Nowhere: A Dystopian Satire of society

victoria-university-of-wellington

Mon May 29 2006 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Nowhere: A Dystopian Satire of society

Monday, 29 May 2006, 3:59 pm
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington

Nowhere

31 May – 4 June, 7:30 pm
Studio 77, 77 Fairlie Terrace, Kelburn, Wellington.

A Dystopian Satire of contemporary society

THEA 302 presents a collaborative devised work which asks “where have we come from, where are we now and where are we going?” The piece is playfully inspired by Samuel Butler’s dystopian satire Erewhon but presents a variation on Butler’s tale of the explorer discovering a group of untouched peoples, ‘over the range’. Nowhere begins with a journey to a land, somewhere in the ocean, traces the landing of settlers, through the Victorian period and liberation to the contemporary now, and ends with a look into our future.

Set in a swimming pool, a contemporary romance threads throughout the work, questioning the future of human interaction in an increasingly technologically dominated universe. Nowhere asks ‘is there a way out’ and ‘how did we lose our way?’ Exploring concepts of isolation, authority and the narcissistic, Nowhere is an exploratory and experimental work, which provides a fascinating dissection of our lives in the current world. According to co-director John Downie, “Nowhere’s exploration will continue until the final performance”.

Nowhere contains multimedia elements coordinated by Andrew Brettell, (projection design for Dr Buller’s Birds, Albert Speer, Democracy).Nowhere is designed by Performance Design Students from Toi Whakaari and Massey – Amanda Jelicich-Kane (The Cottage, Dr Buller’s Birds) and Spitzer (Girls, Highways and Wide Open Spaces). It is co-directed by Theatre Department staff John Downie, Megan Evans and Sara Brodie.

Nowhere is the product of twelve weeks of work from the students of THEA 302 Conventions of Theatre: Body and Deed 1950 – the current moment. It combines practical work with the theory of practitioners such as Forced Entertainment, Robert le Page and Robert Wilson.

ENDS

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