Teahouse is comprised of works by Amy Wiseman, Carly Armstrong, Jessica Lewis and Erin Fowler. Joining Perth-based Unkempt Dance Collective, Erin Fowler has developed her new work Keeping Up with the Joneses. "The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments."- Mad Magazine. What makes a house a home? Is having the latest Home Beautiful kitchen, or a Porsche in the front drive guaranteed to make you happy? In the 21st century, the Jones family is becoming even harder to match. Keeping Up With the Joneses explores some of these ideas as well as how the desire for more, more, more relates to our own well-being. Unkempt_x0019_ s Tea for Three was performed in Perth for the STRUT Short Cuts season and has been further developed for the Fringe. Inspired by the world_x0019_ s second most prevalent beverage and its popular culture associations, we have been workshopping and pondering the significance of tea as a socially shared activity and a solitary comfort. With tea parties, rhymes and High Tea, there is ample opportunity to enjoy both friendship and conflict. Milk in first, bags or loose leaf, sugar or none, the measure of a person is not your shoes or mortgage, it_x0019_ s how you drink your tea. For such a supposedly soothing beverage, it_x0019_ s remarkable what a serious business this tea drinking can be! Even George Orwell felt the need to publish his own guidelines for the proper preparation of a good cuppa. When dining out, the hoards of excess paraphernalia laid out before you add another level to this bewilderment. Tea leaves, tea pot, strainer, milk jug, sugar, tea cup, spoon and saucer... choosing black or green seemed hard enough. How does one cope with the juggling act of actually drinking the tea? Of course you could just be content in your own armchair with mug of steaming hot builder_x0019_ s tea, but where_x0019_ s the challenge? And does this just minimise the opportunity for a nice spot of surrealism? After all, as Billy Connolly so rightly says, _x001C_ Never trust a man who, when left in a room with a tea cosy, doesn_x0019_ t try it on._x001D_ Teahouse will be performed at Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre_x0019_ s Cabaret Space on Monday 28th February at 9pm and Tuesday 1st March at 12pm and 7pm. We hope it_x0019_ s just your cup of tea.
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