War of the Worlds

RYT has finished their biggest, most exciting, performance in 40 years — a fresh version of War of the Worlds written by our very own award-winning playwright, Fleur Kilpatrick. This play saw three regional towns collaborate in a simultaneous performance during an alien invasion!

Our casts tell us the story of how they were about to perform their play about classic novels, when no one shows up they learn that aliens have invaded South Australia. They share their expereince of the alien apocalypse, their resilience, their care for one another, and how they communicated with one another across thousands of kms.

Each organisation developed their own version of this play, making tweaks to the original Riverland-based script to match the details of their own towns and actors. And they performed it at the same time from the Riverland, Whyalla and Bendigo. There’s even scenes in the play where the actors will interact with each other via Facetime and group message.

Thanks to funders Adelaide Festival, Arts SA, Regional Arts Australia, RISE Fund (Local Giants), Country Arts SA, Fairfax Youth Initiative, Carclew, Creative Australia, Greater City of Bendigo, and Regional Arts Victoria.

And to our collaborators Arena Theatre and D’faces of Youth Arts for helping us make this project come to life!

developments

The premise of this new adaptation of War of the Worlds is that, on the night of an alien invasion, three regional theatre companies are presenting parallel versions of scenes from classics. As chaos begins to descend on Australia, these companies of young people find the only communication they have with the outside world is with each other. This script is a tribute to the resilience and friendship of the teens in these regional communities, the ways in which they look after their friends and have survived COVID and everything else the 21st Century is hurling at them.

Here’s Artistic Director and all-round cool person, Fleur, to give you a better understanding of this gigantic project we’re undertaking and how it came about.

NB: this video was recorded in 2022 during early developments and already some details have shifted! That’s the nature of creative development. The core ideas of aliens, multiple locations, the Field Days sites and live phonecalls remain in the current version of the script.

War of the Worlds has undergone development in 2022 and 2023, supported by Arts South Australia, PAC Australia & Performing Lines (through Local Giants) and as part of the Fairfax Youth Initiative.

Development so far has included creative exploration with the directors from Arena, RYT and D’faces, workshops with teenagers in Whyalla & the Riverland, writing time for Fleur to complete the first full draft of the script, attendance at APAX (an annual national performing arts market) to pitch War of the Worlds, a work-in-progress showing, and a rehearsed reading.

APAX

RYT packed up and travelled to Cairns for APAX (Australian Performing Arts Exchange)!

APAX 2023 was hosted in Cairns from 28 August to 1 September 2023, with an online Advance Pitching Program on Thursday 17 August 2023. APAX is a conference/marketplace for professional theatre performances to pitch their projects to potential collaborators and audiences.

Fleur, Alysha, two of our teens Axel and Rowen, and friends of RYT Sam Wannan, and Michal Hughes (D’faces) travelled to (not so) faraway lands to pitch War of the Worlds!

At APAX, over 400 producers, artists and presenters came together for a week of deep exploration and engagement, reflecting upon what’s next in performing arts presenting and touring. It was a week filled with dialogue and an exchange of ideas through provocation circles, breakouts, roundtables, panels and networking.

Our young artists performed a small snippet of War of the Worlds and met so many incredible artists and queer people that their brains melted. Here’s some words from them:

APAX was an amazing experience!

Being one of the youngest delegates there made it an opportunity to find out what it’s like working in theatre. I met a lot of very awesome people, saw some amazing pitches and got to be a part of our pitch!

It was like nothing I’ve ever done before and I’m so happy I got to be there. Growing up in the Riverland means that I never get to see this side of things, and now I’m very excited for what my future holds in the theatre world!

– Axel Lochert

Rowen promised us they’d tell us what they thought and we’ll update this when they reply!

– Rowen Hurrell

Beautiful illustration of Rowen and Axel sitting on stage at APAX before their pitch, drawn by RYT’s friend Sam Wannan. Sam is also on the board of our peer regional youth arts company D’faces (and used to be the Creative Producer of D’faces – basically the Fleur equivalent there in Whyalla).

FAIRFAX FESTIVAL

Ten of RYT’s teen participants, Fleur and Alysha made their way to Swan Hill for two weeks for the Fairfax Youth Initiative Festival – a development camp to work on War of the Worlds. Together with our collaborators from Arena and D’faces, we had a combined group of seventeen young people from Berri, Barmera, Waikerie, Renmark, Winkie, Whyalla, Bendigo, Mildura, Marybourough and Swan Hill.

Across the two weeks, our young cast and professional artists presented a work in progress showing of existing scenes, tested new material and presented a full reading of the current script on the second to last night. The team also participated in some workshops and masterclasses as part of the wider Fairfax Youth Initiative.

The full reading and two-week development during the Fairfax Youth Initiative Festival in Swan Hill was an opportunity for young people from our collaborating communities to come together on stage and share a small taste of what the final project will become. We are grateful to the Fairfax Youth Initiative and all of the funders and other supporters for the opportunity to test the script and present a full reading. We had some incredible feedback, including these beautiful words from Mik Frawley:

I’m in utter awe of Fleur’s script for her authenticity of voice (invasive viral Texan accents notwithstanding) and inspired by the raw, vulnerable talent of the assembled ensemble of young performers who have lent it to the work.

We can’t wait to see where the next stage of development takes us. Stay tuned in 2024!

BENDIGO, whyalla & riverland DEVELOPMENTs

After having a baby and being on parental leave for six months, Fleur is back and working for RYT as an associate artist! Her and Atty’s first task was to travel 538kms to Bendigo in NSW, next Whyalla to add another 473kms under her belt (with Nate Charles in tow and Sam not far behind) and back to her home in the Riverland.

Fleur spent time with the young cohorts at Arena Theatre, D’faces of Youth Arts, and Riverland Youth Theatre to develop War of the Worlds. She and facilitated three days in three locations over three weeks – between drama warmups, check ins with the young people, chatting through script changes and adjustments, testing out characters, and connecting across towns.

REHEARSALS

From October 2024 – March 2025 we were deep in rehearsals, script learning, set building, costume designing, solving tech issues, and collaborating with two other companies. Three rehearsals a week plus weekend intensives was an incredible commitment from our cast and crew.

The RYT cast worked with Director, Fleur Kilpatrick and guest artist Nate Charles Karafiannis-Troisi through rehearsals, developing their delivery, acting skills, script-learning and (for one cast member) gardening skills.

Our cast modified their own costumes to their own liking, including sewing, spray-painting, ripping, tieing and tea-dying. They graffitied the set with spray-paint and covered nooked with paint-pen illustrations.

Young people who were not involved with the live performance were invited to be part of our pre-record team for the final video – during one river-trip, guest artist, Nate, got a first hand experience of true Riverland culture (a bogged car). Most of the young people who have been involved with RYT have been part of this development.

There’s so much of this process that we haven’t covered, like the sound design by Daniel Thorpe or the set design by Bianka Kennedy, the amount of volunteer hands lended to us, and Baby Atty’s babysitter – just to name a few things!

THE SHOWS

And finally, we made it.

A five-show Adelaide Festival season. With three sold-out shows and 237 (out of 250) seats filled, we delivered the most ambitious and courageous show Riverland Youth Theatre has seen in its 40- year history.

We’re so proud and thankful to everyone who dedicated their time, their hands, and their hearts to this show.

Photos by the team at Tone Pit Media.