NIDA Productions a Breeding Ground for Creative Futures

BY ALANNAH MAHER

Featuring five full-scale productions led by cutting-edge directors and playwrights, NIDA launched its 2015 end-of-year production season earlier this month. Running through to the end of the month, it promises much more than your average run of the mill amateur student shows.

Fresh from touring internationally with his latest production, award-winning director and NIDA alumni Craig Ilott has returned to devise and direct Stranger I Am, an immersive, multi-faceted performance.

“It’s a song cycle that charts the interior life of a young woman struggling to come to terms with the loss of her mother,” explained Craig.

This collaboratively developed play began with interpreting 19^th Century composer Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey), but in workshops throughout the year it very quickly became apparent that they were heading in an original direction. This was largely due to the people involved, including a group of talented NIDA students, and contemporary composers iOTA and Caitlin Park along with NIDA musical director Andrew Ross.

With an impressive original score performed by a live band, this bold performance incorporates song and spoken word in addition to stunning aerial work, another new skill the students have learned at NIDA, under the expert guidance of movement director Gavin Robbins. “[It’s] early days but we thought ‘lets test this training and bring it into this show’!” said Ilott. Directing aerial performances is no foreign feat to Ilott, his award-winning disco-variety-cabaret Velvet, which is currently wowing audiences at the Opera House, is a testament to this.

While this is certainly not iOTA’s first collaboration with Ilott, being invited into the project was a welcome shock to hardworking musician Caitlin Park. Fresh from touring the country supporting Dustin Tebbutt, Park has also been writing her third album and working almost full-time in addition to her role as a composer on Stranger I Am.

“It’s been a really amazing experience because all I’ve ever wanted to do is take the style of music that I write into this world,” said Caitlin. “…It was very collaborative from the beginning, which isn’t something I expected––we were brought in before the script was completed.”

Park has always shown an interest in creating soundtracks, incorporating filmic elements into her previous two albums. The process of composing for theatre, especially a play as unique and collaborative as this, was a new experience. But she took on the advice of her co-composer, and “relished” it.

Craig himself has a vested interest in supporting the institution that helped launch his career, this being the third production he has returned to NIDA to work on. “What drives me purely is to go in there and give the students a good experience… I love the mentoring part of it,” he said.

NIDA’s productions have been an excellent opportunity for creative professionals to develop new and experimental work, but the value for students is at the forefront.

Graduating student Emily Davison is playing a pivotal role in another season stand out, Reagan Kelly, a production written by Lewis Treston and directed by Matilda Award-winning director Ben Schostakowski, both of whom were completing their honours programs at NIDA during her first year. “It’s feeling like a really lovely way to bookend [my] time at NIDA,” said Emily.

“[Reagan Kelly has] never been staged before so we’ve had a really great time envisaging and creating these characters…[and] having the freedom to make this play whatever we like,” said Davison. The play’s central character is a 25-year-old woman struggling with the transition to the ‘real world’ after being school captain in the microenvironment of high school. Emily plays the troubled fiancé of Reagan’s twin brother in this dark comedy set in Brisbane.

Davison explained that the team were often laughing in rehearsals, and by opening themselves up through the humour they found themselves connecting more deeply with the characters, making the darker moments more poignant. “You [suddenly] notice how you’ve let the story in and let the characters in, and it hits you deeper emotionally,” said Emily.

The development of these projects has been a fertile environment for creative work and enriching to the talents of Australia’s current and up-and-coming culture creators. And certainly inspiring to young people pursuing careers in the arts at this time. “…It feels to me that maybe the arts and creative endeavours aren’t being respected and honoured as much. I think that they’re vital parts of the community and adding to culture is what makes a community,” said Emily.

Craig echoed the positivity of the experience: “What’s been a particular joy to me is to watch the students – and I don’t just mean the performers – I mean the design students, the technical students, as well as the acting students––[they] have to embrace the challenges and the rigour that comes with new work. That isn’t something that happens every day for them and I’ve been very proud of the way that they’ve all stepped up to the plate.”

City Hub’s picks of the NIDA End-of-Year Productions:

STRANGER I AM
Until Oct 23. NIDA Parade Theatre, NIDA Theatres, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington. $18.35-$32.62+bf. Info: nida.edu.au/events/nida-presents/stranger-i-am

REAGAN KELLY
Until Oct 24. NIDA Studio Theatre, NIDA Theatres, 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington. $18.35-$28.55+bf. Info: nida.edu.au/events/nida-presents/reagan-kelly

See the whole program at: nida.edu.au/events