Exploration of immersive theatre at Algie Hall

by Bonnie Collings
Theatre enthusiasts wanting to explore the world of interactive and immersive performance are encouraged to attend Off The Leash theatre company's latest "Short and Curlies" performance at the Algie Hall in Neerim South.
From Friday, October 6 to Sunday, October 8, local talents will perform their creative works in a non-traditional theatre style. Creative director, Julia Lambert said the Short and Curlies format was a spin on the short-and-sweet style of traditional theatre.
"Short and Curlies as a concept is about providing people with a broad range of different creative experiences, the opportunity to make something new," Julia said. "That might be a theatre performance, a song, a dance or a movement piece, any sort of creative expression."
The performances in Short and Curlies range between 30 seconds to 20 minutes in length, providing performers the opportunity to trial innovative theatrical concepts.
This is the second time Off The Leash has presented a Short and Curlies performance, the focus this year being "body language".
"Every time we create a show in the Short and Curlies format, we give it a common theme, so all the creatives have the same starting point," Julia said. "Our creatives take that idea and think about it, they do a few workshops with us, bin some ideas, then they might take some idea out of the bin, sticky-tape them all back together to create a non-traditional theatre performance which stems from that original concept."
Unlike a traditional theatre show, the central focus of Short and Curlies is not a stage.
"If you go to watch a traditional theatre show, you sit in a chair and you watch the stage, and all the performance happens on the stage," Julia said.
"The way (Short and Curlies) thinks about performance is that it can happen anywhere, so we're holding our performance in all the nooks, crannies and secret bits of Algie Hall in Neerim South."
Audiences attending the Short and Curlies performances will get to immerse themselves in the different performance spaces of Algie Hall.
"Our audiences will not be sitting down for an hour and a half watching the stage, they will be moving through the space and exploring different parts of the space," Julia said. "The Algie Hall is a fully accessible venue which is fantastic. If you have a disability or some access needs we can support you with that and also bring some chairs out for longer performances."
Julia said the Short and Curlies performances provided a gentle introduction for both performers and audiences to experience new types of theatre performance.
"If you've seen a lot of theatre, this is a great way to see a different type of theatre in a really safe and supportive way," she said. "Sometimes interactive and immersive theatre can be too much for people. It can be a bit scary and a bit confronting. This is not at all scary or confronting, we're taking a very gentle approach to engaging with our audience."
Some of the Short and Curlies performances touch on tricky or confronting subject matter, encouraging a safe discussion of those topics amongst the audience.
"Often the creative world is a great way for us to have conversations about (tricky topics)," Julia said. "For example, in this show, we're talking about bodies, mental health and physical health, companionship and loneliness. We really want to make sure that our audience and our creatives are in a really good spot to have those experiences and have those conversations. We'll be inviting people to stick around after the show, to have a cup of tea and a chat with our creatives, to talk about the bits that they really liked, the bits that were maybe a bit challenging for them and what they'd like to see next time."
As the Short and Curlies performance is on during Victorian Seniors Week, Julia and the Off The Leash team want to encourage older people in the community to come see the show.
"We really want our seniors to come out so we've got some accessible show times like 2pm and 5pm," Julia said.
Julia has been involved in theatre in Gippsland for about 25 years. She said her favourite part working as the Short and Curlies artistic director was guiding the creatives in the formation of their work.
"Unlike directing a regular play where you have a script, we don't have a script," Julia said. "My role as the artistic director is to give the creatives some gentle guidance, because ideally, they are the directors of their own pieces. It's kind of like a patchwork quilt with everybody sewing their square, and then I come in and sew all the bits all together, and then lay it on the bed."
Tickets for Short and Curlies are available to purchase at https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1103494 for $20. Due to the immersive nature of the show, there are only 20 or 25 tickets available for each performance.