FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
7th of March, 2019

Digging Deeper: Secrets of the Neo-COALonial Movement Unearthed! live on stage

Digging Deeper is a satirical romp through Australia’s 20-year war on the climate, on native species, and the Great Barrier Reef, exposing the deep ties between global ‘fossilgarchs’*, ‘political donations’, conflicted decision makers, and casino capitalism. The production is the first mainstage offering by ClimActs – a performative activist group usually seen intercepting polluter-friendly politicians and fossil fuel financiers.

Under the direction of their powerfully effluent CEO² Coral Bleach, ClimActs’ Coal Diggers have made a name for themselves in the media through crashing high level ministerial events of Josh Frydenberg and Greg Hunt, and by “surprising” guests at Gina Rinehart’s gala event (including politicians who tried to sneak past them and police officers hurriedly called to the scene) with their subversive brand of performance art.

Whether it’s hustling on the red carpet in Paris with global high flying climate denier Lord Monckton, or addressing Canberra’s ‘Fake News’ Media Pack at Australia’s Parliament house on Day One of the Abbott Government’s reign, ClimActs AKA The Coal Diggers are dedicated to making a splash (and to making the world a better place).

In their mainstage debut, Digging Deeper, Australia’s peskiest and proudest performance-blockaders will be given a platform to sing, dance, crash, yell and share their thoughts to a (potentially) more recipient audience than the parliamentarians, oligarchs and press that are usually running away from them.

“In the lead up to the federal election, politicians from all persuasions are trying to ensure that the conversations are about boats and other distractions,” says Deborah Hart, creator of the production, “We wanted to bring attention back to the gross conflicts of interest behind the scenes and expose those whose self-serving behaviour is ultimately profoundly dangerous, while still being hilarious, informative and entertaining”.

Digging Deeper opens on Monday March 18^th with a limited season of just five performances until Saturday 23^rd March 2019. Bookings recommended.

Show Details: Show Name
Dates: 18^th, 20^th, 21^st, 22^nd, and 23^rd March 2019
Time: 7pm
Cost: $25-32
Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Tickets: thebutterflyclub.com

Media contact for interview arrangements, high-res photos, bios and further info:

Tom Dickins
Publicity and Media Manager
The Butterfly Club
0438 232 847
tom@thebutterflyclub.com

A brief history of ClimActs’ ‘interventions’ and commissions:

• ClimActs is a politically strategic, voluntary-run Australian performance collective using striking visual spectacle and satire to communicate the urgent need for the world to respond to grave threats from climate change, for more visit climacts.org.au

• ClimActs presents spectacle and satire acts including the internationally celebrated Climate Guardians, Coal Diggers, Medieval Astronomers from the Flat Earth Institute of the Universitarse of Climatastropharse (est 1033AD,Steampunk Resurrectionists from the Frackers Guild, and Cyber-Coal Operatives from the Hackers Guild.

• Since forming in 2013, in various guises, ClimActs players have intercepted many notable climate spoilers including Tony Abbott, Lord Monckton, Julie Bishop, Josh Frydenberg, Greg Hunt, Clive Palmer, Alexander Downer, and Michael O’Brien.

• With utmost respect and compassion for how Parisians were feeling following the brutal Friday 13 terrorist attacks in Paris,Climate Guardians defied the State of Emergency declaration that strictly limited civil society movements, including public protesting, during COP21, December 2015.

• Coal Diggers welcomed guests atThe Heartland Institute’s counter-COP21 conference at the Hotel California in Paris in the lead up to the Paris Agreement, December 2015

• Climate Guardians appeared in international news (particularly in the US) when they blockaded the well-disguised VIP entrance of Brisbane’s G20, for which the Climate Guardians earned theCourier Mail’s ‘Most Aussie Moment’ after agreeing to end their three and a half hour ‘visitation’ in exchange for a lift to the pub of their choice, November 2014. Read our blog: Climate Guardians blockade Brisbane’s G20.

• Coal Diggers gleefully ‘ambushed’(according to the Herald Sun) the then soon to be PM Tony Abbott and Deputy PM Julie Bishop on the Federal election campaign trail, September 2013

• ClimActs has also performed as guest artists at Australian and international festivals including staging the opening performance art piece for the Lorne Sculpture Biennale 2014, two performances for the City of Ballarat’s Interventions(2014), four performances for the City of Ballarat’s Winter Laneway Festival (2015), at ArtCOP21(Paris, 2015), at the Sydney Lord Mayor’s special Preview Opening of Janet Laurence’s H2O Water Bar (Paddington Reservoir, Sydney, 2016), the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (UK, 2016), the Australian Performing Arts Centres Associations (APACA) Conference/PAX (2016), the Biennale of Australian Art (BOAA) in Ballarat (2018), and at the launch of Janet Laurence: After Nature at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (2019).

Climacts Media
climacts.media@gmail.com