Concrete Playground

Jessica Watson's return to Australia has firmly aerated the compost that is the Australian obsession with heroism and "Aussie battlers". As pub lunches and five o'clock wines turn into fisticuffs over whether she's worthy of the title, it does raise the question of why we need heroes and what it takes to qualify for hero status in this country.

Now set to travel intrastate, Performance Space's NightTime opens the artistic forum on this juicy topic. Curated by Lara Thoms and Jess Olivieri, NightTime: Everyday Hero will use live performance, participatory live work and video to slice open our desire for heroes and expose its quivering vitals for all to weigh and judge. Who will be found wanting, and who will be crowned hero of the millennium? And, ultimately, who will be paying $1 million for the exclusive interview?

Image: Hubub by Justin Shoulder. Photo by Mat Hornby.