Rochefort, France
Rochefort, a picturesque town in southwestern France, is known for its rich maritime history and stunning architecture. Rochefort played a significant role in French naval history. It was home to one of the most important naval shipyards during the 17th and 18th centuries
Well ... that's a wrap on 2021!
As we look towards 2022 in whatever form it now takes, I wanted to pass on a massive THANK YOU for your support this year. Many of you stood by us through a year none of us expected, and we felt your presence and generosity across our digital and in-person performances. I am proud and grateful for what has been achieved under very difficult circumstances and I am emerging from 2021 feeling tired but still inspired!
Last year we navigated the many ups and downs of one of the most surreal years on record — one distinctly marked by our tentative return to live performance. At the end of 2020, TOBY was reprogrammed at La Mama Theatre for March 2021. I must admit to feeling some trepidation about casting, rehearsing, and presenting a 2-hour work in quite a short time frame and also during a pandemic (!) However, having beaten back the Covid cases to zero in Melbourne, we set out armed with our masks, shields, abundant Glen 20, handsan, and rehearsed industriously until lockdown #3 got us and we had to move online.
This was a brave new world we were exploring but, for a time, rehearsals felt almost vaguely normal as we headed to bump-in, preview, and opening night. In the end, TOBY was very well received and we were so fortunate to have been able to perform all 7 shows to sold-out full capacity audiences. I would like to thank the cast, crew, creatives and, of course, La Mama Theatre for being so accommodating, big-hearted and kind. They made our time in the theatre so easy and their support really allowed us to focus on presenting the work in its best possible light.
If you would like to see a full digital performance of TOBY, you can watch it here.
Looking to the future, we are excited to share new partnerships and projects with you in 2022 and to bring you up to date with the latest on our immersive theatre work Secret of the Raft.
In March 2022, ReAction Theatre will be collaborating with Cardinia Cultural Centre to undertake our next creative development of Secret of the Raft in CCC's brand new 360-degree digital gallery.
For the first time, we will be building 3-D projection-mapped scenes with a groundbreaking gaming platform called Unreal Engine. Homie, our digital artist, has been working on the scenes throughout 2021, and the time-lapse footage here showcases some work in progress for a scene entitled ‘A valley in the Hautes Alpes region of France.’ What you'll see is Homie creating the landscape, building the foliage, and creating the environmental visual effects taking his inspiration from the pre-production images developed during the big lockdown of 2020. You’ll be able to follow our progress on the Secret of the Raft’s Facebook page.
In other exciting news, the script for a short film that took its creativity from Melbourne’s first long lockdown will have an American remake! The original short, called Isolation in Lockdown, was a collaboration that celebrated the imagination of youth. It was written by recent AWGIE winner, Donna Hughes, directed by myself over Zoom, and performed and edited by Hannah Ruthven, who was at the time a recent graduate of Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. The American version will be remade with Amelia Wray (Sophia in Disney Channel’s ‘Sydney to the Max’) in the lead role and will form part of twelve individual short films to create a 60-minute film entitled Voices of Women – Entanglement 2021. This will be launched in 2022, however, in the meantime, you can watch the Aussie version we made here.
Finally… there is no doubt that performing arts organisations have taken a cruel pummeling during the past 2 years, with many venues remaining shut down for long periods of time. As I write this, a number of high-profile musicals have just canceled shows in both Melbourne and Sydney. With each passing day, it now seems unlikely that the effects of the pandemic will dissipate anytime soon. However, I have faith that artists will rise to the challenge because they know how to thrive in the grey areas and the in-between spaces. This year, I'm looking forward to a time of inventiveness and consolidation as we figure out how to adapt and accommodate the pandemic’s demands on our way of life.
Louise and the ReAction team
Hello!
New year, new start hey?!
I just happened across a pre-pandemic website offering ‘rooftop gin gardens, 80’s dance floors, and free water slides.’ Apparently, in this pre C19 world, the city was all about to ‘hot up and burst with summer scenes.’ We were on our way into a new decade, even though the haze from the bush fires thick in the air, we thought that once the rains came, life could return to normal and another year would unfold as it always did.
Yep, in Dec 2019, life was looking pretty rosy. Here at ReAction Theatre, our creative development at RMIT for ‘Secret of the Raft’ (formally 'Les Mystères du Louvre') in 2019 had gone super well and TOBY, a play by Abe Pogos, had been programmed at La Mama Theatre for September 2020. Everything was set for a busy and highly productive year. Little did we know that less than 3 months later the ‘essential night-time outings for our diaries’ would dwindle to a trip around the block, or if we were lucky, a kick of the footy in the park.
The agony of a pandemic - the lockdowns, the sadness, the endless debates, anxiety, uncertainty, and fragility. The gig economy, that so many artists relied on, was decimated overnight and the world put on pause.
Slowly, as we transitioned, this time in grey space and confusion became a time of reflection and transition. We regrouped and tried to reimagine what 2020 could become. We decided to learn new skills and adapt our practices. We saw the possibility of technology as a tool for connection, a new way of working through the enforced separation.
In April 2020, we were fortunate to receive two lots of Covid funding - one from the City of Melbourne for TOBY and a Creative Vic grant for ‘Secret of the Raft.’
The TOBY production team set about developing a set design concept that combined multiple projections, light and shadow, and tiered scrims to create an intricately layered performance that could incorporate social distancing measures, if required. It was such a luxury to have time to work on the production side and I am very grateful to the City of Melbourne for providing these funds.
As I write this, we are full-on into rehearsals for TOBY with six talented actors (Bios here ). It’s definitely a ‘make hay while the sun shines’ affair after having been locked down for a week. The exuberance and the fun that we are having on the floor is a great antidote to the soulless year that was 2020. TOBY opens on 9th March (all going well!) and tickets are available here. The theatre will have limited capacity seating, so please get in quick!
I am really looking forward to seeing you at the theatre!!
Louise and the ReAction team.
“When we do art, we put ourselves at risk, because risk is part of what makes it art.”
Since 2016, the bulk of the time in creative developments for ‘Les Mystères du Louvre’ had been spent working on the script and I was feeling relatively comfortable with where that was heading. Now, it was time to attack the technical side of this project. I was curious to see what the effect would be of combining projection mapping and live acting to make a new type of performance piece – one that sat at the intersection film, theatre, interactive performance and cutting-edge technologies.
We had basically used up all our grant money when an exciting opportunity arose in the form of an industry outreach programme through RMIT. I met with Dr Darrin Verhagen (Senior Lecturer - Sound Design) and we agreed to develop some of the technical aspects of the work as a ‘proof of concept’ and see if we could totally push the element of surprise which is part of what makes theatre such a vibrant art form. So, in January 2019, we partnered with 3 programs from the School of Design (Digital Media, Industrial Design and Animation and Interactive Media) to begin work on the most ambitious part of this project – one that combined projection mapping, installation and sound design with live acting.
We were able to recruit a small, but extremely hard-working team of RMIT lecturers and students who were given the challenge of working on the ‘Hero’ image - a highly complex digital animation which has a painting gushing off a wall and completely engulfing the theatre space. Our first few meetings were spent defining exactly how this would look. We had smart, assiduous people, very good infrastructure but minimal hardware, however the overriding aim was to make a cutting edge, high quality, world class show for families that could tour locally, nationally and internationally.
It’s fair to say that we hit the ground running when seemingly out of nowhere, Dr Gina Moore, (Lecturer in Digital Animation) produced this animation :
and basically blew our collective minds. Suddenly, it was a thing and we had to work out how to project it, how it would sound and how to act with it.
Alongside this, Jacob Sandom, an Honours student from Industrial Design, completed some meticulous renders that defined the space and gave us a very clear visual of what the overall piece could look like.
Jacob Sandom
Gina’s creation inspired and before long, Sahaj Garg and Homie (Masters students from MAGI) wanted to go a step further and create even more work – a stunning, immersive underwater scene with a floating woman that you can also see in the clips below. It was a very perceptive artwork that not only sensitively told this part of the story, but also solved a massive theatrical dilemma of how to give life to a ghostly figure. Sahaj and Homie then recruited Carlo Martinez-Tolentino (Masters - MAGI). Working together, they followed this up by using the ‘origami’ folding floor, created by Jacob and Simon Curlis (Lecturer - Industrial Design), to make a boat, giving rise to a whole new idea of embedding objects into the floor and enabling them to mysteriously appear and disappear in an instant (!) Yes, I know! Ingenious!
Sound design then came to the fore and two students - Matthew Tankard and Angelina Crutchfield assisted by Darrin - breathed life into these two clips, layering subtlety and beauty and cacophony and destruction to give them a depth and richness. Put that altogether, bring in some very talented actors and you’ll see the effect in these 2 clips here:
Of course, none of this would have happened without some pretty brave and tenacious steps into the complete unknown... A group of people who had never worked together before, technology that can be tricky, time consuming digital animation creation and projection mapping, the general push and pull of everyday life - studies, work, family…
However, this incredible opportunity gave us some of the most precious gifts of all – the privilege of being able to do more work on this piece in the future and the prospect of becoming the artists we long to be.
The work continues and the team are already researching innovative solutions in the area of projection – i.e. how to use the minimal projectors for maximum coverage and how to set the tech up so that it is practically runs itself (Yes, and yes, to all that!)
I’ll keep you posted…
Over the past few months, while writing the script of Les Mystères du Louvre, I was grappling with whether to do a second ‘work in progress’ showing. I had always thought that it would be a fabulous way of finishing off this latest creative development and also a way of thanking our donors and supporters. However, it’s a scary proposition putting a new work up for scrutiny and seeing whether scenes are robust enough to be presented to a live audience, and I vacillated for a long time.
During both creative developments, our emphasis had always been on developing a script that we hoped would be engaging and multilayered. We didn’t want the technology to be just an ‘add-on’ or an afterthought, but integral to the telling of this story. Eventually, I took the plunge and booked the theatre, and with crunch time looming on the horizon, decisions needed to be made. Two of the main decisions were whether to use any technology and, if so, how much to include, and whether to present the whole play, or selected scenes.
I ruminated over many weeks about what to show. A friend suggested a cold read with actors who had no idea or concept of what the piece was about at all. By not knowing the work, they couldn’t paper over the cracks as easily. Four actor mates generously gave up their time to delve into all aspects of the work, pointing out where parts could be made clearer, whether there was too much French language in particular scenes and what sections would be suitable for performance at this stage. It was very illuminating and I highly recommend! It was at this point, after another full rewrite, that I felt that the script, while not perfect, was reasonably solid. I decided on 3 scenes, two of which we had presented before and a brand-new scene. The first big hurdle had been overcome!
I had, over many months, toyed with the idea of doing some 3D projection but, as time was short, and the budget was becoming increasingly tighter, I put that on the back burner for a later date. It would be great to show some projection, but better to do it properly than rush it.
The two roles of the Tour Guide and the Mum were cast (amazing and fabulous Helen Hopkins and Damien Kenny) and Alison Richards took up the role of Dramaturg… and then we were away!
Last year, ReAction Theatre received its first grant from Creative Partnerships Australia to develop the script of 'Les Mysteres du Louvre.' After what seemed a never ending stream of admin, we were finally able to take to the floor in March.
Carolyn Bock Myers and Paul Szymkowiak joined continuing collaborators Arta Mucaj, Alicia Beckhurst and Nath Sem for this development. We essentially focused on the character of Agnes, a character that we hadn't had time to focus on during the Arena residency. She was a cantiniere in Napoleon's army (a woman who cooked and served alcohol to the soldiers) but not just any cantiniere! She was one of a rare breed, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, known as a "Volunteer of '92." She would have been one of the few women to step forward in 1792, when the war to protect the French Revolution first began. Therefore, it feels important to honour this woman's legacy ironic as it is, as there is hardly any information about her.
There were a number of scenes that we wanted to try to flesh out - Agnes preparing the food at the camp for Napoleon's soldiers; her life as a peasant near the French-Italian border: the first time she meets her future husband; her life on the battlefields of France; the day she boards the fateful frigate, The Medusa, on its way to Senegal and, lastly, her eventual murder. This scene, in particular, needed to ramp up! Julianne O'Brien (Windmill theatre Co) assessed our script leading in to this development and she had spoken at the Currency House Platform Paper Launch of not being afraid to go to 'dark places' in children's theatre. So, we experimented with making her murder much more graphic and violent.
There was passionate debate, loads of ideas, boundary pushing and incredible achievements! The script has taken a giant leap forward. It's on to another script assessment and more rewrites before we get into the tech.
Our Melbourne Fringe production of 'Appropriate Kissing for All Occasions' is over! It was such a great experience working on these pieces with uber talented writers David Finnigan and Isab Martinez and actors Laura McAloney, Erin Pattison and Christina McLachlan. So many highlights - working on a difficult script with limited finances and time, and seeing the beautiful work that could achieved. Having people so involved in a piece that they actually heckled our intimacy coach during her lecture. The audiences' vastly different reaction to the two different pieces. Dean, our lighting designer, finding a fantastic curtain upon which we could project the text (it may seem insignificant, but these things can make a big difference...) There's already a gaping hole that needs filling and snippets of future opportunities of what could be, but for now it's on with "Les Mysteres...." Budgets and timelines are underway and a second stage creative development is just around the corner...
ReAction Theatre was awarded a 'matched' grant through Creative Partnerships Australia for 'Les Mysteres du Louvre' in April, 2017. Part of the grant process involved a two day clinic where we were given extensive professional development in all types of fundraising - philanthropic, sponsorship and donations. This was very helpful and informative and, then, the fun began in earnest in June! We launched our campaign to raise funds with all monies raised being matched dollar for dollar by CPA. The fundraising was very successful and we are thrilled that LMDL will have a second stage creative development in the near future. You can read more about this on our 'Work in Progress' page on this website..
Over the past few weeks, I've also been working with three very talented actors - Erin Pattison, Christina McLachlan and Laura McAloney - on two beautiful and enigmatic pieces by this year's Griffin Theatre Award winner, David Finnigan. We are really excited to be presenting these under the title 'Appropriate Kissing for all Occasions' at the Melbourne Fringe this year. You can read more about these performances here. Tickets go on sale 10th August 2017 here.
Our new website is finally live. Watch this space for updates about our upcoming productions....
