War of the Worlds + Tourmaline Out Loud

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS + TOURMALINE OUT LOUD

In this electrifying double-bill two, iconic sci-fi-futurist classics are given contemporary re-tellings that grip the imagination beyond the original.

Continuing our exploration of marrying classic verse text with live performance,The Street's Literary Out Loud Series brings together one of the 20^th century’s most famous trans-Atlantic novel adaptations with the world premiere of the adaptation of an Australian classic by one of Canberra’s leading playwrights.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

The Howard E Koch/Orson Welles Company’s live US radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic

 “No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own.”

In the unfathomable darkness of empty space, an invisible missile starts its journey to Earth from Mars. And another. And another. And another...
Ten missiles carrying an invading force of Martians, their intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic. Hour by hour, day by day, closer and closer the Martians come, ready for war and the massacre of mankind.

Join us as we recreate an infamous moment in radio history: the realistic radio dramatization of a Martian invasion of Earth. The broadcast caused chaos as listeners across America believed it was in fact “live news” and that the reports of aliens attacking US cities were real. For this recreation director PJ Williams assembles a formidable cast to play Orson Welles's actors reading Howard E. Koch's original radio script, while sound engineer Kyle Sheedy plays in live sound effects.

TOURMALINE - World premiere!

adapted by Emma Gibson from the Australian classic novel by Randolph Stow

“We’ve got to the bare bones of the country, and I reckon we’re getting to the bones of ourselves. If the water comes, it’ll be when we’ve stopped needing it. We’re coming true.”

In the remote Australian outback, the once thriving gold mining settlement of Tourmaline languishes, forgotten.  There is no gold. There is no water. Hope is fading, and a gradual tide of red desert sand threatens to bury the town. There are no children in Tourmaline and a whole generation has never seen rain.

When the desert delivers an unconscious, sun-scorched and near-dead man, the residents of Tourmaline take him in. Once recovered, the mysterious outsider introduces himself as Michael Random and claims he is a diviner who can find water and gold. Random becomes a messiah for the people of Tourmaline – but is his promise of salvation as much of a mirage as water in the desert?

Award-winning Canberra playwright Emma Gibson has adapted Randolph Stow’s 1963 novel, which explores our relationship with the Australian landscape.

A classic text adapted for radio and performed out loud,Tourmaline evokes the atmosphere of the outback and asks where salvation can be found.

Read more about Emma Gibson's adaptation in The Canberra Times and City News
+ Meet the Makers with Emma Gibson, 3pm Sunday 8th July. Book here

Featuring Craig Alexander, Breanna Barker, Christopher Samuel Carroll, Ylaria Rogers, Martin Searles, Cameron Thomas

The War of the Worlds directed by PJ Williams

Tourmaline directed by  Adam Broinowski

Production Design Tiffany Abbott
Sound Design Kyle Sheedy
Lighting Design Linda Buck

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