Urchin (Sea sounds) Melburne Recital Centre
Sounds Cinematic - Four Winds Festival
Still Awake Still!, New Victory Theatre NYC
Phobia, Chamber Made Opera
desoxy Theatre - 98.3% DAN being human
Spooky Men's Chorale Shrewsbury Festival
Film: 90% Yield Before Breakage from margie medlin Dan Witton Composer / Performer |
Dan Witton has worked as an actor, physical performer, instrumentalist, composer, sound designer and vocalist.
Freelance work includes mainstage, fringe and independent theatre companies, dance companies, contemporary music ensembles, street theatre, television, bands, physical theatre, acrobatic troupes and in art galleries/installations. Recent work includes 
Apocalypse Meow, A Crisis is Born -
Melbourne Malthouse, BAM NYC
Anthem: Performing Lines, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Festivals
Pandemonium: Seattle Symphony, Perth Festival (WASO), Sydney Festival (SSO)
Current Artistic Practice
Some examples of work relevant to my current practice are: Urchin Commissioned by the Melbourne Recital as Sea Sounds, an interactive sound oriented performance for babies and their carers. It performed for the Music Play festival in January 2018 Inspired by research about the sea including fish communication, bio-luminescence, extraordinary life forms, the action of sound underwater, and the the nature of light. and human pollution of the ocean. More about Urchin The Ennio Morricone Experience With Graeme Leak, Boris Conley, David Hewitt and Patrick Cronin An homage to Ennio Morricone with a theatrical ruse: An ensemble of second choice musicians dealing with impossible demands of harried film producers dealing with late changes in the cinematic production process due to budgetary cuts. This performance strategy allowed ‘distance’ between embodiment of the musical material and absurd juxtaposition of ‘post production’ tasks. The work changed nightly: reorganising order, improvising and refining the music which was arguably the most time consuming part of the preparatory process. The ensemble performed in contexts including concert halls, cabaret and theatre both in Australia and overseas. The ensemble eventually changed dramaturgic strategy to refine the performance material into the Spaghetti Western Orchestra. Another version of the approach was made by David Hewitt in collaboration : Sounds Cinematic for the Four Winds Music Festival Barragga Bay NSW. Still Awake Still! From the children book by Elizabeth Honey with Songs by Sue Johnson. Directed by Jessica Wilson with Carolyn Connors, Dan Witton and Renato Vacirca. This project sought to embody a struggle with creativity. The original text narrative was used to develop improvisational strategies that allowed music and musical clowning to embody psychological forces to explain the nature of control and creative play. The resulting performance toured widely in Australia and the United States including seasons at The New Victory Theatre on Broadway and seasons in most Australian capital cities. http://www.stillawakestilltours.net/, Still Awake Still Highlights, https://vimeo.com/37639582 Phobia By Chamber Made Opera with Dan Witton, Teresa Blake, Gerard Brophy, Graeme Leak, Boris Conley, David Hewitt and Patrick Cronin This project started from text by Douglas Horton and developed dramaturgy based on a combination of futurist experimental sound art coupled with the art of foley for film or live radio. Sound was the leader in the performance media hierarchy. ‘Action’ was determined by virtue of the reason that it was always to make sound. Theatrical approach to sound making using text, action, music, foley, atmosphere and narrative - tempered by an exploration of ‘film noir’ gave a rich approach to the performance work. Initially developed over a short period the work enjoyed multiple seasons and an Australian and international touring. Chamber Made Opera - Phobia - website archive page http://www.chambermadeopera.com/works/phobia/ Desoxy Theatre Dan co-founded desoxy theatre in 1990 with Teresa Blake creating original performance projects including work at major festivals, film and video, short pieces and independent seasons touring Australia, Venezuela, Spain, Japan, Belgium, Austria, Holland, England, Ireland, Scotland. Other companies that he has worked with include: Opera Australia, State Theatre Co SA., Australian Dance Theatre, Circus Oz, The Seymour Group, Etcetera Theatre Co, ABC Television, Belvoir St. Theatre, The Mambologists, Magpie Theatre, Strange Fruit, The Blue Grassy Knoll, Cosmo Cosmolino, Not Yet It's Difficult, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, The Urban Dream Capsule, David Chesworth/Wax Media, The Wikimen, the Ennio Morricone Experience, Bush Gothic, Tania Bosak and the Spooky Men's Chorale. |
