know your child better than anyone, so if you see behaviour
that indicates they are becoming stressed, feel free to make use
of the relaxed space that will be made available.
We have worked to explain the process of the day as best we
can, and we ask that you explain some of the concepts to your
children so they are as prepared as they can be.
You understand them better as individuals than we do, and while
we can provide an environment for them, and will be explaining
everything we can both in this pack and in person on the day,
explaining it to your child will go very far towards making the
event the best it can be.
Getting to the Venue
There are two public transport options from the Melbourne CBD to Trades Hall – train and tram, you can plan your journey using the Public Transport Victoria website Train Trades Hall is located 800 metres from Melbourne Central train station. Exit at Swanston Street/La Trobe Street, and make your way East up La Trobe Street. Turn left at Russell Street, and continue to Victoria Street, when Russell Street becomes Lygon Street. Trades Hall is on the corner of Victoria Street and Lygon Street. Bus Trades Hall is around a 15-minute bus trip from Melbourne CBD. Catch the 907 Bus from Swanston and Lonsdale Streets. Bus 907 is a Smart Bus – accessible for wheelchairs and mobility scooters. Tram Catch the number 30 and City Circle trams East along La Trobe Street. Alight at corner Russell and Swanston, and walk north on Russell Street. Continue to Victoria Street, when Russell Street becomes Lygon Street. Trades Hall is on the corner of Victoria Street and Lygon Street. These trams are not accessible for wheelchair or mobility scooters, nor are there accessible stops along La Trobe Street.
Parking There are a number of street car parks outside Trades Hall on Victoria Street, including an accessible parking bay. Lygon Street carpark is a short walk from Trades Hall – located at 204 – 218 Lygon Street. You can view a Melbourne CBD mobility map here This is what the venue looks like from the outside
Photos of the inside of Trades Hall are further down the document. When you Arrive Everyone will be greeted by a Melbourne Fringe Festival Volunteer in an orange shirt.
They will then be given a medallion with three different coloured medals on them. These colours can be changed at any time and mean different things The Red Medallion This means that you would be most comfortable keeping to yourself. This means the performer won’t interact with them and other attendees are encouraged to do the same. Ideal for very shy children. The Yellow Medallion This means the you aren’t sure how much they want to engage with the performer or the other attendees. The performer may engage with the attendee if they feel the attendee is open to interaction but will stop engaging with the attendee if they don’t respond to the engagement and will begin interacting with another attendee. Other attendees will also be informed that people with yellow medallions may choose to interact but should respect their choice if they don’t want to. The Green Medallion This means the attendee is comfortable engaging with both the performer and the other attendees. This means the performer may talk directly to the attendee, dance with them and/or ask them to be part of the performance in some capacity. Do not feel you have to change your medallion for anyone but yourself. These medallions are designed to put the choice of engaging in social conversation into a solid form. Once the attendee has had a chat with our front of house team
and received a medallion they should place it over their head with the coloured token that best suits them placed at the front. The Space: The Old Ballroom is a performance space with timber floors and black drapes around the outside. For this performance the performer will be using the stage at the front of the room. On this stage will be a set of DJ decks that will be decorated with items and lights and a small table where the performer will keep any props they need for the performance. On the floor there will be some specific areas marked up in coloured tape which highlight what activities are best suited to those spaces. The Green Area will be directly in front of the stage and this is the area where you can dance and interact with the performer. The Yellow Area will be at the back and is where attendees who would prefer to stand back and watch can hang out without needing to participate. The Red Walkway leads to the breakout space where attendees can spend some time away from the action without needing to leave the space. The Blue Circles and Squares are areas where attendees who want to show other people in the room their dance moves can jump into for a moment in the spotlight.
This is a layout of the space:
The Performer
This is Juan Vesuvius (You say it H-wan Ve-soo-vi-us)
Juan Vesuvius is a character played by Barnie Duncan. Juan is a silly music loving DJ from the Caribbean. He often plays percussion alongside his DJ sets and uses props for silly comedic moments. You can view a trailer for one of his adult shows here: https://vimeo.com/252038647
Music: Family Friendly Music will play throughout this event and will be set at an audio level that is suitable for a relaxed environment. Juan Vesuvius will play a variety of music genres as part of the performance. He will make music selections on the day based on the response from the audience. While the exact playlist for the day is not available, broadly, these are some of the main music genres he will play: Calypso: Calypso music is an Afro-Caribbean style of music that is highly rhythmic and often has harmonic vocals. Sometimes the lyrics are in English, sometimes they are in another language and sometimes there are no lyrics at all. A playlist of examples of Calypso music can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/user/cocoxshanell/playlist/44klCIFJcvGrWu6Eii1mwk Disco: The disco sound is typified by “four-on-the-floor” beats and syncopated bass lines. It is generally uptempo, has an electronic sound and can include a wide variety of instruments. A playlist of examples of Disco music can be found here: https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX1MUPbVKMgJE Dance Pop: Dance Pop is a subgenre of pop and is generally uptempo and danceable with repeated lyrics and musical phrases. Juan will mainly be playing retro dance-pop hits from the 80s and 90s. A playlist of examples of Dance Pop music can be found here:
https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX82SvZY6fOWx What will happen at the event: Unlike a theatre show, there is no story to this event. It is just a disco. Having said that, while we can’t offer you a beat for beat of the script, here is as thorough an outline of the events of the day. At the start of the event Juan will be playing music and welcoming the audience into the room. At various times he will talk over the music to give information about the space to the audience. He may also play instruments alongside his DJ set at this time and may come into the audience and dance along with the attendees. After this Juan will have a storytelling moment. He will play a short well-known story on his DJ decks and pause it at various times and ask the attendees to fill in the blanks to create a new story. After story time, Juan will continue playing music and interacting with the crowd. During this time he may play with some props and do some silly physical comedy. He may look like he is hurt, but that is all acting and he will be ok. There will then be another break in the DJ set where Juan runs an interactive moment. This could be teaching everyone to do a something with him. This will be either some dance moves, or a call and response to a song. This will culminate in anyone who wants to being a part of a big participatory number! Juan will then resume his DJ set before closing with a short farewell performance.
Contact Us
Did this pack give you everything you need? Anything that hasn’t
been explained clearly enough? Want to give feedback?
We are always wanting to grow and make better Relaxed
Performances, making the most of what we have available, and
you can help us to do this!
We will be updating this document as more information and
images becomes available. In the meantime, if you have require
any further information please contact Melbourne Fringe Festival
on 9660 9600, or email Carly Findlay, Access and Inclusion
Coordinator at
You can also stay up to date by following the event on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/events/445606416029611/
Trades Hall visual guide
Trades Hall is Melbourne Fringe Festival’s new home. It is located
on the corner of Victoria and Lygon Streets, Carlton.
This is a visual guide to help people prepare for a visit to
Melbourne Fringe at Trades Hall. These photos were taken during
construction of venues within Trades Hall, so there are some
construction material and workers, and boxes waiting to be
unpacked. The venues will look different at night – darker and set
up as performance spaces. This document will be updated as the
venues inside Trades Hall are built.
You can find information about getting to Trades Hall on the
Melbourne Fringe website.
Outside of Trades Hall
Image: Trades Hall viewed from across the road. A large beige
building, with a pointed triangle roof and two turret features either
side. Construction scaffolding is two thirds up on the left turret. A
tree obscures the right turret. On the roof are three flags – the
Aboriginal flag, the Torres Strait islander flag and a red flag which
is a symbol of the international Labor movement. The building has
eight pillars in the centre – representing the eight hour day. There
are long thin rectangle windows up high, and arch windows either
side of a large arch doorway with a dark green door below the
rectangle windows. A number of cars are parked on the street on
front of the building.
Image: a close up of part of the Lygon Street frontage of Trades
Hall. Arch windows are in beige exterior walls. There are a
number of beige pillars that are set into the concrete steps. Next
to the pillars is a grassy area with an iron fence. The footpath is
concrete.
Image: an external mobility lift. A metal cubed lift is in between
two beige pillars. The lift’s metal is slightly transparent. The front
door section is low, and the back section is double the height of
the front.
Image: the concrete entry at the top of the steps, and entry/exit of
the external mobility lift. The entry of the mobility lift one side of
the metal cube, as described In image 2. Some metal railing is on
the right hand of the steps, right angling into a pillar (out of view).
On the left is beige external wall. A green double door is at the top
of the steps. These will be open during Festival time. A spherical
white light is above the doors, and it’s framed with an arch detail
on the external wall.
Inside Trades Hall
Image: the interior of Trades Hall. To the right is an ascending
staircase, with a wooden rail on the wall. To the left is a corridor
which turns right. A dark door is at the end of the corridor. The top
two thirds of the walls are beige, with a green feature between the
wooden skirting board and frieze. A floral patterned frieze curves
around the wall and runs along it. The floor is dark green. Lights
hang from the ceiling.
Image: an internal corridor with greyish walls, green floors and
doorways that are on the left. One doorway is the entrance to an
accessible toilet – a silver and blue sign with a wheelchair symbol
is on the wall, indicating its purpose. The next doorway is partially
in view – it’s open, and part of a yellow wet floor sign is resting on
the inside edge of the doorway. At the end of the corridor are
some double doors, that are open, and through the doors is more
green floor and open space.
Image: A closeup of the accessible toilet door. The walls are
greyish, and the door is taupe. The door has four horizontal vents
at the bottom. On the wall is a silver sign with two black symbols
that depict people standing, and a white and blue wheelchair
symbol. “Unisex toilet LH” is in bold black text below the symbols,
and braille is below the text. The floor is green.
Image: the inside of the accessible toilet. A toilet with a grey seat
and white backrest is in the right corner of the room. Silver metal
railings are along the wall parallel to the toilet, and adjacent to the
toilet cistern. Below the railing adjacent to the cistern is a blue
sanitary bin. A roll of toilet paper is on the wall next to the toilet,
and a spare roll sits on the railing. The floor has dark grey tiles. A
drain is on the floor. The walls are greyish.
Image: Another view of the accessible toilet. This time, the sink on
the wall, with a silver tap and container of handwash on the basin
and a mirror is above the sink.
Image: The outside of an internal lift. It has silver doors. A silver
button is on the left side. The walls around the lift are greyish and
the floor is green.
Image: the inside of a lift. There is green protective fabric on the
walls. The wall of buttons is partially in view.
Image: The inside of the Old ballroom. It’s large room with black
drapes around the edge. There is a stage at the opposite end of
the ballroom from where the photo was taken. To the right is a
wooden bar. The ceiling is high, and the floor is polished wood.
Image: a flat floor and two large double doors, leading into the Old
Ballroom. The doors are almost closed.
Image: internal corridors. The corridor facing the viewer has a
closed brown door with glass windows, and a number 2 in the
centre. Next to the door is a small wall. The top two thirds of the
wall is beige, with a dark green feature between the wooden
skirting board and a frieze. A floral patterned frieze runs
horizontally along the centre of the wall between the beige and
green. The floor is green. The wall stops as it’s a corner leading
to an adjacent corridor.