CARLTON. VIC. — Buster Keaton collides with Banksy in this sharp, wordless satire of the art world, told through escalating physical disaster. Please remain behind the barrier.
Two attendants prepare for the unveiling of a notorious artist’s portrait. Immaculate uniforms. Polished floors. A velvet curtain waiting to be drawn. Nothing can go wrong.
Set in real time on the day of the launch, order quickly unravels into a gloriously off-kilter spiral of status, panic and spectacular collapse. As tensions rise and the outside world presses in, the attendants struggle to maintain control of both the gallery – and themselves.
Funny, surprising and entirely wordless, The Portrait skewers celebrity culture, institutional fragility and the impossible performance of professionalism through precision physical comedy, mounting panic and exquisite comic timing.
Sharp, playful and visually striking, The Portrait celebrates comic tension, escalating panic and the glorious impossibility of keeping it all together.
The Portrait is a new physical theatre work created by theatre-maker Clare Bartholomew in collaboration with performers Emilie Bloom and Tim Sneddon, with sound design by Steph O’Hara.
Combining clown, slapstick, visual theatre and contemporary satire, the creative team brings together decades of experience across physical comedy, devised performance, puppetry, cabaret and live art. Collectively, the artists have toured extensively throughout Australia and internationally, with companies and festivals including Die Roten Punkte, Bunk Puppets, Sydney Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre UK and Spoleto USA.
The work began creative development in 2024 through support from Creative Australia’s Circus and Physical Theatre program and was further developed in 2025 with support from Borderville Festival and Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Additional support has been provided by Circus Oz. Set design is by Mike Finch, lighting design by Sarah Platts, with development mentorship from Debra Batton and Peter Houghton.
This event has concluded.
