Same Time/Same Place playfully explores the idea of a multispecies ephemeral opera set on Wilyakali and Barkandji Country in the arid zone of far west NSW; a resilient and adaptive ecology that experiences dramatic changes from dormancy to abundance. Triggered by the phenomenon of rain, the seemingly sparse landscape can burst into life with shimmering crescendos of colour and movement - of wildflowers and flocking birds. Creeks spontaneously flow, synchronising frogs to wake from aestivation (dormancy). In this multispecies chorus, duets and intertwining arias emerge, signifying the cycles and interconnection of life. Bringing together human and non-human voices as if place itself conducts the opera.
Looking to unravel and expand traditional notions of opera as a multisensory provocation, Same Time/Same Place is part ecological doco, part sonic tapestry, part scenic art saga, part experimental community flash mob; made up of many parts, reading the landscape like a musical score, and invoked through democratic means of workshops, participation, sampling, making, shape notes…. karaoke?! Weaving an interconnected tapestry of sound and movement through place-based acoustics, composition, form, materials and colour.
Becoming a democratic and collective act.
Braiding multispecies song, body percussion, choreography inspired by swarm intelligence, myrmecochory (seed dispersal dance by ants), collective behaviour and Broken Hill’s social history as the cradle of the Australian union movement, and further the way living beings respond to and navigate each other and their environments.
Like a spontaneous dance where no one knows the steps, but everyone moves in harmony.
The project has been developed through a series of observations, recordings, sensory collaborations, workshops, and sometimes brief - on-going - and long distance relationships between interdisciplinary artist/everyway weaver Charlotte Haywood and composer/multi-instrumentalist Sue Simpson and the multispecies participants, communities, ecologies, voices and expanse of Wilyakali and Barkandji Countries, Broken Hill, Fowlers Gap Research station, Silverton, Imperial Lakes, zebra finches, willie wagtails, butcher birds, magpies, crows, wedge-tailed eagles, billy goats, kangaroos, water holding frogs, desert trilling frog, Peron’s laughing tree frog, seed dispersing ants, saltbush, blue bush, velvet potato bush, mulga, river red gum, dead finish, the chorus of grasses, AACES Group, arts/COOL, Leroy Johnson, Aimee Volkofsky, CW Stoneking, Claudia Vidal Aguilar, Edward Horne, Hamish McCormick, Simon Griffith (behavioural ecologist), the Broken Hill Civic Orchestra, the Barrier Industrial Unions Brass Band, the Broken Hill Philharmonic Choir …
The project was created using experimental processes, from drones to phone footage, sonic field recordings, cumbia to collective body percussion; making in ensemble, recording live instrumentation and vocals to electronic sampling. Seeding relationships, fruiting ideas of collaboration and symbiosis, as vulnerable spaces that rely on thresholds of curiosity, trust, generosity, exploration, intuition, adaptability and embodied knowledge; allowing emergent phenomena to awaken and ferment.
Asking: what are the fertile conditions that allow for creation/life to flourish?
Broken Hill found aluminium pot lids, kitchenware
Broken Hill found aluminium pot lids, kitchenware
Broken Hill found blankets, high vis, lace curtains, repurposed fur
Broken Hill found blankets, high vis, lace curtains, repurposed fur
Broken Hill found blanket, lace curtains, repurposed fur
hemp canvas, machete bamboo dowel
hemp canvas, machete bamboo dowel
LIBRETTO Of Multispecies (karaoke) opera, 2024
DORMANCY (ensemble)
Water Holding Frog, desert trilling frog, Butcher Birds, CW Stoneking, Paul Adcock, Simone Sky, Sue Simpson, Charlotte Haywood
RAIN (ensemble)
AACES GROUP: Antoinette Deacon, Vicki Adams, Tarleighan Williams, Darlene Newman, Eileen Newman, D’Shama Newman, Sissy Power, Shamii Chaplain, Skey Fry, Racheal George, Imogen Gray, Rakell Webster, Tyeshia Williams, Dakota Staker, Lilly Wren
Arts/COOL GROUP Shayla Brown, Liam Mclaughlin, Emma Mclaughlin, Elijah Forster, Nat Kloczko, Leon Brown, Hannah Beitzel, Emily Jones, Max Burrows
GRASS SEED DISPERSING ANTS (duet)
Ants, Sue Simpson, Charlotte Haywood
ZEBRA FINCHES (ensemble)
Zebra Finches, Broken Hill Philharmoic Choir, AACES GROUP, Arts/COOL Group, CW Stoneking, Paul Adcock, Simone Sky, Sue Simpson, Charlotte Haywood
WILLIE WAG TAIL (recitative)
Willie wag tails, Kookaburras, water holding frog, dessert tree frog, Alisha Brooks, Leroy Johnson, Sue Simpson, Lennox Horne, Charlotte Haywood
BILLY GOAT (recitative)
Goats, willie wag tail, butcher bird, CW Stoneking, Aimee Volkofsky, Sue Simpson, Charlotte Haywood, Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus (1955)
MAGPIES (duet)
Magpies, butcher birds, willie wag tail, crow, Leroy Johnson, Sue Simpson, Charlotte Haywood
WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE (finale)
Sue Simpson, Barrier Union Brass Band, Broken Hill Orchestra, community
repurposed fur
Video installation
Performing Wedge Tailed Eagle
Composer Sue Simpson with the Broken Hill Civic Orchestra + Barrier Union Brass Band
with Claudia Vidal Aguilar
Opening Night
Opening Night
Broken Hill Civic Orchestra
Barrier Union Brass Band
AACES Group
Aboriginal Art + Community Education Sistas (Broken Hill High School)
Textiles, colour/mark making + Sculpture
Textiles + Costume elements