HOTA has commissioned local company, White Rabbit Theatre to create a new theatre work for families, FISH!
Families and Children are invited to be part of the audience for this second development showing followed by a 10 minute Q&A.
Free family friendly theatre during the school holidays! Grab a friend and dive in the pool of air conditioning with FISH!
Tell us about your concept for FISH!
FISH! is a new theatre work for young audiences aged 4-8 and their families. It takes place at a local swimming pool, where 6 year old Gus has come to try out swimming lessons for the very first time. Gus doesn’t really like trying new things. He prefers his old routine. But his Mum has told him how important it is to be confident in the water so, reluctantly, he has agreed to give lessons a try.
There he meets Pim, who is easily one of the best swimmers who comes to the swim school. Across a series of Saturday mornings, Gus tries to find the courage to get into the pool for the very first time, and during that time he starts to notice there is something fishy about Pim. She’s not just a good swimmer. She is almost TOO good. Something sparkles when she gets in the water. Did you see it? It’s almost like she’s really a …
What’s involved with making a new theatre work from scratch?
Our process for making new theatre is all about collaboration! We will have plenty of ideas and a first draft of the script when we come into the creative development studio, and then it’s all about testing things out! The playwright/director will work with our actors, dramaturg and sound designer to create the world of the play, to discover the characters and their relationships, and to find, shape and refine the story. Then we will be inviting test audiences to share what we’ve made and get some feedback to take into the next phase of making the show!
Who are the creative team behind the work?
White Rabbit Theatre is an independent company based on the beautiful Gold Coast, and we are all about making new work for theatre. We work collaboratively as an ensemble to make theatre that is bold, joyful, innovative and surprising. A lot of the work we have made in the past is for older audiences, but this is the second work we have made especially for young audiences. For this play, we have WRT Founder & Co-Artistic Director Lisa Smith taking on dual roles of playwright and director, WRT Co-Artistic Director Ainslee Palmer taking on dual roles of actor and movement director, long time collaborators Zachary Boulton as ‘Gus’ and Victoria Carless as our dramaturg and we are delighted to welcome new collaborator Mike Johnson as our sound designer, composer and Voice Over artist.
Tell us about your learnings/progress from your first development showing in October.
The amazing thing about developments is that you never know what direction it will take, we were very lucky with our team. Everyone was on the same page instantly, we worked very fast and managed to have a full rehearsed reading by the end of the fortnight. We were fortunate enough to have a group of year 1 & 2 students from a local Gold Coast school join us for an informal showing and questions towards the end of the development process. It was very informative for our team to discover what worked well for the students and discover some of the questions they had. Some of our favourite quotes are below:
“FISH! made me burst with laughter and was fantastic” - Verity
“I think you could learn some life lessons and it is great” - Jason
“I liked FISH! because it showed me kindness” - Ruby
“I thought it was so good I nearly fainted” - Leo
Moving into January, Lisa and Victoria have been working together on some of the dramaturgy which we will take into our next development as well as some special surprises…
What are you most excited about as you head into your second development for the work?
We are so excited to be back in the room with our team and see the script changes come to life, the characters evolve and listen to the sound bring it all together. We are extra excited to test out and gain feedback on this version of the development more broadly with Gold Coast young folk looking for a fun way to spend the afternoon!
If you would like to follow our FISH! journey, head over to whiterabbittheatre.com.au and/or follow us on Instagram @whiterabbittheatre
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