No Brow art show speaks with Marcel Dorney

Marcel Dorney is a Brisbane-born writer and director, who now resides in Melbourne and is the co-founder of production company Elbow Room, which was formed in 2008. Marcel received acclaim for his plays Thieves Like Us, Charcoal Creek and Fractions, which received the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award and a 2012 Matilda Award. Tiarney Miekus caught up with Marcel to talk about his newest play Prehistoric, which he both wrote and directed. The play was recently performed at Brisbane Festival and was on last week at the Melbourne Fringe Festival where it was awarded best performance. Prehistoric centres on the formation of a fictional punk band during the oppressive Brisbane of the 1970s. While police have power over the streets, four young punks dominate the underground as they form a band and go through the motions of both defying and being the victims of authority. It’s an incredible play, smartly-produced and it does an unbelievable job of recreating the emotion of the time, and staying true to the punk spirit. Marcel and Tiarney Miekus talked about his play prehistoric and the drive to create it, as well as the oppressiveness of Brisbane during the 1970s. Not to mention the pivotal role 4ZZZ played as safe-haven during the Joh Bjielke Peterson years in Brisbane. You can find out more about Marcel Dorney and Elbow Room at www.elbowroomproductions.com.