Legs On The Wall — New Artistic Director
In announcing the appointment of Patrick Nolan as its new Artistic Director, Legs Board Chairman Bruce Meagher said the Company was delighted to welcome someone of Patrick’s vision and calibre to the Company.
Since graduating from the NIDA Directors’ course in 1991, Patrick Nolan has created and developed a broad range of new Australian work: from intimate plays for the Griffin Theatre to large scale outdoor productions. He has directed over 50 productions spanning opera, conventional theatre, music theatre, large scale events and Festivals. This month his production of John Adams’ opera The Flowering Tree had its Australian premiere at the Perth International Arts Festival; for several years he has also been Creative Director for the Sydney Festival’s Jazz and Symphony in the Domain concert series.
Patrick Nolan stood out among a wide range of very talented Australian and international applicants. Nolan demonstrated a strong commitment to the Company’s existing artistic identity, while also articulating some bold new directions that will help cement our position in the national and international performance world. That vision is based on the creation of large scale physical theatre for which the Company is renowned, together with an approach that will engage and foster the physical theatre community and grow Leg’s audiences… We look forward to a very exciting new chapter in the Company’s life. Bruce Meagher
Patrick Nolan’s production of Henry Purcell’s compressed masterpiece Dido and Aeneas is as close to perfection as anything Opera Australia has staged in the past 10 years. The director and his collaborators have created a harmonious timelessness… The production moves seamlessly from stylised gravity to bouncy bawdiness, from cosy intimacy to heroic grandeur.
The Sunday Age
I am over the bloody moon. Legs on the Wall is an exceptional company, that for many years has contributed to Australian and international performing arts culture through its daring and highly original approach to story telling. The Company can expand its vision even further, to become known as the company that creates extraordinary performances in extraordinary spaces. Patrick Nolan
Following a successful season of Bubble at the Sydney Opera House and a large scale work in Beijing during the Olympics in 2008, Legs has recently performed for Opera Australia in David Freeman’s production of The Magic Flute. Current Artistic Director Debra Button has led the Company for eight years, through some of its most successful productions, and is looking forward to focussing on project based work as a director and performer.
Legs on the Wall celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. For 2009 the Company was granted a 20% increase in core funding from the Australia Council and has been encouraged to apply for Emerging Key Organisation status as an Artistic Hub for 2010.