“Once we started working with headphones we asked ourselves would it be possible, and what would the experience be like, to present a show in chaos?”
—Bruce Gladwin, director of small metal objects

Actors are outfitted with microphones. You are given headphones. From a prominent riser you listen to an intense drama happening somewhere in the crowd. In a public space with pedestrians wandering every which way, only gradually do the actors become distinguishable from the rest of the passersby.

small metal objects explores how respect is withheld from outsiders—the disabled or unemployed—whom society deems “unproductive.” Here they play a pivotal role in the night of two ambitious executives they've arranged to meet for a financial transaction that goes terribly awry. Meanwhile, a second drama is played out: Philadelphia’s pedestrians have become unknowing extras in a dramatic narrative, but they only see the 150 audience members listening intently to their headphones, and not the actors creating the drama.

Based in Geelong, Australia, Back to Back Theatre’s creations come from the minds and experiences of an ensemble of actors with disabilities, giving voice to social and political issues that speak to all people. small metal objects won a 2008 Bessie Award.

“A glorious exercise in multiple layers of perception, small metal objects insists that we participate beyond the bounds of mute observance: we are in a public space, isolated by technology yet bound together by it, following a narrative that becomes intensely personal.”
—Irish Theatre Magazine, Dublin

Direction: Bruce Gladwin Text: Bruce Gladwin, Simon Laherty, Sonia Teuben, Genevieve Morris, Jim Russell Sound Design and Composition: Hugh Covill Performers: Simon Laherty, Sonia Teuben, Genevieve Picot

Please note that small metal objects takes place outdoors, rain or shine. Audiences will be seated on a riser covered completely by a tent. Headphones for the performance will be provided to each ticket holder.

Executive Producers: Tom & Carol Beam, Steven Dressler

Read blog articles about this show by clicking here.

Back to Back Theatre exists to create new forms of contemporary theater from the minds of a unique ensemble of actors with disabilities, and giving voice to social and political issues that speak to all people.

Back to Back Theatre creates theatre to dissect the unspoken imaginings of society. Our theatre is an analysis of the biological, psychological and social dynamics that simultaneously unify and separate our audience. We want people to think about the strangeness of their own thoughts.

As a company we create theatre to limit our own sense of safety, responsibility and respectability. We create theatre to fight against our need to preserve our own integrity.

The company’s last three major works have premiered to critical and audience acclaim at the Melbourne International Arts Festival:

soft (2002) won The Age Critics’ Award for Creative Excellence and was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Script. It then toured to Europe with Cow (2000) in 2003.

small metal objects (2005) won the inaugural Age Critics’ Special Commendation, was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work, has since toured to 24 cities around the world and has been performed with live-in ear translation in French, German, and Slovenian. It was awarded the Zurich Theatre Festival’s 2007 ZKB Acknowledgement Prize for extraordinary artistic achievement and a Bessie for its 2008 season at New York’s Under the Radar festival.

Food Court (2008) toured to Belgium in May 2009 and is expected to tour extensively from 2010.

Back to Back Theatre is a recipient of the Myer Foundation Performing Arts Award for its long-standing contribution to the development of Australian theatre.

Back to Back has three new works in development: Tour Guide, Ganesh vs The 3rd Reich and Party.

Bruce Gladwin (artistic director/devisor + direction) was born in the gold mining town of Bendigo, Australia in 1966. Raised by two vaudeville performers, Gladwin spent his formative years watching his father repeatedly cut his mother in half. Bruce’s main interests are reading psychoanalytic theory and conceiving theater shows that are seemingly impossible to create. For Back to Back he has created Mental (1999), Dog Farm (2000), Soft (2002),small metal objects, (2005) and Food Court (2008). He collaborated with Rosemary Myers at Arena Theatre Company to develop the Anthropop trilogy (Autopsy, Mass, and Panacea). The trilogy, along with Oblong, garnered the prestigious ASSITEJ International Honorary President's Award for inspiring, provocative, and experimental ways of expressing a new theatrical language. Gladwin’s other credits include The Island with Lano & Woodley, Blue Rinse Club with MOMO (Museum of Modern Oddities) for the 2004 Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Simon Laherty (devisor/performer) has co-devised and performed in Drag Racers in Love, Arnold, and Soft for Back to Back Theatre. In 2004 he starred in the independent short film Rodney and in 2005 he played Lucky Phil in the feature film Noise. He created the character of Steve in small metal objects.
"I was born in Geelong in Corio. I like to run quizzes and have trivia nights. I am pretty clever; I ask the questions and if they don’t know the answers - I give them two tries - then I tell them. I first worked with Back to Back Theatre as part of Theatre of Speed, a program for young people with disabilities. I love being an actor. I love performing on stage in front of a huge audience."

Sonia Teuben (devisor/performer) has been performing with Back to Back since 1993. In addition to penning a one-woman play (Gina's Story, 1995), Teuben starred in the short film Porn Star (2002), screened at festivals internationally, and created the generative character Gary in small metal objects.
"I grew up in Broadmeadows. Most of my childhood I was on a sedative because I was wild and out of control. I left home at age 18 and I lived in a lot of houses full of staff, like respite places. Then I moved to Footscray and that’s when I became an actor. The day of the audition for Back to Back I had handcuffs on and a studded belt. That was my look back then, that was the way I was brought up in Broady, with weapons."

Hugh Covill's (sound design/composition) relationship with Back to Back Theatre spans several years and includes the sound design for Cow, Soft, and small metal objects. He has enjoyed a diverse career within the arts sector with a focus on sound and the design of listening experiences. His sound design work has included musicals, ballet, public space installations, casino spectacles, advertising, and many mixed media performance events. He is principal design consultant for SoundDesignSolutions, a company that specializes in acoustic modelling for major infrastructure projects. For Covill, working in the live performance medium offers the most challenging opportunities for the creation of truly immersive listening experiences. In the future he would like to become a grandpa and cuddle his grandkids.

Genevieve Morris (devisor) graduated from Victoria College, Rusden, and has since had an extensive career in the Australian performing arts industry. In theater, she has worked with companies such as Melbourne Theatre Company, Arena Theatre Company, Circus Oz, Ranters Theatre, Playbox, and Melbourne Maskworks. She has extensive TV credits and was an ensemble member (with Bruce Gladwin) of The Woolly Jumpers in Geelong. She is also a keen improviser, regularly performing with Troupe du Jour, and has a history of participation in the Melbourne Theatre Sports scene. She has worked with Back to Back Theatre on two works, Mental and small metal objects. As a performer, Genevieve loves forming relationships and connecting with absolute strangers that she will probably never see again. She is very proud to be a mom.

Jim Russell (devisor) has been working as an actor in the Australian theater, TV, and film industries since graduating in 1988 from Victoria College, Rusden. His most recent television appearances have been in Satisfaction, MDA, and the long-running Channel 9 sketch show Comedy Inc. His most recent theater performance was in Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd as part of the 2009 Malthouse Theatre season. With Back to Back, Jim has co-devised and performed in Mental, Soft, and small metal objects. Russell’s favourite chocolate bar is a Cadbury Crunchie because of the sensation you get when the honeycomb melts down the back of your throat pushed along by the creamy milk chocolate. Jim loves performing because he’s shy and he’d never express himself otherwise.

Genevieve Picot has had an extensive career in film, theater and television for more than 25 years. She has received the Film Critic’s Circle Award in 1991 for Proof, as well as both the New Zealand film and television awards for Best Female Performance in a Dramatic Role for Bread And Roses. Highlights of her career on stage include Olive in the MTC’s 40th Anniversary production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, which toured nationally and performing in Tom Stoppard's plays Arcadia (MTC) and Rock 'n Roll (MTC/STC). Genevieve performed in The Aunt’s Story at the Melbourne Festival, Belvoir St and the Brisbane Festival in 2002. And in 2007 toured Australia and Europe with Back to Back Theatre's brilliant small metal objects. Genevieve is much relieved that after 25 years of performing in Australia the promise of "becoming an actor and experience the world" is finally coming true.

Marcia Ferguson cut her teeth as a performer and director at Melbourne University, working on avant-garde adaptations of classics and cabarets. At Anthill Theatre, Marcia attained notoriety by stepping on a board and nail with bare feet and leaving the stage wearing a ski. In the 1990s, Marcia toured Australia, Canada, and North America with Arena Theatre, and directed award-winning productions with Ranters Theatre and her company, Crying Out Loud. Marcia performed for ten years with the improvisatory theatre company, Dramatic Edge, staging gorilla-theatre interventions in corporate environments, and performing in Australian television and films. Her play Australian Marriage Act (Arena Theatre) has enjoyed five return seasons (Sydney Opera House, Victorian Arts Centre). Marcia joined Back to Back in 2000 and became artistic associate in 2007. She was show director of small metal objects (Europe, USA tours) and has directed numerous works.

Luke Ryan is one of three thespian brothers, known locally as "The Baldwins of Australia." While less than comfortable with this comparison, Luke is pleased that being the eldest brother makes him Alec and not Stephen. He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School in 2004, and since then has worked extensively in theatre in both Melbourne and Sydney. Some of his credits include A Commercial Farce, Tartuffe, and The Spook (Malthouse Theatre), Waikiki Hip (Sydney Theatre Company) and Concussion (Griffin-STC). Film and TV work includes Valentine’s Day (ABC), The Desealer, and Numurkah. While others may refer to him as "The Poor Man’s Alec Baldwin," Luke would rather you thought of him as "The Thinking Man’s Gary Busey."