logo
North Island Tour Of Award-Winning Show Brings Immersive Theatre To Regional Audiences

North Island Tour Of Award-Winning Show Brings Immersive Theatre To Regional Audiences

Scoop15-06-2025
Press Release – Red Scare Theatre Company
Red Scare Theatre Company is bringing its award-winning Immersive production Before We Slip Beneath the Sea around the North Island this July.Written and directed by the company's artistic director Cassandra Tse, Before We Slip Beneath the Sea follows inhabitants of the fictional island off the north coast called Eglantyne. Here, the local community have gathered for the last time in the wake of an impending evacuation due to rising sea levels. When one community member decides to take a stand against the evacuation, the community is divided, long-buried tensions come to the fore, and everyone must decide how to cope with change, loss and forces far greater than themselves.
Red Scare will be swapping out traditional theatre spaces for community halls for this Immersive show, which aims to break the usual separation between audience and actors. 'Immersive theatre is different from traditional theatre in that the audience are actually inside the storyworld, rather than sitting outside and looking in,' says Tse. 'In Before We Slip Beneath the Sea, audiences have the freedom to choose their own path to navigate the story, encountering and interacting with different characters. It's a huge challenge, but there's also so much potential for exciting storytelling.' Audience members can choose to eavesdrop on budding romances, intervene in family disputes, or even help out in the kitchen.
The play was awarded Winner of Best Play by a Woman Playwright and overall Runner-Up at the 2024 Adam NZ Play Awards. The production's 2024 Wellington season was called 'a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of human relationships' (Elliott Lam, Wellyott) and 'an absorbing and salutary experience' (John Smythe, Theatreview).
'In an Immersive show, the actors have to be able to switch back and forth between scripted scenes and improvisation with ease, allowing audiences to engage with the characters while never losing track of the story. It's a really difficult ask, so I'm lucky that I'm working with such a talented group of actors,' says Tse. The cast consists of a mix of returnees from Red Scare Theatre shows like Charlie Potter (Gutenberg! The Musical), Ralph Johnson (Four Nights in the Green Barrow Pub) and performers collaborating with Red Scare for the first time (Hannah McKenzie Doornebosch, Craig Geenty, Megan Connolly, Helen Jones and Billie Deganutti).
'This show lets each audience member really take control of their own relationship to the play – whether they want to join the characters in conversation, hang back and eavesdrop, or simply float around the hall absorbing the atmosphere,' Tse says. 'My hope is that whether or not audience members love or hate participatory theatre, they come away from this show feeling like they're a part of the Eglantyne community.'
Before We Slip Beneath the Sea will be travelling to Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North and Carterton. Tickets and performance dates for the show are available through Eventfinda.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Directing ambition sought
Directing ambition sought

Otago Daily Times

time5 days ago

  • Otago Daily Times

Directing ambition sought

PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES It's time to pour yourself a cup of ambition. Showbiz Queenstown's announced it'll stage 9 to 5: The Musical next May, featuring a rip-roaring score from the queen of country, Dolly Parton. Pushed to boiling point, three female co-workers — Violet, Judy and Doralee — concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In a hilarious turn of events, the women live out their wildest fantasy; giving their boss the boot. Inspired by the iconic 1980s movie, the blockbuster musical comedy premiered in Los Angeles in 2008 and opened on Broadway the following year, receiving 15 Drama Desk Award nominations — the most received by a production in a single year — along with four Tony Award nominations. Showbiz is now on the hunt for its next creative team. They're looking for a director, music director, choreographer and production manager — applications close on August 31. For more info, or to apply, visit Showbiz Queenstown's Facebook page and follow the Google doc links.

Tse the moment with poet laureate
Tse the moment with poet laureate

Otago Daily Times

time04-07-2025

  • Otago Daily Times

Tse the moment with poet laureate

New Zealand Poet Laureate Chris Tse's performing in Queenstown next month. PHOTO: SUPPLIED New Zealand's Poet Laureate will perform in Queenstown for one night only next month. Chris Tse's a Kiwi poet, short-story writer and editor, who was named NZ's 13th Poet Laureate in 2022 — his tenure ends this year. A 2024 fellow of the University of Iowa's International Writing Programme Fall Residency, and a 2025 Dutch Foundation for Literature writer-in-residence, Tse's works explore the questions of identity, including his Chinese heritage and queer identity. He's authored three poetry collections published by Auckland University Press, including How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, which won the 2016 Jessie Mackay Award for best first book of poetry, and Super Model Minority, which was a finalist for the 2023 Lamgda Literary Award for gay poetry and long-listed at the 2023 Ockham NZ Book Awards. Tse's being brought to Queenstown by the Arrowtown Creative Arts Society (ACAS) and Queenstown Writers Festival. ACAS co-chair Kelly Carmichael's thrilled to instigate the collaboration. "I genuinely believe a creative community is a collaborative community, and when arts organisations support each other, we make the whole scene stronger. "Given the spiky times we're living through, it is exciting to have a contemporary poet like Chris Tse in town — someone at the top of their game who is helping to redefine New Zealand poetry." Queenstown Writers Fest chair Tanya Surrey says they're also delighted to help bring Tse to the Whakatipu. "One of our objectives as a trust is to provide opportunities for education andlearning, as well as showcasing a range of voices in contemporary NZ literature." To that end, along with his public performance at Queenstown's Sherwood from 7.30pm on August 8, at which Tse will be joined on stage by local poets, he's also teaching a poetry workshop for local high school students, and a public workshop, at Te Atamira, on August 9, from 10am till noon. Tickets for the 'Poetry Masterclass with Chris Tse' cost $40 from Eventfinda. Tickets for 'An Evening with the Poet Laureate', during which Tse will read selections from his previous collections and poems written during his time as Poet Laureate, focused on capturing and expressing joy, particularly during times of crisis and uncertainty, cost $25 ($20 for ACAS members), also via Eventfinda.

North Island Tour Of Award-Winning Show Brings Immersive Theatre To Regional Audiences
North Island Tour Of Award-Winning Show Brings Immersive Theatre To Regional Audiences

Scoop

time15-06-2025

  • Scoop

North Island Tour Of Award-Winning Show Brings Immersive Theatre To Regional Audiences

Press Release – Red Scare Theatre Company Red Scare Theatre Company is bringing its award-winning Immersive production Before We Slip Beneath the Sea around the North Island this and directed by the company's artistic director Cassandra Tse, Before We Slip Beneath the Sea follows inhabitants of the fictional island off the north coast called Eglantyne. Here, the local community have gathered for the last time in the wake of an impending evacuation due to rising sea levels. When one community member decides to take a stand against the evacuation, the community is divided, long-buried tensions come to the fore, and everyone must decide how to cope with change, loss and forces far greater than themselves. Red Scare will be swapping out traditional theatre spaces for community halls for this Immersive show, which aims to break the usual separation between audience and actors. 'Immersive theatre is different from traditional theatre in that the audience are actually inside the storyworld, rather than sitting outside and looking in,' says Tse. 'In Before We Slip Beneath the Sea, audiences have the freedom to choose their own path to navigate the story, encountering and interacting with different characters. It's a huge challenge, but there's also so much potential for exciting storytelling.' Audience members can choose to eavesdrop on budding romances, intervene in family disputes, or even help out in the kitchen. The play was awarded Winner of Best Play by a Woman Playwright and overall Runner-Up at the 2024 Adam NZ Play Awards. The production's 2024 Wellington season was called 'a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of human relationships' (Elliott Lam, Wellyott) and 'an absorbing and salutary experience' (John Smythe, Theatreview). 'In an Immersive show, the actors have to be able to switch back and forth between scripted scenes and improvisation with ease, allowing audiences to engage with the characters while never losing track of the story. It's a really difficult ask, so I'm lucky that I'm working with such a talented group of actors,' says Tse. The cast consists of a mix of returnees from Red Scare Theatre shows like Charlie Potter (Gutenberg! The Musical), Ralph Johnson (Four Nights in the Green Barrow Pub) and performers collaborating with Red Scare for the first time (Hannah McKenzie Doornebosch, Craig Geenty, Megan Connolly, Helen Jones and Billie Deganutti). 'This show lets each audience member really take control of their own relationship to the play – whether they want to join the characters in conversation, hang back and eavesdrop, or simply float around the hall absorbing the atmosphere,' Tse says. 'My hope is that whether or not audience members love or hate participatory theatre, they come away from this show feeling like they're a part of the Eglantyne community.' Before We Slip Beneath the Sea will be travelling to Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North and Carterton. Tickets and performance dates for the show are available through Eventfinda.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store