Talon Salon

The very talented Michele Lee describes Talon Salon as a “theatrical experience that takes place in a nail salon”. Cassie Valastro met with Michele to discuss this unique arts production, which took place at the Darwin Festival. 

"The stories are fictional, based on research, including interviews I did with nail salon workers and owners."

The birds are chirping and the Darwin humidity has dropped, as close of business nears. Michele Lee, artistic director of the Talon Salon, has just arrived in the courtyard at Brown's Mart Theatre, after a long day indulging in a popular Territory pastime, swimming at Litchfield National Park. “I’m just going to change my skirt”, she says, as she makes herself more comfortable, before sitting down for a chat.

People may not be familiar with Talon Salon however it is not a new production. The production premiered at the Next Wave Festival in Melbourne last year. Michele describes this unique experience as a site specific, audio, arts performance - similar to a podcast. “This is a theatrical experience that takes place in a nail salon” she said. “It’s audio theatre, like listening to a radio playing … [that takes place] as you get your nails done.”

The other key personnel involved with this production include: director Tanya Dickson, sound designer Alan Nguyen, visual designer Clare McCracken, and Russell Goldsmith, sound designer of the two new stories set in Darwin - tailored specifically for the Darwin Festival. “We describe it as [being] about the nail salon universe” Michele said. Audience members take a participatory role as clients in a nail salon, so it becomes a tactile, sensory theatre experience.

Q: This concept is incredibly unique; it’s hard to fully understand what Talon Salon actually is. Can you please further explain the production?

A: Talon Salon is site specific to a salon, so traditional theatre takes place in a theatre venue, where this is a theatrical experience that takes place in a nail salon. It's audio theatre, so no visuals. It’s like listening to a radio playing. You listen to a radio play as you get your nails done, either a manicure or pedicure … It's like getting your nails done but your also having an arts experience because your listening to a fictionalised radio play at the same time.

Q: I noticed Talon Salon has a strong Vietnamese influence, is there a particular reason for this?

A: Yeah, generally nail salons are run by Vietnamese women or men, it could even be a husband and wife. There’s nothing concrete to say that it is all Vietnamese but from the conversations I’ve had it seems to be the case that where there are Vietnamese communities, nail salons are more prominent in those areas.

Q: How would you describe the experience?

A: It’s kind of like listening to a podcast … sitting for a long period listening to something that is quite immersive but this is particular to nail salons because it’s about the nail salon world. So it’s another layer of story-telling in a nail salon, which is already quite rich with stories, and with sensing stimulation because it’s a tactile intimate experience to have your body touched at the same time.

Q: How would you describe the stories?

A: The stories are fictional, based on research, including interviews I did with nail salon workers and owners. So the stories are not documentaries, and no one story is based on one person’s life. It’s more my response to a whole lot of research.

Q: Is Darwin the only place an idea such as the Talon Salon has been produced?

A: No. It premiered in the Next Wave Festival in Melbourne, which is held every two years. It’s a contemporary arts festival. Then it was remounted for the Canberra-based You Are Here Festival which is similar to the Next Wave Festival, also like a contemporary arts festival. Then Darwin Festival invited me to present it here... but they asked that I research and make two new works to add to the existing four and base them in Darwin.This is the third reiteration but a different version because of these two new pieces about Darwin.

Q: I read that the colour of nail polish chosen by the audience determines what story they will experience. Can you explain how this works?

A: Similar to getting your nails done when you go into the nail salon, you have to make choices about what treatment you want that day and what colour you want; and the colour I guess depends on what occasion you might be going to, what mood you’re in, what you’ve had before, so we tried to create the experience so it mirrored what was happening when you get your nails done.

So when you come into the salon and say you are from the Darwin Festival … they’ll then direct you over to where we’ve got colours that we’ve matched up with certain stories. If people want to get a completely different colour or don’t want any colour, that’s fine as well; it’s just a kind of cute part of the experience that you have a colour and it matches the story. Then across the festival you might see someone else with the same shade of pink as you and you’ll know that they’ve done the same experience as you, even if you’ve never met them before.

Q: So that’s definitely a pre-organised part of the experience?

A: Yeah, we began working on it in January/February 2011 … so there was a really long development process in which we thought very carefully about what happens when you come into the salon and we made decisions about what colours would match up with what tracks. So at the very beginning the concept was about listening to something when you get your nails done but I hadn’t put thought into the colour/story matching [at that stage], or into what stories we'd cover as I hadn’t yet done the research.

Details

What: 

Talon Salon - Artistic Director, Michelle Lee

When: 

14^th to 18^th August 2013, various times

Duration: 

45 minutes

Where: 

Nail Lovers at Casuarina Shopping Centre

Tickets: 

Show with pedicure $45

Show with manicure $30

Booking: 

online www.darwinfestival.org.au or call 8943 4222

For further information on Talon Salon visit their website hhtp://talonsalon.com.au