{"id":12010,"date":"2021-07-03T18:46:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-03T18:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=12010"},"modified":"2021-07-03T18:46:22","modified_gmt":"2021-07-03T18:46:22","slug":"exhibition-provides-window-into-newcastles-creative-past-and-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/07\/03\/exhibition-provides-window-into-newcastles-creative-past-and-present\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition provides window into Newcastle\u2019s creative past and present"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been almost four decades since members The Castanet Club first graced the stage at the back of the Clarendon Hotel with their irreverent mix of comedy, theatre, music and dance.<br \/>\nNow, for the first time since 1991, the iconic Newcastle ensemble are getting the band back together for a very different gig \u2013 as the stars of a new exhibition at Newcastle Museum.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RuoUawVdlC4\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Castanet Club: an exhibition you can dance to (if you were allowed)\u00a0<\/em>will transport audiences back to the 1980s through a kaleidoscope of band posters, photographs, scripts, records, VHS and cassette tapes.<br \/>\nNewcastle Museum Director Julie Baird said Newcastle is known as an incubator for the arts, theatre, music and comedy.<br \/>\n\u201cNewcastle is a creative and innovative community with a vibrant cultural history and an amazing depth of talent within its performing and visual arts sector,\u201d Ms Baird said.<br \/>\n\u201cExhibitions such as this provide a vehicle through which we can share our stories, explore our identity and celebrate the collaborative nature of the city\u2019s creative and performing artists.<br \/>\n\u201cThe Castanet Club began as a group of friends living, studying and working in Newcastle in the early 1980s and went on to become a legend of the Australian cabaret circuit, gaining national and international acclaim.<br \/>\n\u201cThis exhibition uses items from the Museum\u2019s own collection, which were donated by former Castanet manager Jodi Shields, and includes additional memorabilia borrowed from members of the band, as well as a new artwork by acclaimed local artist Michael Bell, who created the original pop-art aesthetic of the Castanets.<br \/>\n\u201cThe story of the Castanet Club will also be brought to life through a newly commissioned film by\u00a0<em>Stories of Our Town<\/em>\u00a0filmmakers Glenn Dormand (Chit Chat von Loopin Stab) and Tony Whittaker, while art curator Therese Kenyon and artist Stephen Clarke will use the exhibition to launch their new book celebrating the remarkable history of the group<em>.<\/em>\u201d<br \/>\nThe free exhibition was supported by the Create NSW Triennial Program Grant.<br \/>\n<em>Castanet Club: an exhibition you can dance to (if you were allowed)\u00a0<\/em>will open at Newcastle Museum on 11 July and will run through to 31 October.<br \/>\nFor more information visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/newcastlemuseum.com.au\/exhibitions\/special-exhibitions\">https:\/\/newcastlemuseum.com.au\/exhibitions\/special-exhibitions<\/a><br \/>\n<u>Fast Facts \u2013 The Castanet Club<\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Castanet Club was formed by a diverse group of friends living in Newcastle, including drama students, visual artists, amateur musicians, a payroll clerk, an industrial chemist and a typesetter.<\/li>\n<li>They began performing at Newcastle\u2019s Clarendon Hotel in 1982, with up to 12 people on stage during performances acting out various regular comic personas.<\/li>\n<li>The Castanet Club gained national and international recognition for their off-beat blend of music, dance, and comedy, touring Australia, winning the best of the Adelaide Fringe award and performing at Edinburgh\u2019s famous comedy festival.<\/li>\n<li>Many of the band\u2019s members have since established high profile and successful careers in the arts including comedians Stephen Abbott (Triple J breakfast \u2013 \u201cSandman\u201d) and Mikey Robins (Triple J breakfast host, co-host of\u00a0<em>Good News Week<\/em>), actor Glenn Butcher (<em>Full Frontal, Fisk)<\/em>, writer\/director Warren Coleman (Oscar-winning movie\u00a0<em>Happy Feet<\/em>), writer-performer Russell Cheek (stage play\u00a0<em>Who Am I?<\/em>\u00a0based on his experiences winning\u00a0<em>Sale of the Century<\/em>), radio personality and podcaster Maynard (Triple J), and children\u2019s TV presenter Angela Moore and pianist Penny Biggins (<em>Play School<\/em>).<\/li>\n<li>Leading director of theatre, opera and film, Neil Armfield, made a film about The Castanet Club in 1990.<\/li>\n<li>The band stopped performing in 1991.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been almost four decades since members The Castanet Club first graced the stage at the back of the Clarendon Hotel with their irreverent mix of comedy, theatre, music and dance. Now, for the first time since 1991, the iconic Newcastle ensemble are getting the band back together for a very different gig \u2013 as &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/07\/03\/exhibition-provides-window-into-newcastles-creative-past-and-present\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Exhibition provides window into Newcastle\u2019s creative past and present&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newcastle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}