QUIRKY stories of her grandfather, along with super 8 footage from the 1960s, has seen Julia Foenander create a show about family history.
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Lost in Venice will perform at The Engine Room in Bendigo on Tuesday, August 9, before returning to the region to fill venues in Heathcote and Elmore.
Foenander combines elements of drama, cabaret and film to create a show based on a trip her grandfather took to Italy in 1965.
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Details of the play are so accurate that even the families clothes, suitcases and possession feature in the show.
"It a very intimate, up-close look at family history," Foenander said.
"It's a quirky little story of my grandfather who went to Italy in 1965 with his friend who would go on to invent Pampas Pastry.
"I have been working the cabaret industry for 10 years and wanted to to do show that took me back to grass roots.I was making a pie one day and for as long as can remember I knew grandpa was friends with the bloke that invented Pampas."
Foenander said the show would encourage people to ask questions about their own families.
"Everyone has a family story or secret to tell," she said.
Everyone has a family story or secret to tell.
- Julie Foenander
"We show films from trip and I described my grandfather as a filmmaker. No one knew that term in 1960s, that was something people in Hollywood did.
"People mostly thought the films were weird and embarassing. (Granddad) used to have film nights trying to educate people in Melbourne in the 1960s.
"That was when travelling to Brisbane was a big deal. So he would come back from Italy with a film and give commentary."
The films had previously sat in a box gathering dust before Foenander showed them to the Australia Film and Sound Archive who thought they were worth preserving.
"They thought they were good and asked me to donate them to preserve them," Foenander said. "A lot of people have Super 8 films in a box but they are on the cusp of being lost forever. A lot have already been lost depending on where you live."
The show has taken four years to come to the stage following its test runs that were held before COVID hit.
"Everything has taken longer," Foenander said. "It was developed, we have made a documentary and use original props and costumes including my grandmother's dress, the original suitcase from my grandfather and the artifacts he bought back. "
Lost in Venice is at The Engine Room on Tuesday, August 9, from 8pm. It will also visit the Elmore Memorial Hall on September 14 and Heathcote RSL Hall on September 15.
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