NEWCASTLE emerging theatre maker Alex Travers will make her voice heard when her first full-length production Sleep, Perchance to Dream is co-presented by Tantrum Youth Arts at the Civic Playhouse in from August 29 to September 1.
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This highly physical, visual and immersive theatre performance will transport audiences into the dream world of Ophelia, an elusive character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
In Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Ophelia discovers a limitless space where she’s no longer drowning under the weight of her literary history and seeks to experience what’s possible.
The performance samples lines from Shakespeare’s play while mixing in contemporary and original text, elucidating connections between the character of Ophelia and what women experience today.
“Ophelia isn’t a relic,” said Travers. “She’s very much present. I see what she faces reflected in women I know, in their relationships and how they’re treated by other people.”
The production is led by an all-female creative team and cast, including director Danielle Asquith and co-performers Karen Burns and Amy Morris.
Asquith says audiences can expect to be challenged. “We have created a multi-sensory world for audience members to enter that’s unlike anything else you will have encountered,” Asquith said.
Sleep, Perchance to Dream has been developed over a two-year period as part of Tantrum’s Trajectory initiative – a suite of programs beginning in 2016 that support young and emerging artists to further their creative practice, collaborate with their peers, and take risks in making exceptional new theatre for Newcastle stages.
“We think it’s important for local emerging artists to have the agency to create something new and express what’s on their mind,” says Tantrum’s Producer Tamara Gazzard. “It’s been exciting to see Alex’s work develop over this time, from the kernel of an idea into a powerful full-length work that really packs a punch.”
“This process has made me brave,” says Travers, “to make decisions about what I want to say, and to have ownership and speak truthfully to that.”
Sleep, Perchance to Dream
When: 29 August - 1st September, 2018. 8pm nightly.
Venue: Playhouse, Civic Theatre Newcastle
Tickets: $35 General Admission, $20 Concession / Student / Tantrum Member
Bookings: tantrum.org.au
