Coffee Cantata

Decadence, drama and delight - Bach's Coffee Cantata as you've never seen it before! Fully costumed, this colourfully staged show presents Bach's comic cantata depicting the rise of the coffee house(and coffee addiction!) in 18th-century Germany, re-imagined by Australian production designer Elizabeth Gadsb

In this tale of coffee addiction, a father tries to get his daughter off the espresso and threatens all manner of things; no parties, no shopping trips, no device time(ipads), but nothing takes, until… he promises to find her a lover if she gives up the cappuccino! This does the trick but his daughter sneakily has compulsory coffee drinking written in the marriage contract. Told in contemporary English, this comic tale is engaging, and light hearted, very unusual for Bach and 1 of only 2 comic works he wrote in his lifetime.

 

Form and Style
We have performed this show in several different formats for festivals in the UK: traverse, in the round, on stage. The singers roam the audience if the seating is stand alone, if it is fixed(theatre) then they move up the isles during the show. At one point the father searches the audience in order to find a lover/husband for his daughter. We have also partnered with coffee houses/cafes/roasters and bakeries for this show so that the audience is immersed in the coffee theme!

Reviews

“wonderful on so many levels”

“out of this world”

“enchanting”

“charming, eccentric, terrific”

“exciting, exhilarating and enormous fun”

Credits

JS Bach – composer

Elizabeth Gadsby – production designer

Jacqueline Dossor – concept

Helen Kruger – artistic director

Performers: Helen Kruger, Sarah Papadopoulos violins, Andrew Skinner flute, Amelia Peachment viola, Josephine Fountain cello, Jacqueline Dossor double bass, James Huntingford harpsichord, Bonnie de la Hunty soprano, Matt Ward tenor, Kris Bowtell baritone

Availability

Anytime after October 2020

Artforms

Children / Family, Comedy, Live Music

Audience

We have done this show as both a family show (daytime) and as an adult show(not R rated of course, but coffee cocktails could replace coffee for an evening performance!).

Duration

1 hour

Bump In

3 hours

Bump Out

1 hour

Costs

- Weekly Fee: $12,500
- Cost per performance: $5,500
- No remount
- 1% royalties
*Above fees do not include touring costs

Company Contacts

Helen Kruger
0466 310 019
helen@australianbaroque.com

Company Website

http://www.australianbaroque.com


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Technical

Venue Format

All venue formats are possible with this show. The only restriction is that it needs to be indoors as we are performing on instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Technical Rating

(D)

Touring Party

10 total

Considerations

First possible performance: Any date after October 10th 2020

Minimum break between shows: 1.5 hours

Minimum stage width: 3.5 metres

Minimum stage depth: 3 metres

Lighting to be provided by the venue:Simple ambient lighting for evening shows or for black box spaces.

Audio provided by the company: Nil (acoustic instruments)

Audio to be provided by the venue: Nil

No. of additional staff to be provided by the venue: Nil

Dressing Rooms Required: 1 female, 1 male preferred

Community and Audience Engagement: 

We will use our FB/instagram presence, contacts with local schools, local music communities, local event listings, local radio interviews, local paper features as well as flash mob pop ups on the day or day before the event. We will also release “sneak peeks” of the rehearsals of the show and interviews with the players in the lead up to the concert dates.

Available marketing: 

Posters, flyers, video (attached), media releases

*The attached show reel is from Helen’s UK ensemble, the Little Baroque Company. Helen owns the company and so the rights to this show are hers.