Raimondo Cortese Raimondo Cortese i(A18973 works by) (a.k.a. Raimondo Fitzmaurice Cortese; R. Cortese)
Born: Established: 1968 Hobart, Southeast Tasmania, Tasmania, ;
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 Provocation #1 Why I Make Theatre : For Now - a Theatre of the Every Day Raimondo Cortese , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , 1 April no. 82 2023; (p. 5-12) 'Within the everyday, performance arises as a constant struggle of asserting the self within the social domain that places constraints on individual expression. Every person and environment imposes a particular brand of civilising influence, requires specific performative protocols or conventions that are measured during everyday interaction. As with an actor on stage, the performer within the everyday endures the fear of being unmasked, of hidden agendas and desires being revealed. Everyday interactions must appear natural and unrehearsed. An individual in the everyday is usually expected to keep most of their thoughts private; they are required to take responsibility for their impulses. Signs of vulnerability should be kept at bay. The everyday environment, as with conventional theatre, is governed by learned rules and protocols that ensure anarchic impulses are contained within clear parameters. Yet the field of the everyday is filled with exceptions. On continuous display is the over-riding desire of people to connect with each other in profound ways, an instinctive and all-pervading spirit that 'jolts the audience' and nullifies social restrictions that stymie genuine contact.' 

(Publication abstract)
1 Ranters : Rehearsal and Development Process - How Is the Text Enacted? Raimondo Cortese , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , May no. 74 2019; (p. 243-263)

'The article analyses the processes in which my postdramatic plays and performance texts, such as 'St Kilda Tales, Roulette, Holiday' and 'Intimacy', are enacted in order to facilitate live interaction in relation to the audience. The application of everyday aesthetics within narrative and dramaturgical structures provides the performers of a Ranters production with a platform to focus on the moment-to-moment minutiae of actions that take place between them. In the theatre of the everyday that I describe in this essay, the audience members are invited into the same conceptual space and time as the performers, one that sits in the blurred lines between the fictive and the real. Notions of character are completely avoided, and instead the focus is on exploring and realising the possibilities that can be theatricalised by a fluid and open expression of 'self.' (Publication abstract)
1 Hyperrealism and the Everyday : The Plays of Ranters Theatre Raimondo Cortese , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April no. 70 2017; (p. 134-158) 'This article reflects on the performance texts that I have written and dramaturged with Ranters Theatre over a twenty-two-year period, covering three phases of work, each of which engages everydayness as part of its methodology. A key focus is textual dramaturgy, how the text is constructed, critiqued and dramaturged in order to create a finished performance text of play. Comparison is drawn with other contemporary theatre practitioners in Melbourne and overseas who also engage the everyday as a central component of their raison d'etre.' (Abstract introduction)
1 3 form y separately published work icon The Boy Castaways Raimondo Cortese , Michael Kantor , ( dir. Michael Kantor ) Australia : Arenamedia Pty Ltd Mene Mene Soft Tread Enterprises , 2013 Z1938326 2013 single work film/TV musical theatre 'Four men are gathered in a theatre where they enact a twisted version of Peter Pan, singing songs to tell their stories, their wishes and their fears. They are aided by a talented but mysterious cast. It becomes apparent that the men are engaged in a dangerous game with their own mortality. When one of the men falls in love with the leading lady, the rules of the game are threatened, but the men's overarching desire to transcend their worlds and feel complete - once expressed - can never be controlled. Three of the men must experience what it is like to die, and for the other, the opposite.' (Abstract by Michael Kantor)
1 1 Murder Raimondo Cortese , 2012 single work drama

'How will I kill thee? Let me count the ways. This is the question at the heart of a dynamic new work by visual theatre magicians Erth, inspired by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads.

'In a stark void inhabited by puppets and performers, director Scott Wright, writer Raimondo Cortese and choreographer Kate Champion create a world of love, lust and death.

'An edgy and poetic soundtrack heightens the dark and dirty deeds while video projections plunge the audience into a mysterious and strangely alluring landscape.'

(Seymour Centre website)

1 1 Blood Wedding Raimondo Cortese , 2012 single work drama 'Married life is a killer. In this remarkable bilingual production directed by Marion Potts, the lush lyricism of Federico García Lorca's writing is wedded to a contemporary sensibility utterly of the now. Devastating romance, a clash between desire and tradition, a rich paean to the Spanish soil and its culture of passion and ritual — Lorca's tour de force is all of these things. Here, with music by Tim Rogers, and a cast of actors from across the globe, Blood Wedding will speak afresh of love's impossible magnetism, with the rhythms and poetry of Spanish as the refrains to which this timeless drama insistently returns.' Source: www.malthousetheatre.com.au/ (Sighted 05/07/2012).
1 4 y separately published work icon Buried City Raimondo Cortese , 2012 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2012 Z1857702 2012 single work drama 'Late one night in the gutted façade of a building primed for redevelopment, a group of security workers, labourers, and a local teenager find themselves haunting the same territory. One by one they rule a line in the sand, and by dawn they're set for a showdown over who builds the future and who gets to own it. Buried City is an ambitious new work about ever-changing cities like, well, Sydney - where waves of immigrants make new lives on old land.' (Source: Belvoir Theatre website)
1 My Sunday : Raimondo Cortese Raimondo Cortese , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 6 March 2011; (p. 4)
1 3 Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime Roanna Gonsalves , Raimondo Cortese (editor), Damien Millar (editor), 2010 single work drama
1 2 The Dream Life of Butterflies Raimondo Cortese , 2010 single work drama 'Two middle-aged women talk in a room. One is recently returned. One has always been there. Between them sits their past. The Dream Life of Butterflies is a beautiful dissertation on the illusion of memory and the impossibility of retrieving what has been lost. In a seamless single scene, award-winning writer Raimondo Cortese exposes their delusions about themselves and each other, hinting at the terrible taboo at the heart of their relationship.' (Melbourne Theatre Company website)
1 5 Intimacy Raimondo Cortese , Adriano Cortese , 2010 single work drama 'The play begins with a man stepping out of his apartment into the chaos of a busy night. His aim: nothing more than to speak to strangers, to meet new people, to flirt with the simple differences any urban street may throw up. The result: an evening of human connection between people whose collision is as profound as it is happenstance.' Source: www.melbournefestival.com.au/ (Sighted 20/09/2010).
1 5 Affection Raimondo Cortese , 2007 single work drama

'A contemporary performance of profound lightness, humour and exquisite detail that explores the complexities of human affection. With conversation, song and live harpsichord music, Affection gently searches the connections between three performers and their audience. Freely traversing the abstract and the ordinary Affection looks at the way people empathise and nurture, reject, help and play with each other. Featuring the music of Francois Couperin (1668-1733), Brian Wilson, The Ramones and the harpsichord of Anastasia Russel-Head.'

Source: Description of the Melbourne, Victoria season from the Ranters Theatre website, www.ranterstheatre.com (sighted 30/06/2009)

1 7 y separately published work icon Holiday Raimondo Cortese , 2007 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2009 Z1419947 2007 single work drama humour

'A holiday. A time for conversation and distraction, a time to wind down and to dream...

'In a moment of relaxation and quiet reflection, two men unwittingly engage. Spontaneous, unaffected and thrillingly real, innocent discussion becomes an exploration of private fantasy, hidden anxiety, personal mythology and the most inexplicable behaviour.

'What lies behind the most unconscious gesture? How do power struggles play out in the politest of exchanges? Is there hope in the blank spaces between strangers?' (Publisher's blurb)
1 Friendship Raimondo Cortese , 2005 single work drama
— Appears in: Roulette 2005; (p. 243-271)
1 Innocence Raimondo Cortese , 2005 single work drama
— Appears in: Roulette 2005; (p. 223-243)
1 Break-In Raimondo Cortese , 2005 single work drama
— Appears in: Roulette 2005; (p. 174-199)
1 Sisters Raimondo Cortese , 2005 single work drama
— Appears in: Roulette 2005; (p. 201-222)
1 4 The Wall Raimondo Cortese , 2003 single work drama
1 Portuguese Roulette Raimondo Cortese , 2002 single work diary
— Appears in: Meanjin , vol. 61 no. 2 2002; (p. 204-211)
1 Let the Flower Bloom Raimondo Cortese , 2002 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 18 May 2002; (p. 18)
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