10 Anniversary Season
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AWESOME FESTIVAL, THE BLUE ROOM THEATRE AND THE LAST GREAT HUNT PRESENT 10TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON THE BLUE ROOM THEATRE 53 JAMES STREET, PERTH WA, 6000 7 TH - 26TH October, The Studio Tickets through awesomearts.com.au or blueroom.org.au or by calling (08) 9227 7005 THE LAST GREAT HUNT IS SUPPORTED BY THE STATE GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SPORT AND CULTURAL INDUSTRIES. THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS, ITS ARTS FUNDING AND ADVISORY BODY. ’ There are so many people who have been part of Alvin’s Journey over the last decade. My family, in particular “And yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than my Dad who built all the set and gadgets. Chris Isaacs and Arielle Gray who helped me make the show and hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for toured with me for the first few years. Sam Longley and St John Cowcher, who in 2013 became performers hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come. Everything needs to change of the show, and have probably both done the show more than I have (collectively we have performed this show over a thousand times on almost every continent). All the staff over the last decade at The Blue Room, -- and it has to start today.” - Greta Thunburg Spare Parts, Perth Theatre Company, The Last Great Hunt, Weeping Spoon, Elsie Management and Awesome It’s true. I am hopeful about the future when I see others taking action. When I see solar panels on roofs, when Festival. And many many many individuals and organisations who helped sculpt the show, tour managed, I see my local council has banned single use plastics, when I go to free (or very cheap) weekend workshops on presented, or produced the show. I am so so very grateful, and I thank you so very much for your hard work, permaculture and meet hundreds of people learning and taking action. When I see my friends quitting plastic, and belief in this humble, lo-fi, scrappy little 45 minute show. It’s a rare milestone for a small show such as or getting worms. I am overwhelmed with hope for the future when I see students striking. I am also so much this to have such a long and healthy life, and I thank you all for indulging and celebrating it with me! more at ease when I take personal responsibility for my actions, when I live the change I want to see in the world. Because there are MANY things we can do as individuals that will make, and is making a big difference. Alvin has been a huge part of my life, it has allowed me to see the world doing what I love and sharing what I Whether it’s getting a compost bin, reducing your waste (or even going waste free), eating less red meat, love with beautiful people. It has given me an incredible appreciation and respect for humanity, imagination, switching to green power through your energy provider, or getting solar panels, or rainwater, growing your own and the planet. Unfortunately I have racked up a lot of carbon miles along the way, which of course is ironic food, or even supporting one of the hundreds of climate charities that are out there doing good (whether its given its themes, however I am endeavouring to offset and make up for it. advocacy like The Climate Council, or offsetting carbon through cool projects like myclimate.org, or the intrepid foundation, or did you know one of the best things we can do for the climate is actually educate women?! The show is about grief, loss, and enduring love set in an post-apocalyptic water world. 11 years ago Arielle OneGirl is a wonderful charity, and there are so many other benefits too). Or even switching your bank and and I went to the Great Barrier Reef and were blown away by its beauty and that feeling of complete terror super fund to ones that invest in renewables instead of fossil fuels (it literally takes five minutes to change to Future Super, and just 7.7% of Australia’s superannuation can get us to 100% renewable energy!) and awe of being so small and staring out into the endless blue abyss. We had gone to see the reef before it died. That feeling of guilt and anxiety about the climate, tied up into that feeling of being so small compared For the longest time I thought it was too daggy to go on about the environmental message of the show. And to the totality of nature was the seed image and feeling behind Alvin. maybe it still is, but that is the benefit of being 34 not 24, I am less worried about being daggy. In fact one of the first reviews we ever got from the first season mentioned that it could have had a stronger environmental What resulted is a show filled with joy, hope, and heart in the bleakest of settings. And devastatingly, 10 years message (perhaps you were right Pip Christmas). But I do FINALLY think it is becoming cool to care about the on, this show is more relevant than ever. The UN and climate scientists give us 10 years to take drastic action environment. before climate change is no longer in our control. Alvin, however is about something even larger than the total destruction of everything we know (cue scoffing). It’s about love, and sacrificing ourselves for the greater good, because in the face of the chaos that may be When I made this show I was really struggling with my own anxiety about the climate, and I know I really awaiting us all in the next few decades, kindness and altruism will be the most precious of resources. That and needed hope to get me through. And I still do. But I was struck recently by some words that resounded so clean drinking water... and good theatre of course! strongly with me, and in particular in relation to Alvin. And given this show is being presented at a festival for bright young things it only seems appropriate to quote one of them here. To the next 10 years! 2009 Blue Room Theatre Season, Western Australia The seas have risen, billions have died and those who are left live on farms atop skyscrapers, 2009 New York Fringe Festival, USA (Winner: Best Solo Show) 2010 APAM, South Australia 2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival (Winner: Best Puppetry) atop mountains. The scientists have tried everything. Floating islands sank, space probes 2010 Darwin Festival, Northern Territory 2010 New Delhi International Arts Festival, India found nothing, and effort to refreeze the icecaps failed. Now science and humanity are turning 2011 Sydney Festival, New South Wales 2011 Auckland Fringe Festival, New Zealand (Winner: Best Theatre Production) to the oceans themselves. A last ditch effort to save the human race requires journeying 2011 Australian National Tour, Australia 2011 South Korean Tour (Seoul, Busan, Geoji Island), Korea down through the mysterious depths of the deep blue sea to find a new place for us to live. 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, United Kingdom 2011 Bristol Puppetry Festival, United Kingdom 2011 Dublin Fringe Festival, Ireland (Winner: Best Male Performer) 2011 Tauranga Festival, New Zealand Alvin Sputnik, who has just lost his wife, accepts this perilous mission so that he may follow 2011 Perth Season, Western Australia 2011 The Edge, New Zealand 2011 Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong her soul down to the underworld to be together once more. 2012 Taiwan International Arts Festival, China 2012 Southern Arts Festival and Taupo Erupt Festival, New Zealand 2012 Enlighten Festival Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2012 Shizuoka Festival, Japan This exquisite multi award-winning one-man show is a unique and charming performance, 2012 Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, United Kingdom 2012 Denmark (4 week tour), Denmark which is emotional, uplifting, touching and funny – a heart-warming and beautiful experience 2012 Regional UK Tour, United Kingdom 2012 Nelson Festival, New Zealand that’s a remarkable pocket masterpiece of invention, staging and performance. 2012 Ziguzjag Festival, Malta 2013 IPAY Showcase Philadelphia, USA 2013 USA Tour: NYC; Atlanta; Philadelphia; Cleveland Tour, USA 2013 Quito Pichincha Tearo Nacional Sucre, Ecuador 2013 Act 3 International, Singapore Having charmed audiences worldwide, and received countless five star reviews, we are 2013 Japan 2013 The Arts Centre in Melbourne, Victoria delighted to be able to present this gorgeous production for its 10th anniversary season. 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival Return Season, United Kingdom 2013 USA Tour: Utah; Washington; California; North Carolina, USA 2013 Norway 2014 USA Tour: Manitoba; Canada; Utah; New York; New Jersey; Virginia, USA 2014 USA Tour: Austin; Chicago; Fayetteville, USA 2014 Imaginate Festival and Commonwealth Games, United Kingdom 2014 Titirijai Festival, Tolosa, Spain 2015 USA Tour: PuSh Festival; Vancouver Children’s Festival; Centre in the Square; Kitchener; Purdue University; Modlin University; Quick Centre for the Arts, USA “absorbing, touching and uplifting” 2015 Izmir International Puppet Days, Turkey 2015 Perth Metropolitan Schools Tour, Western Australia 2015 Fil Festival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival (Royal Croquet Club, South Australia 2016 USA and Canada Your: San Antonio; Ottawa Children’s Festival; Canada 2016 Australian National Tour, Queensland, NSW, Victoria 2016 Biennial Festival of Contemporary Puppetry Art LUTKE, Slovenia, 2016 Synergura Festival, Theatre Waidspeicher, Germany 2017 Marion Cultural Centre, Adelaide, South Australia 2017 George Town Festival, Malaysia 2017 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Vertigo Theatre, Calgary, Canada “...an endearing Australian solo show ..