Q&A with Zoë Barry

October 17th, 2023

We spoke to musician and creator Zoë Barry during her time working on Patch's new interactive installation Superluminal.

Zoë Barry | photo by Lakshal Perera

Tell us about your career so far.

I feel a little like a cloud, floating over the years between music, theatre, dance and film. I studied cello and ethnomusicology at uni, with further study in baroque and classical Turkish repertoire, whilst playing in noise and indie bands. I moved into theatre through composing, then became interested in devised, collaborative performance, cofounding theatre company Ladykillers. I moved to Melbourne with my band 15 years ago and continued to tour and record with a range of bands, and work with The Song Room as a teaching artist.

I currently perform with The Letter String Quartet and Iranian trio Dafta Aval, compose for theatre, film and galleries, and create theatre and performance experiences for multigenerational audiences, in traditional/non-traditional spaces, and in the digital space. I make work with Back to Back Theatre and Threshold. I am the director of Harmony in Strings, a strings program at Sacred Heart Primary in Fitzroy, focussing on ways to decolonise the classroom, and create joyous, meaningful group music experiences. I also just performed my first solo theatre work, The Nervous Atmosphere, and am working on an opera.

Zoë in Rain – for babies and their carers

Can you tell us about your experience making work with young people?

I love making work with and for young people, in a wide range of ways. I’ve had a cello teaching practice for decades, with improvisation and composition at the heart of the lessons, so students are creating new work all the time. I love composing with young people. As a teaching artist I have worked within many primary schools, putting together performances, songs, films, creating chatterboxes – finding forms to create meaning and connection on a range of scales. I have created theatre and participatory installations for young people and families, in particular with Threshold, creating theatre experiences for families to enjoy at home together. Our in-home works include Mountain Goat Mountain and The Flying Canoe made with the Kiribati community in Victoria. We have a performance installation for babies, Rain, which we have taken to America, Hong Kong and Macau. All of these works are made in collaboration with young people – exploring ideas together, observing and reflecting on what connects, and keeping the audience in mind throughout – the same way Patch make work! 

 

What do you love about making work for young audiences?

I feel really strongly that if young people can have beautiful, wild, sophisticated arts experiences, whether it be theatre, music or visual arts, it can have such an impact on them, and can seed lines of curiosity for the rest of their lives. I love anything that helps young people build their inner worlds, provides solace and nurtures individuality and imagination. 

Zoe was a co-creator of The Lighthouse

If you could be anyone for a day, who would you be and why?

I would like to be a cloud near a mountain. 

 

You’ve worked with Patch before – on The Lighthouse, Me & My Shadow and Emily Loves to Bounce – can you share your favourite Patch memories?

Emily Loves to Bounce was one of the first shows for young people that I worked on, so it had a big impact on me. I remember what fun we had creating it, as we collaboratively made the show, wrote the funny and absurd songs, and orchestrated it. It was such a happy time, we would be pinging around the rehearsal room singing and laughing, and really thinking about how to make the show connect with young people. I enjoyed being hidden under a big box on stage before the show, getting to hear the audience members’ excitement as they came into the theatre – many of them likely having their first theatre experience. We were so thrilled and honoured to take it to America and perform at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC. During the first performance I was suddenly busting to go to the loo, and shout/whispered “cover for me!” to the other bewildered musician as I ran off stage, then got really lost in the labyrinth of corridors trying to find my way back onto the stage. 

I’ve had the absolute joy of helping make several Patch shows, and getting to be an audience member for many others. I can still recite the words to Sharon, Keep Your Hair On after seeing it many times so many years ago… Now I love working with Geoff and Maddog and their huge imaginations, and the myriad ingenious ways they use light to create exquisite, meaningful, wonderful worlds for young audiences.