MEDIATHEK

‘Captives of the City’ - A subterranean theatrical experience

Deep underground, ideas are spreading and change is beckoning. The Captives have a choice: to embrace the terrifying uncertainly of change or maintain the status quo…

During 2015, Chamber Made Opera collaborated with independent company Lemony S Puppet Theatre for ‘Captives of the City’, a dynamic fusion of digital puppetry, live animation, music and performance. This new chamber opera tackled fundamental questions of our time and was performed in a secret location in the depths of the Arts Centre during February 2015.

‘Captives of the City’ was inspired by recent global events and the worldwide demand for political change. New political movements are forming and existing minor parties are strengthening. Although all these movements have vastly different wants, the one common thread that binds them is the desire for mainstream politics to do things differently. They are movements acting from a belief that the authorities have failed the people.

‘Captives of the City’ is a radical, layered exploration of the desire for change and the internal and physical battles fought to achieve it. Using custom-designed animation technology fused with live performance, 'Captives of the City' examines the artists’ role within charged political times. The work also explores ways in which digital technologies and social networking platforms have impacted on contemporary processes of collective action.

The premiere season was a site-specific performance, taking place in unusual, underground, back-of-house spaces at the Arts Centre Melbourne. Directed by Sarah Kriegler, the work contained musical movements for percussion and double bass composed by David Young alongside a full electronic sound score by Jethro Woodward. The composition – along with the story developed by Sarah Kriegler and dramaturg Ben Grant - inhabited a sophisticated digital world created by animator Dave Jones and performed by puppeteer Jacob Williams, performer Adam Pierzchalski and musicians Matthias Schack-Arnott and Mark Cauvin.