We did start the fire: Watch and Act is coming to The Blue Room
What if the only language you had to cope with an impending climate catastrophe was from the classic
90s rom-com Notting Hill and imaginary conversations with Julia Roberts?
Watch and Act is a comedy that stares down the paradox of caring too much and not enough. It’s a one
woman show about learning to cope with the uncertainty of OCD symptoms and how that might be
excellent preparation for coping with the uncertainty of climate grief. It’s also a gentle suggestion of a
new kind of emergency warning system, from someone who spent a few summers reading emergency fire warnings on the radio.
That someone is writer and performer Katie McAllister who grew up on Menang and Pibulmen Noongar
Boodjar in Albany and Denmark.
McAllister Says :
This is a show about a place that I (and Tim Winton) love, a climate that’s changing, my obsessive, scared brain, and how I’m dealing with all that,” “It’s also about taking my psychologist’s advice seriously: the best time to go to therapy is when you’re not in crisis. Surely the best time to deal with climate change is when we’re not literally on fire?”
While Watch and Act sees McAllister make her theatre writing debut, you might recognise her as a rollerCderby star from Ugly Virgins, the Lindstedt and Davies hit at The Blue Room Theatre earlier this year.
She is joined on Watch and Act by phenomenal sound designer Georgina Cramond (Interrupting a Crisis), who has conceived a moving and immersive soundscape that somehow evokes Ledge Beach in Albany, interviews with Nigella Lawson plus urgent fire warnings.
Accomplished designer Clare Testoni (Tale of Tales; The Double) has brought the karri forests to the heart of Northbridge, creating a silvery grey backdrop to hold AV and the atmospheric lighting of Kristie Smith (Every Brilliant Thing; In Case of Emergency). Director Michelle Endersbee (ARADIA, Super-Fanny-Tastic) brings precision, patience and timing to McAllister’s multi-layered script. She also brings tireless country gal energy to the show, as does comedian Andrea Gibbs in her performance mentoring.
Watch and Act is an earnest late-night message to Nigella Lawson and every tree in every karri forest in
Denmark, and it’s showing at The Blue Room Theatre for three weeks from 28 September.
Season Details
Venue: The Blue Room Theatre
Date: 28-Sept-21 To 16-Oct-21
For more information click HERE
