Our Productions We believe it is our role to foster in young people a desire to explore, discover, invent and learn different ways of performing and provide opportunities for them to do so.
MIND OVER MATTER
SEA transformed the interior of the theatre into the interior of the brain in this multi art form production created especially for Mental Health week. Staring the senior SEA members from Puppetry, Drama, Circus, Aerials, Street Acrobatics and Lighting & Sound Tech.
Developed for Express It, Amity Health’s week long festival of Arts and Mental Health, this youth devised performance brought together many of the art forms offered at Southern Edge Arts and took the audience on a physical and emotional journey through the mind.
Mind Over Matter showcased dreams, hopes, nightmares and memories that are stored in the brain from young children through to adulthood. Using circus, theatre, parkour and multi media, Mind Over Matter explored mindfulness and the role of the brain in wellbeing and health for young people.
GAME CHANGER
Southern Edge Arts’ talented youth Theatre and Circus Troupe collaborated on a unique performance that was a real Game Changer.
Blending aerial and circus arts with contemporary youth theatre, Game Changer explored the journey of life and the opportunities, obstacles and challenges that shape the mind of our youth today. Based on youth devised monologues that capture the many moments in a young persons life; good or bad, big or small, the performance is about acceptance, resilience and embracing change as a powerful antidote to the ever-challenging world of a teenage life.
This contemporary performance was both confronting and visually spectacular, as this eclectic collaboration between theatre and aerial acrobatics blended seamlessly into one cohesive experience where the audience was provided with a rare insight into the mechanics of young minds at their most vulnerable stages. No longer children but not yet adults, Game Changer is as unpredictable as life itself.
Photos by Lata Photography.
ENIGMA
Enigma brings to light the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci, merging circus aerials, manipulations and acrobatics in an innovative evening of contemporary Australian performance.
CircaSEA, presented by act- belong- commit, have conceptualized a visual extravaganza of circus performance and narrative that links art, innovation and science as seen through the eyes of Leonardo da Vinci.
Da Vinci’s rich and diverse body of work, including his art, inventions, observations in nature and experiments in early mechanics and flight, have provided an abundance of inspiration from which to devise performance.
Devised by CircaSEA in collaboration with SEA lead circus artist Beth O’Neill and internationally renowned circus artist Chris Mayhew, Based largely on Da Vinci's sketches and diaries, this highly choreographed performance is a feast of exhilarating aerial and ground performance with acrobatic machines, pitching, Chinese pole, object manipulations and numerous aerial apparatus including double trapeze, aerial cubes, silks, hammocks and a cloud swing alongside stunning projections of da Vinci’s work; allowing the audience to be fully immersed in da Vinci’s powerful vision.
THE DREAMING HILL
The Dreaming Hill incites contemplation, empowering Australians to deeply comprehend the perilous situation our young ANZAC soldiers and nurses found themselves immersed in . Geographically isolated from their beloved home and families, awaiting deployment to horrific battlefields, from the Greek island of Lemnos.
This riveting theatrical production speaks to the enduring spirit of young men and women, confronted by the encroaching shadow of war. The Dreaming Hill captures the tragic deconstruction of carefree innocence, exposing vulnerability, hope and sacrifice.
Performed by a talented youth ensemble, The Dreaming Hill connects the legacy of the ANZACs with a modern audience, enticing them to consider what it would mean for themselves or their teenagers, to be called to duty in Australia’s military history.
A collaboration between WA Youth Theatre Company (WAYTCO) and Southern Edge Arts (SEA).
Written by Hellie Turner
Directed by Renato Fabretti and Simon Woodward
WINDOWS TO THE SOUL
Window to the Soul proved a wonderful platform for our talented Theatre Ensemble performers to share their self devised monologues.
Audiences loved this show, commenting that it was truly engaging and left them with a sense of hope and warmth, feeling privileged to have shared these honest and intimate stories of whimsy, worry and wonder.”
This production we teemed SEA member Jake Hacker with Dave Nile as a tech mentee. Jake had the opportunity to assist with lighting and sound for the show and has proved himself to be very capable in this aspect of the theatre. Based on the success of this initiative SEA will make tech menteeships a part of all future SEA productions.
SNAP
SNAP is a dynamic aerial and physical theatre performance that continues the tradition of SEAs ground breaking multi art form productions.
SNAP follows young Ben through various stages of his childhood and adolescence as he grows into a man,
It’s about a boy who becomes a young man, and a young man who makes a mistake. It’s a night out… with consequences. It’s a car crash – the impact, flashing backwards and forwards in time. It’s about being young an old simultaneously.
Sally Richardson, award-winning Australian physical theatre and circus director directed ‘Snap!’, a show about the choices we make in the heat of the moment and the impact they can have upon on our lives. Sally just finished directing ‘Lucy and the Lost Boy’, which features final year NICA Circus arts students.
This performance utilised the strengths, interest and talent of SEA members to exciting effect, exploring the place where contemporary dance and aerial circus meet. Participants aged 9 yrs up to 19yrs, beginners to advanced took part in these exciting workshops. Students broadend their skills in contemporary performing arts including dance, drama and aerials.
INTERSECTION OF SOUND AND SUNK
Originally titled All In Good Time, Sound and Sunk is a cross-art form production combining stunning visuals, circus, physical performance and storytelling. Using Rod Vervest’s Voice Prints as a point of departure this timely project celebrates Albany’s personal histories collecting stories from youth, seniors and children with a focus on enabling intergenerational exchange. All In Good Time was a magical re-telling of local stories past and present.
This was also SEA’s very first commissioned play written by young emerging Albany playwright Liz Newell. Mentored by one of Australias most exciting Playwrights Finegan Kruckemeyer, Liz has taken fragments of true Albany history and stiched together a part factual part fictional play. The script evokes an element of magical realism, which provides plenty of scope for Director Mark Storen and our young performers to experiment with elements of circus, acrobatics, physical skills, movement and spoken word to create a truly unique and engaging performance piece.
Rod & Ella Vervest created and performed live an original music score, and Perth Designer Fiona Bruce was engaged to create the set for the performance. Finegan Kruckemeyer joined the creative team during the second week of the school holidays to fine tune the script.
WINTERING
Wintering is a new contemporary dance work inspired by the fragility and strength of an iced landscape. Created by West Australian choreographer Aimee Smith, Wintering uses dance along with imagery and sounds collected from the Arctic environment to explore the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. This meditative and immersive work asks audiences to consider what it is to live in a changing and disintegrating world, to sit with the tension of beauty and destruction, hope and fear. Wintering opens a conversation about climate change not by facing the familiar politics of the issue but instead bravely attempting to reveal the subtle, emotional and disquieting nature within.
Choreographed by Aimee Smith
Performed by Rhiannon Newton & Jenni Large
Sound composition by Ben Taaffe, Craig McElhinney & Kane Ikin
Costumes by India Mehta
Lighting design by Trent Suidgeest
Premiered at Arts House as part of the Next Wave Festival 2012 in Melbourne
Le Cirque D'Evolution
L Cirque D'Evolution is an explosive one hour circus extravaganza traveling from the sea to the land and a day under the big top. Le Cirque d’Evolution is filled with juggling, trapeze, silks, hoops, and acro-balance, a delight for audiences of any age.
18 of the extremely talented advanced members of the performance troupe, CircaSEA, performed 6 shows over three days, wowing crowds of school students, seniors and members of the general public. All funds raised went towards new equipment that is much needed at SEA Inc to allow us to continue our training and perform safely.
SPIDERS WEB
A Place Not to Stray
In a small Australian town, Marsh, Teddy, Poe and Ollie make an unlikely ring of mates. Marsh, a leader, Teddy, headstrong and righteous, Poe, not much at all and Ollie, the town’s black sheep. Four of them go camping, in the early days of one summer and when only three of them return, they begin turning on themselves, each asking the other “Who’s to blame?”
Written and Directed by Southern Edge Art’s emerging playwright Sam Kemp, A Place Not To Stray was a contemporary drama exploring judgement, friendship and loyalties.
In Our Town
In a small Australian town, Marsh, Teddy, Poe and Ollie make an unlikely ring of mates. Marsh, a leader, Teddy, headstrong and righteous, Poe, not much at all and Ollie, the town’s black sheep. Four of them go camping, in the early days of one summer and when only three of them return, they begin turning on themselves, each asking the other “Who’s to blame?”
Written and Directed by Southern Edge Art’s emerging playwright Sam Kemp, A Place Not To Stray was a contemporary drama exploring judgement, friendship and loyalties.
