The Fantastixxx

Twelfth Night Theatre has, for over 30 years conducted a range of successful programs for people with disabilities, particularly intellectual disabilities. These have included programs in theatre, music, dance, art, and human movement. They have been conducted by the theatre itself through its operating groups The Oz People and the Fantastixxx. Various study tours have also been conducted to places such as Uluru. Sydney, Noosa Biosphere Reserve, and Brisbane locations. Joint productions and presentations have also been staged in partnership with many creative groups such as Musical Chairs, Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, Endeavour Foundation, Special Education teachers and students, Richmond Fellowship, and a myriad of ethnic cultural groups. Very successful auctions of paintings by disabled and disadvantaged artists have been conducted with all proceeds going to the artists themselves.

All of these programs have always had a strong educational focus as well as the development of creative potential. A doctor and Registered Nurse have been involved in the design and conduct of the programs. The therapeutic value of such creative programs is internationally well recognised.

Now it is proposed to make these creative programs for youth the key focus for the Twelfth Night Theatre. Discussions have taken place, partnerships been confirmed and agreements are being drawn up, with a wide range of Not for Profit groups in the youth, disability, welfare, health, cultural and creative spheres. (See list in the attachment). Further discussions with more groups are underway. Twelfth Night will continue to provide programs of its own and coordinate the programs of these partner groups. The theatre will therefore become a centre where many groups can meet and conduct their existing and future creative activities. Research has shown there is a significant demand from these groups for a creative space of this kind which also has substantial facilities for catering and recreation.  It is also the intention to arrange frequent public displays, performances, drama and art festivals, to showcase the work being produced by all groups who are engaged at the Centre , and most importantly  the creativity of all their participants.

The programs will be conducted under the oversight of Gail Wiltshire, proprietor of the theatre, who has significant relevant qualifications and experience as a teacher, theatre producer and director, examiner and author. Gail’s husband Emeritus Professor Kenneth Wiltshire AO will also be directly involved and provide links to educators and the Not for Profit sector. The current staff of Twelfth Night Theatre, who have all had decades of experience in these activities will continue to be involved.

A young man who had been discovered searching for food in a bin at Eagle Junction said that he had never had a birthday party.

And so it came about – Eighteen years ago at the residence of Emeritus Professor Kenneth Wiltshire and Gail Wiltshire – a party in the back yard.

Under the Jacaranda trees
Festooned with lights
By technicians from the Twelfth Night Theatre
A magical world…

After a sing-song around a piano played by the Reverend Ron Holt, members of the group asked:

“Could we give a concert?”

And so it came to pass:

“What shall we call it?” asked Gail.

“Douglas Bader, the war pilot, is my hero”, said the birthday boy.
“Even though his legs were amputated he learned to walk again,
fly again. He took to the sky”, was the reply.

And so the musical theatre event accompanied by The Musical Chairs played to a packed house (500 people) at Twelfth Night Theatre. Reach for the Sky was the first concert of the Fantastixxx and a new era is was born.

Show over. Curtain fell. Gail went backstage:

“Congratulations”, she said, “Is there anyone here who has never been on a plane – flown in the sky like Douglas Bader?”

And hands went up – so many hands – earth bound.
Difference. Challenge.
Pain. Poverty.
“We will fly”, she said.
“And what shall we call our group?”
“We’ll fly over the rainbow”, said members of the group.
“Rainbow people?” asked Gail.
“We will be fantastic”, the group answered.
FANTASTIXXX
And so the odyssey began.
We flew into the heart of Australia
Land of the rainbow serpent

And Dorothea MacKellar became our Muse…

FLYNN OF THE INLAND
BLESSED the WEDDING
Of JOHN AND VICKI
MEMBERS OF THE FANTASTIXXX

As the group presented a Performance – Song, Instrumental, Poetry, Art – to the residence of Alice Springs.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT
BOTANY BAY
SYDNEY
Invited by R.M. Williams, after exploring this magnificent city, The Fantastixxx
gave a concert
to the congregation
ST STEPHENS

Following in the footsteps of
Dorothea Mackellar
We visited and shared poetry at
The Waverley cemetery

Forming a circle we encompassed the graves of the MacKellar family and with the magnificent backdrop of Sydney Harbour we quietly shared her verse.
We also read the poems of Henry Lawson and Henry Kendall
buried nearby.
Anthony Ledger is The Fantastixx Poet Laureate

When I look in the mirror I like what I see
I’ve learned to be both kind and tough
And the man in the glass sings his praises to me:
“You’ve stayed true to yourself, that’s enough”.

On three occasion we have explored the Biosphere
And given Theatrical performances given to the residences of Noosa north shore

Murwillumbah
Tweed regional gallery
and
Margaret Olley Art Centre

After much fundraising and a generous donation of land by Doug and Margot Anthony, the Gallery moved to its current scenic rural location in 2004. Mrs Anthony welcomes Gail Wiltshire and The Fantastixxx at the Gallery. Once again, The Fantastixxx were in Concert.

In rehearsal
at Coolangatta
Performance…
The bird sanctuary
We formally acknowledged the Lorikeets
Rainbow feathered
Honorary FANTASTIXXX

The Muddle-Headed Wombat conducted the performance.

The Fantastixxx had rehearsed and laughed all day as they prepared for The Bird Sanctuary Performance.

Christopher and Anthony had rehearsed their duet.

Celebration concert
UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF JILL GOODMAN
Member of The Fantastixxx for 18 years
She opened with her poem
The fantastixxx – our show

And once upon a time in the fair village of Boonah at the heart of the Scenic Rim stood a small hospital built by James Cossart in 1892. James Cossart and his sons, Samuel and Charles, developed timber mills from the head of The Condamine through the White Swamp and Carnies Creek down into Boonah, Dugandan. As men were injured in what was a dangerous felling of enormous Hoop Pines, trees, centuries old, James Cossart not only gave the lands of the Anglican Church, Methodist Churches, the Masonic Hall, the School of Arts, the Library and the Cricket Pitch/Tennis Courts but also he built a hospital for the men who worked beside him.
At the death of Samuel Cossart, Ron Alcorn, one of the two hundred Cossart employees described the following time and time again:

The old boss was a great man – always fair, ready with a joke, a generous man who gave the timber for many of our houses. (Ron Alcorn’s house stands at the end of what was once the railway track which travelled the short distance from Boonah down to Dugandan).
I loved the old boss. We all did. So we marched for him. One last time. We went with him – in our work clothes and boots. The Cossart men from the mill were in front of the Band and after that came the coffin. We were proud of him. We went with him to the end. Through the main street. Slowly up the hill towards the cemetery. And we stood with him there. I’d only cried once before when I was little…..my mother, Lizzie, died young. But I cried again. Like a child. We all did.

James Cossart gave the hospital building, 14 CHURCH ST, BOONAH, as a dowry to his eldest daughter, Lucy, who married Emmanuel Raymond, the grandfather of Gail Raymond Wiltshire.
And now this colonial residence is the Country Arts Hub of The Fantastixxx; song, verse, dance, writing, poetry, visual arts and
PERFORMANCE.

Meet The Fantastixxx on tour. Boonah is just a short drive from Brisbane.
And of course there is accommodation not only at CHURCH STREET but also at the house of joy
This House on the Quarry overlooks the mountains of the Scenic Rim, the Great Dividing Range and Cunningham’s Gap.

The stage:

What more appropriate than the verandah of an Edwardian home, a Memorial Backdrop and the authentic garden of Emmanuel Raymond which will enclose an audience of at least one hundred.
In 2021 The Fantastixxx will perform on this verandah and will be joined by members of the Queensland choir est. 1872 and local talent – and as a former High School teacher in Boonah, our Artistic Director, Gail, affirms that there are loads of singers, poets, sculptors – artists of every kind – Banjo, Accordian, Brass, Strings, Soloists, (try the Spoons) who inhabit the magic world of the Teviot Creek and surrounding villages. Boonah was one of the largest original German settlements in Queensland and from village to village, mountain to mountain, song echoed across the hills. Our hills were indeed overflowing with the sound of music.

TWELFTH NIGHT COMMUNITY THEATRE

THE HOME
of
THE FANTASTIXXX
PERFORMANCE & DANCE
SCRIPT WRITING & POETRY
VISUAL ARTS
PAINTING & CRAFT
COMMUNITY PRESENTATION
AND NO FEES
EVERYONE WELCOME
Artistic Director: Gail Wiltshire

Queensland Community Theatre and
Creative Workshop Limited
Trading as Twelfth Night Community Theatre
ACN 629 919 026

07 3252 5122
admin@twelfthnight.com.au