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Tonya Turner
November 13, 2009 11:00pm
LIVING in a squat is a lifestyle choice for circus performer Skye Gellmann.
It was while squatting in an abandoned apartment block in an upmarket suburb of Melbourne that Skye, his younger brother, Aelx, and their childhood friend, Terri Cat Silvertree, found the freedom and time to create a unique circus show attracting critical and audience acclaim.
"It was a really beautiful place in a rich part of town," Skye, 24, says. "We had a circus space in the squat where we worked on the show and the influence of having very little came into it."
Named Scattered Tacks, the 45-minute production premiered at the Melbourne Fringe Festival last year and won the Village Award for Most Outstanding Production.
The trio, originally from Adelaide, lived in the squat for a year and went without electricity for about two months while developing the piece.
In this darkened environment they put their creativity to work using headlamps and handheld torches to light the room.
"We wanted to make a show that didn't need any power that we could put into any space. We reduced everything to a minimalist state," says Skye, a National Institute of Circus Arts graduate.
As well as no technical lighting, the show has no sound.
The stark set brings the action into focus, with bowling balls, teabags, cups and juggling balls manipulated in mysterious ways.
"There's kind of a cold reality that comes through our work," he says.
"It can be cold and off-putting but at the same time enthralling and highly engaging. We just want to get to the bones of things."
In one scene, Silvertree takes a bite into an onion and doesn't stop until it is devoured.
"She's crying but she keeps on going. It's part of that thing where if you just take a bite out of an onion, it could be a trick and you could present it like a trick, but because we want to present the reality, we take it past the point of being a trick and that can be confronting," he says.
In another scene he gets creative with a bowling ball, getting dizzier and dizzier as the act progresses.
"It brings to the surface it's not actually about the trick but the exhaustion and relationship," he says.
"It's actually happening, someone is getting dizzy and could hurt themselves."
On stage and in life, danger plays a big role in Skye's world.
"You get used to the element of danger living in a squat and it's great," he says.
"It can be a bit nerve-racking knowing you might be caught living in a space you're not supposed to be, so at first you can have some uneasy nights where you hear every sound but you kind of get used to it.
"You don't need to be a renter to be able to live, which is pretty empowering in a lot of ways."
He was drawn to the squatter's life after a particular gig got the better of him.
"At the time me and Terri were having this big reaction against stuff," he says.
"I'd just finished a really horrible stint at the tennis as a mascot and I was feeling pretty down on the world of performing and life.
"I was a character called The Super Ball Kid and it inspired me to want to make a show. It was a reaction against that kind of instant gratification in entertainment.
"I felt like such an object being this character. I wanted to be a person on stage and to try and communicate what it is to be human."
Since its premiere in Melbourne, Scattered Tacks has played the Adelaide Fringe Festival and, with the help of Brisbane contemporary circus company Circa, the Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival in the Netherlands.
Although Skye also does more cash-friendly corporate work as a circus entertainer, he has no plans to quit squatting just yet.
"I personally just like different ways and experiences of living," he says.
"A lot of people think squatters have no respect for property but I think squatters actually have a bigger sense of home and a lot more respect for the environment around them, because they might not be there the next day. It makes you appreciate the friendships and the spaces around you a lot more."
Scattered Tacks by Silvertree and Gellmann, Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse, November 26-28. Tickets $22-$26. Info 3358 8600 or brisbanepowerhouse.org
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