Human genetic modification is a taboo topic rarely touched on in public discussion; a topic three Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduates decided to tackle in their theatre production.
‘Blueprint’ embraces an existence of humans having to leave the earth, all while abandoning their basic understanding of evolution. Characters Alex, Jayne and Lewis are the first to reckon with this new reality, three exceptionally ordinary strangers who eagerly join a programme designed to produce astronauts in less than six months. The catch is, the bodies they go in with aren’t quite the same as the ones that come out.
“The topic is essentially looking at engineering average, everyday human bodies into astronauts fit for space. In the context of ‘Blueprint’, we are now able to genetically modify ourselves to exist in an environment outside of earth, due to the irresponsible damage caused by climate change and other things,” Creative Devisor and lead character Phoebe Sullivan explains.
“Humans are trying to broaden their horizons and explore the possibilities of living on other planets, due to the inevitable disintegration of earth over the next couple of decades. That’s essentially the basis of the show, specially surrounding how people come to terms with alternating what they believe to be their sense of humanity.”
The production was put together by Phoebe, Jessica Russell and Sean Crofton, starting off as the idea that ‘aliens live next door’ and snowballing into a third year assignment submission at the WAAPA last year.
“Sean put it out there in a very confident and endearing statement; he just said, 'alright guys, I got it'. We delved into the fact that we were very interested into space, and in the end, it was our graduating piece,” Phoebe says. “We then applied for a season at the Blue Room Theatre, which is essentially a production company that puts on new work. We spent so many hours sweating over that application, justifying why it was relevant and timely.”
Image © Marshall Stay, Timothy GreenThe trio was told the good news just one month ago; Blue Room Theatre producer Jenna Mathie called and insisted she would love them to join the season.
“With that, we’ve had to redevelop it to make it a full-length time slot, because initially, our third year show piece was only 25 minutes. Naturally you need something a little more substantial!” Phoebe exclaims. “I almost forget how much hard work it has taken to get where we are now; it was tough. But it is interesting to see how far we as performers, and the show, have come since we started last year.”
Besides work and external commitments extruding on potential rehearsal time, according to Phoebe, one of the hardest elements to master was describing scientifically complex concepts in layman’s terms for audiences.
“We’ve conducted so much extensive research, but we still need to turn that research into a relatable script that doesn’t make the audience feel like we’re talking down to them. In essence, we’re not scientists either, and can only really understand the basic terminology. I’d say an equal amount of research has gone into making the topic accessible to audiences.”
“I’m not the kind of person who’s going to sit down and listen to a three hour podcast of scientists talking about dense theories and technologies. But if I could see a theatre show that was entertaining, but also relevant to these interesting concepts, I think that’d be pretty awesome. I hope the crowd does too.”
