The powerful return of Betty Grumble

If you enjoy ecstatic and powerful performance, Art House in North Melbourne is the perfect place to witness the return of Betty Grumble as part of Melbourne Fringe.

After a decade of playing within her spiritual access point and avatar, performance artist Emma Maye Gibson AKA Betty Grumble re-emerges, bringing Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t back to the stage as a mantric wish, where rock n roll performance art collides with love scenes and revenge fantasy.

In a performance comprising “unshaming” dance that allows one’s true self to be seen, Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t will provide a sensual, surreal and sublime experience of an all singing, dancing, howling and loving cabaret du Sex Clown.

Betty Grumble will perform an unfurling of the eco-feminist seeping carapace that helped her heal, feel and defy the evil enemies of grooviness that keep her, them, you, all of us down.

“Betty has held me, and at this threshold of maturation, I let her become and unbecome me. Thank you, body!” Ms Gibson said, adding that she confronted violence through an eco-feminist lens, “harnessing rage and hope energy as weapons and medicines for justice”.

“This is a self-reflective, regenerative dive into the compost bin of making and moving through the trouble – it defies the ever-present cultures of violence and ecocide. It will be an unshaming dance and a chance to allow ourselves to be seen,” Ms Gibson said.

Audiences will honour the legacy of makers, mentors, friends, lovers and “enemies” that formed an ecosystem of aliveness within the perils of eco-grief and structures that certainly no longer serve us.

Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t seeks to embrace and celebrate female sexuality, despite the challenging censorship and taboos about women’s bodies.

Presented by Arts House and Melbourne Fringe, as well as produced by Performing Lines, Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t will run from October 17 to 21.

Arts House co-artistic directors Emily Sexton and Nithya Nagarajan said many people had been longing for this work to be shared with Melbourne.

“We are thrilled to finally welcome Betty to Arts House and Naarm. Do not sleep on these tickets – this will prove to be a real highlight of the 2023 Melbourne Fringe,” the co-directors said. •

melbournefringe.com.au/event/enemies-of-grooviness-eat-sht/