Gold Coast theatre company The Farm director Gavin Webber says perceptions of the city are changing

A Gold Coast performing arts company says the perceptions of the city are changing and new local resident and A-list film director Baz Luhrmann agrees. Read what he said 

It’s late at night, with just the stars reflecting off the surface of the otherwise pitch black Currumbin Creek.

But there’s something out there in the water … a strange sandbank playing host to a desk, some office chairs, a filing cabinet and two men in suits.

And it’s about to get a whole lot weirder.

As the tide waters rise, none other than Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate can be spotted barefoot on this odd island office, dancing atop the desk and cutting loose in the moonlight with these new-found friends.

This is not some strange fantasy, but the magical reality of pure art.

Indeed, the scene came courtesy of Bleach* Festival back in 2015, when brand new contemporary dance and theatre company The Farm made its first foray onto Gold Coast turf, or sand, with TIDE.

Co-artistic director Gavin Webber, moonlighting as an office-worker and partying with the mayor all those years ago, said the company had since collected accolades around the world for its work, including a Helpmann Award – Australia’s answer to a Tony – for TIDE, with the city its greatest support.

Gavin Webber, who is one of the directors of The Farm, the first nationally-funded arts company to emerge from the GC, rehearsing at HOTA. Picture Glenn Hampson

Born and raised in Adelaide with professional roots in Germany, Mr Webber admitted he was at first sceptical of choosing the Gold Coast as an artistic base, but said it was a genius move, with The Farm since becoming the first local arts company to receive national funding.

“Kate (Harman, fellow co-director) and I were living in Germany and pregnant with our first child when we decided it was time to move back to Australia,” said Mr Webber, whose other Farm co-director colleagues were Grayson Millwood, Michael Smith, Merinda Davies and Chloe Ogilvie.

“Kate had previously worked with (Bleach* founder) Louise Bezzina and when I saw what she was doing on the Gold Coast, I was blown away.

“Not to mention being able to bring up our child in such a beautiful place. I was still a little worried but once we arrived I realised this is not the Gold Coast I thought I knew.

“What’s even better is being able to be in at the beginning of this arts culture, to help build it, rather than trying to wedge yourself into the establishment like in Sydney or Melbourne.

“I knew it was different here when I first heard the Mayor speak when launching Bleach*. I was so inspired hearing him talk about the arts, I realised that this city was somewhere that culture and art was really being valued. Everywhere else, the arts were just haemorrhaging money at that time.

Gavin Webber and Kate Harman, artistic directors of The Farm, rehearsing at HOTA for "Stunt Double". Picture Glenn Hampson

“Then I actually met him on the sandbank that first night of TIDE and he was so into it, dancing and laughing, he embraces the weird and wonderful.”

It wasn’t only the Coast’s politicians that impressed Mr Webber, he said the people of the city were engaging and supportive from The Farm’s very first performance.

He said the company’s incredible success, with funding now from council, state and federal governments, meant many of his colleagues in the arts were eyeing up a move to the city.

“When we first performed TIDE in 2015, it was such a deliberate act of stupidity – to live in an ‘office’ on a sandbar for 49 hours with no food or water, pretending to sell real estate and asking the community to look after us … crazy,” he said.

“We had guitarist Ben Ely on the shore playing improv the whole time and he had warned us that when his band Regurgitator did their Band in a Bubble experiment in Melbourne’s Federation Square, the public got a little chaotic and threatening.

“So we were prepared for that, but we weren’t prepared for how incredible the people of the Gold Coast were. People were swimming fresh fruit juices out to us, keeping watch overnight to make sure we were okay, cheering us on, it really moved me.

“I feel like we’ve been looked after by the community in the same way ever since, and that’s why we’re the first Gold Coast arts company to get federal funding – because this city believes in us.

“The perceptions of the city have also completely shifted. All of those people who were wondering why on earth we’d base ourselves here are now asking us for jobs.

“They’ve realised the support that’s here, and we love overturning the idea that art has to be based in a capital city. That’s such a limiting idea.”

Gavin Webber and Kate Harman, artistic directors of The Farm, rehearsing at HOTA for "Stunt Double". . Picture Glenn Hampson

Indeed, one of The Farm’s biggest supporters was a new local resident himself, with A-list film director Baz Luhrmann a regular at Mr Webber’s shows and self-declared fan.

“Having found myself as a member of the audience at many of The Farm’s innovative and always inspiring productions, I find it so exciting that Gavin and Kate are enriching the creative fabric of the city and creating artistic work at a world-leading standard right here in the Gold Coast,” said Luhrmann.

The growing arts community has had an impact on Mr Webber’s work too, with The Farm’s next big thing a show inspired by the film world, titled Stunt Double.

Mr Webber said the show was a combination of dance, theatre, film and stunts set within the chaos of a B-grade action Oz-ploitation film set, with audience members filling roles, stars stepping out of wardrobe into the limelight, and stunt doubles being ‘used and abused’.

Stunt Double will be performed at HOTA for one-night only, on March 9, which coincides with the 10th anniversary of The Farm.

“Film is really becoming a huge industry here, and we’ve been so lucky to have Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin come to a lot of our shows, they’ve been huge supporters. Baz actually said what we’ve done is some of the greatest work he’s seen – and he’s seen a lot, so we are incredibly flattered,” said Mr Webber.

Hollywood director Baz Luhrmann attended Paul McCartney's Gold Coast concert. Picture: Angela Lehmann

“What he’s trying to do in this city is amazing, it’s putting us on the international map, but also really increasing awareness of the arts among locals.

“Film was a big reference point for Stunt Double, which is the biggest work we’ve ever made. We had a $1 million budget supported through the Major Film Initiative and it was booked as a national tour before we even finished the show.”

Mr Webber said while the show had already been met with huge acclaim in Perth and Darwin, and just last weekend won three Queensland theatre Mathilda Awards, it was extra special to perform it on the Gold Coast.

He said local casting had been ‘unbelievable’ because there was such a wealth of talent here, thanks in part to the legacy of Movie World’s legendary stunt show.

“I think almost every stunt person started at Movie World, I love that,” he said.

“But also, almost every Gold Coaster has that core memory of seeing the stunt show there, it’s perfect.

“This is a major work in both scale and ambition and it really reflects the bold and brash personality of the Gold Coast. This is a city that has never played it ‘safe’.”

Despite the national and international applause, Mr Webber said The Farm was firmly rooted on the Gold Coast.

He said his son now attended school here and he loved the family life based in Burleigh.

“It’s the same feeling I had that first night we performed TIDE at Currumbin, this is home.

“The community is so supportive and it’s really exciting to be a part of the next stage of the Gold Coast story.

“Every time we bring artists here they are just in awe. They say ‘you’re living in paradise’.

“It is in the name, after all.”

When it comes to the arts, the Gold Coast is no longer a desert island. Unless, of course, it’s a midnight sandbank in Currumbin Creek.