By Jonty Ralphsmith
Fusion Theatre’s ‘Down But Not Out’ was sold out and successful on the weekend of 8-9 April.
The ensemble of 20 had worked since the end of 2019 towards a show which reflected the themes of loss, longing, resilience and hope.
An original script generated by ideas the actors exchanged during many zoom calls during the lockdowns meant that Covid-19 related concepts of longing for what was lost were inexorably present in the storyline.
However, Jo Raphael, artistic director, was at pains to emphasise that the show carried more positivity than merely a pandemic recount.
“It was about connection and belonging and beauty and hope – we found hope in working together,” she said.
“Arts took a big hit during Covid-19, particularly performing arts.
“Through art we found meaningful ways to connect, we collaborated, and we were also able to process what happened during these times.
“It was a triumph over adversity and reminded us all how important theatre is because all our audience members we have spoken to were able to leave here uplifted.”
The most common description of the show according to Raphael was ‘beautiful’.
Part of the beauty was the different perceptions that audience members could take from the same moment as the script was deliberately left open for interpretation.
In one scene, an actor pulls out a model Titanic and sombrely reflects on her own cancelled birthday holiday plans to USA as restrictions prevented her from overseas travel.
One person may draw a parallel between the deaths caused by each event, while another person may see comparisons between neither being able to reach their final destination.
Birds were another notion explored as several members spoke about them during the virtual meetings.
In one sense, they could be viewed as representing the increased note that people took of their natural surroundings due to the five-kilometre restriction; in another, their liberty juxtaposed the constrains of human existence during the script writing period.
“The meaning is in there deeply – it’s like a mirror that reflects what people are thinking,” Ms Raphael said.
“We wanted people to be able to relate to so much of it – it’s healing to hear these stories, it tells people they weren’t alone in experiencing these things.”
Fusion is an inclusive theatre company that accepts neurodiverse people, for whom the lockdowns added another barrier to an already isolated life.
For actor Alex Litsoudis, the social and wider media reporting was a challenge which was reflected in a scene.
“I had enough of social media and news – what is true, what’s not, I was confused,” he said.
“It was all bad and death – I wanted them to give us positive not negative.”
Andy McKinnon, another actor, initially wanted to be “seen but not heard”, in the background of the greater performance and more involved in production, but ended up being a vital cog.
“At one point a few of us probably didn’t think we could get this far with the whole show up but to see the final thing and how successful it was makes me feel pretty happy, and sad we may not perform it again.
“I think we made something that’s very relatable and I want more people to see it.”
