From the award-winning minds of Madness of Two comes Starweaver, a cyberpunk journey into The Void
Star weaver is an innovative, intimate multimodal theatre production from South Australia’s own Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby, winners of the Australian Writers’ Guild’s David Williamson Prize for Claire Della and the Moon. Using groundbreaking Unreal Engine visual effects technology for set design, Madness of Two say “Starweaver is a dose of gritty and gripping science fiction goodness, utilising amazing new technology and attempting something we’ve never seen done before on a South Australian stage.”
Made possible by crowdsourced MATCH Lab funding, in addition to Arts South Australia and David Williamson Prize funds, Starweaver will play in The Void at Flinders University’s Drama Centre, which will welcome live audiences of 35 per show into the space. The gritty science fiction landscape is brought to life by the work of Visual Effects and Entertainment Design students at Flinders.
Inspired by real-life stories of satellites obstructing astronomers’ observations, travel to the technologically advanced 2149, where lawyers are replaced with “automated client defenders” and the sky has been privatised. No one has seen a real star in over a generation. Madness of Two’s own Ellen Graham and Jamie Hornsby will act in the production, along with Maeve Hook and three third year Flinders Drama Centre Students: Rohan Becker, Mantra Bhatt and Shardae Santos. The cast also includes prerecorded performances of actors including Brett Archer, Mark Saturno, Stephen Tongun and Nick Launchbury.
Directed by State Theatre Company South Australia’s Artistic Associate, Shannon Rush (Welcome to Your New Life, Cathedral), Starweaver promises to be different from any theatrical experience you’ve seen before. With an immersive musical score by Paul Goodman, Starweaver will transport you to a world of anarchy, revolution, capitalism and chaos, with a pinch of cosmic horror.
Director Shannon Rush says “This is such an exciting challenge as a director. Integrating gaming technology and live theatre offers endless possibilities and it’s such a valuable project in bringing science fiction to the stage in a unique form. We’re thrilled to be working with Flinders University students in the Drama and VEED departments to help us build and realise the futuristic world in which this epic story takes place.”
Madness of Two’s premiere production Dead Gorgeous: A True Crime Clown Show debuted at the 2020 Adelaide Fringe, and was shortly followed by all ages show Claire Della and the Moon which went on to win two AWGIE awards. Claire Della and the Moon was revived in 2023 for the DreamBIG Childrens Festival (Adelaide) and AWESOME Arts Festival (Perth).
Madness of Two say “Starweaver is a massive labour of love – we’re both unapologetic science fiction nerds and we’re so excited to bring the genre to the stage. We’re working with an amazing team to bring this play to life, and we’re absolutely thrilled to be presenting Starweaver as part of the 2024 STATESIDE season – it’s a huge milestone for us as emerging artists.”
The State Theatre Company South Australia’s STATESIDE program provides additional production, rehearsal and marketing support to other great local theatre companies.
Starweaver, The Void, Flinders University Drama Centre, 25 June – 6 July.
