New play: Snow on Mars

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NASA lets Kim Carpenter chat to Andy Thomas for his Sydney Festival show Snow on Mars

* Alex Lalak
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* December 22, 2010 12:00AM


WHEN some theatre practitioners come up with an idea for a show, they simply read books on the topic, but not Kim Carpenter.

Carpenter, the founder of the long-running Theatre Of Image, wanted to consult the experts when creating his latest show Snow On Mars, so he and writer Richard Tulloch approached NASA in the hope of scoring a chat with Australia's only astronaut, Andy Thomas.

"NASA's very protective of [the astronauts], which is actually a big understatement, and we were told we'd only get 15 minutes with him on the phone," Carpenter says. "But we spoke for an hour for the first time and we've been in constant communication since - he's extremely personable, engaging and very articulate and he's done a number of missions so he's had the experience and was able to describe things in detail."


Thomas gave Carpenter and Tulloch insight to the experience of an astronaut and being in space and looking back at the Earth and seeing its fragility, and the blackness of outer space.

A discussion on the topic of fear and the adrenalin rush associated with boarding the space capsule led to revelations that the take-off is the most dangerous and frightening part of the process - and the astronauts hold hands.

These fascinating details have been incorporated into Snow On Mars, the story of 12-year-old Waylon (played by Rick Everett) who has grown up in caravan parks but dreams of getting into NASA, meeting Andy Thomas (played by Tom Burlinson) and finding snow on Mars. Theatre Of Image primarily creates work for young audiences but Carpenter, who first attended a theatre aged four to hear his Aunty Mona perform Tosca with Elizabethan Opera, says the show is for adults too.

"It's an opportunity for families to come together as a group and they can have a discussion afterwards, and what the child doesn't understand, the adult can explain," he says. "That's part of the pleasure of taking children to the theatre, that shared experience."

Carpenter has assembled a seriously impressive creative team for the project, which premieres in January as part of the Sydney Festival.

Theatre director Gale Edwards, who has been lead in many large-scale shows and musicals, is on board along with the folk from physical theatre company Legs On The Wall, and the show uses acrobatics, song, animation and storytelling.

Snow On Mars, Seymour Centre, cnr City Rd and Cleveland St, Chippendale; January 7-16, $24-$36, 1300 688 812, sydneyfestival.org.au

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Blurb

Twelve year-old Waylon wants to be the first man on Mars and he’s not afraid to shoot for the stars. But with his family constantly on the move he’s falling further behind in his schoolwork, and becoming a NASA astronaut like his hero Andy Thomas seems about as likely as finding snow on Mars

With help from his family and friends Waylon discovers that although dreams are hard to reach there can be fun and excitement in trying to achieve them. And yes, there is snow on Mars.

Conceived and designed by Kim Carpenter and written by Richard Tulloch, Snow on Mars is an inspiring adventure that blasts off with aerial performers, actors, music and songs, making it perfect for audiences of all ages.

Director: Gale Edwards

Date
Previews: January 7 at 7pm
January 8 at 11.30am
January 9 at 2pm
Season: January 9, 16 at 5pm
January 11-15 at 7pm
January 12, 14-16 at 2pm

Duration
60 mins

Venue
York Theatre
Seymour Centre, Chippendale
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Prices
$36/$30/Child $24
Family (2 adults/2 children): $99

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ticketmaster blurb

Snow on Mars
Presented by Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image in association with Sydney Festival

(Australia)
World Premiere
‘For flair and sheer visual pleasure, (Theatre of Image) is streets ahead of anyone else.' The Sun Herald
Twelve year-old Waylon wants to be the first man on Mars and he's not afraid to shoot for the stars. But with his family constantly on the move he's falling further behind in his schoolwork, and becoming a NASA astronaut like his hero Andy Thomas seems about as likely as finding snow on Mars
With help from his family and friends Waylon discovers that although dreams are hard to reach there can be fun and excitement in trying to achieve them. And yes, there is snow on Mars.
Conceived and designed by Kim Carpenter and written by Richard Tulloch, Snow on Mars is an inspiring adventure that blasts off with aerial performers, actors, music and songs, making it perfect for audiences of all ages.
Director: Gale Edwards
Date:
Previews: January 7 at 7pm, January 8 at 11.30am, January 9 at 2pm
January 9, 16 at 5pm
January 11-15 at 7pm
January 12, 14-16 at 2pm
Duration:
60mins
Venue:
York Theatre, Seymour Centre
Prices:
$36/$30/Child $24
Family (2 adults/2 children): $99

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The boy who soared from earth

* John McCallum
* From: The Australian
* January 11, 2011 12:00AM



SYDNEY FESTIVAL - THEATRE: Snow on Mars. York Theatre, Seymour Centre, Sydney. January 9

THERE really is snow on Mars, but it's not quite what you'd imagine. In this delightful show, directed by Gale Edwards, this fact becomes a metaphor for the aspirations of a 12-year-old boy.

Waylon is trapped in a grieving family with a father who is not available to him (played by Elliott Weston), an attentive and loving grandmother who is (Deborah Kennedy), and a spirited young girl (Danielle Jackson) whom he meets in one of the many towns he finds himself in as they travel the country while his dad tries to pursue his fading singing career.

These story elements, in Richard Tulloch's script, are conventional enough.

Waylon hero-worships Andy Thomas (played by Tom Burlinson) - the only Australian-born NASA astronaut who has been into space - and dreams of going there himself. His dad keeps moving him on from town to town, so his education has been wayward, not a good thing for a boy who hopes one day to go to Mars.


The concept and design are by Kim Carpenter, whose company, Theatre of Image, has never done a better show than this.

A wonderful picture of Mars on the floor of the playing space - every space-mad boy's dream - is encircled by little models of the caravans in which this particular boy lives his daily life.

There is a fine score by Peter Kennard, full of dad's dreamy songs and music for the space scenes. The lighting, by Trudy Dalgleish, changes the mood of the floor and also comes from the sides, illuminating the space above it. And that space is one of the two exciting things about this show.

Waylon's dreams are performed in a thrilling series of aerial acrobatic dances, as Rick Everett, playing Waylon, shows him floating in zero-gravity and then flying in the stars, and then, in a later darker scene, fighting with his dad. The other is a wonderful projected video animation of Waylon's imagination, created by Michelle French and Betsy Baker.

In this digital space you can walk across the universe, the stars appearing at your feet as you pace through the inky blue; you can float among the planets and land on Mars, before falling to earth when the real world, your everyday life, comes crashing back in. In the projections there is a brilliant evocation of the mastery-experience that comes when you first get what maths is all about; and in the stage space there is a superb and very funny performed scene in which Waylon illustrates his science project, which is all about the practical problems of actually getting to Mars.

And there is a credit in the program that I have never seen before. This show's "Advising Astronaut" is Andy Thomas. How cool is that?

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Review: Snow on Mars at the Sydney Festival

* Chris Hook
* From: The Daily Telegraph
* January 11, 2011 12:00AM

This is an absolute delight, beautifully written and performed, ingeniously staged and visually exquisite.

Standard Theatre Of Image fare really.

Snow On Mars is, in many respects, a predicable narrative trajectory. Father and son lose wife and mother, father falls apart, boy feels ignored, gran steps in, dad learns to move on and treasure the family he has left. But it's so well done.

The setting for all this action is a fictional caravan park in Western NSW. The dad of the piece is a country and western singer, constantly on the hunt for gigs (a little harder since the demise of his co-performer wife). So he is constantly driving from one town to another, his son Waylon and Waylon's Nan (the wonderful Deborah Kennedy) in tow.

Waylon is way behind on his school work as a result of this constant disruption, which is a pity because he wants to become an astronaut. So when his latest teacher asks her class to write to their Australian hero, Waylon chooses astronaut Andy Thomas (who assisted the work's developers via phone interview and email from his NASA day job but is portrayed via a recording by Tom Burlinson).

A series of email exchanges with Thomas ensues and Waylon is encouraged to study his math with a particular determination and also enter a science competition, both of which he does with the help of his classmate Gabi, whose parents run the caravan park.

It's in Waylon's flights of fancy that the piece really hits its stride. Played by acrobat Rick Everett in his first acting role, Waylon hooks up to a harness and flies above the stage, assisted by an imaginary friend who is a fantastical looking spaceman. Hi father constantly tries ot pull him down, telling him to ``get real''. In one especially powerful scene, Waylon and Gabi dance around a wall full of random numbers and symbols, eventually taming them into coherent equations. It's a cute metaphor.

The ground-level action takes place on a big picture of the Earth, model caravans surrounding it, various images conveying the idea of this rural town projected on to the far wall. It's simple but highly effective and the wall also doubles for a video screen for Thomas's messages, and for space itself when Waylon takes off.

Although the intended audience is a young one - older kids will find some familiar ground, younger ones will simply enjoy the spectacle - there is a lot for adults here too. It's impossible not to be touched by the struggle of a grieving family to heal itself and the courage of a boy who dares to dream of reaching out to the stars.
+++

Snow On Mars, York Theatre, Seymour Centre, cnr Cleveland St and City Rd, Chippendale; tomorrow 7pm, until January 16, $36-$99, 9351 7940, sydneyfestival.org.au

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Sydney Morning Herald
Jason Blake
January 12, 2011

YOUNG Waylon's chances of becoming an astronaut are pretty slight, according to his dad. About as likely as snow on Mars. Had he been more attentive to his son's interests, of course, dad would have known that NASA's Phoenix lander detected that very phenomenon in 2008.

Dad is right, though. Waylon, 12, is already falling behind the bell curve. Motherless and living a semi-nomadic life in the caravan parks of western NSW with his country music-singing dad and devoted nan, he is struggling to keep up at school, without friends of his own age, and turning into something of a misfit.

With dad too wrapped up in grief and his musical ambitions, nan decides to take action, and soon Waylon finds himself corresponding with the "Aussie hero" of his latest school project, the Adelaide-born NASA astronaut and scientist Andy Thomas, whose emails encourage Waylon to step up his maths and reach for the stars.
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After their very successful collaboration on The Book of Everything last year, writer Richard Tulloch and Kim Carpenter's Theatre of Image reunite to explore notions of loss, resilience and hope. Snow on Mars is less novel and emotionally complex than Book of Everything – which was a genuine all-ages experience and one of the best shows of 2010 – and somewhat more predictable in its mechanics, but a superior piece of children's theatre nonetheless.

Gale Edwards's production blends strong physical images with attractive digital graphics (Michelle French and Betsy Baker) and a rousing original score (Peter Kennard).

There is a strong emphasis on aerialism, with Waylon (Rick Everett, making his acting debut after several years in physical theatre and circus) and a talismanic Ghost Astronaut (dancer and gymnast Dean Cross) performing eye-catching harness and "wall-walking" routines.

There is no attempt to disguise the rigger Mark Le Cornu's part in the proceedings, but as Waylon wheels around the auditorium like Peter Pan, you'll believe a boy can fly.

Elliot Weston makes for a very authentic-sounding Aussie country singer and Deborah Kennedy is the play's humorous heart and soul as nan. Danielle Jackson contributes a lively, occasionally shrill, turn as the young caravan park resident Gabi, and Tom Burlinson, who appears in video segments, stands in convincingly for Andy Thomas.

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Crikey
REVIEW: Snow On Mars (Sydney Festival) | York Theatre
January 12, 2011 – 5:15 pm, by Lloyd Bradford Syke

Some of the best, most enchanting and memorable theatre I’ve seen has been for kids. That might say something about me. The theatre I’ve seen. Or both.

The Festival of Sydney has jumped on the junior bandwagon with Snow On Mars, at Seymour. The possibility of vibrant life on other planets must seem particularly appealing for many youth stuck in rural New South Wales. Like 12-year-old Waylon; played by Rick Everett, who manages to act Waylon’s age, rather than his own. And if Waylon has his head in the clouds, and stars in his eyes, so does his equally obsessed dad, a would-be country singer-songwriter of repute (Elliott Weston). Elliott might have eyes for Kasey Chambers, but he can’t see his son and, ironically, chides him for his astronautical antics. But nothing will dissuade Waylon from his dream. He even writes to Aussie astroboy Andy Thomas. Sensing Waylon’s need for affirmation not forthcoming from his preoccupied father, grandma determines to pose as Thomas, replying to Waylon’s emails and offering every encouragement.

Waylon’s dad has them moving from town to town and school to school, staying in caravan parks. Happily Waylon’s paternal grandma (a brilliant Deborah Kennedy) is along for the ride. She’s a voice of reason that fills some of the void left by Waylon’s mum, who died.

All this is prefaced, as the audience assembles, by a silver-suited, model spaceman, who smiles, acknowledges young admirers in the crowd, wags his finger at latecomers and performs the odd backflip.

Richard Tulloch and Kim Carpenter are to be congratulated for reflecting a good deal of reality in the characters, albeit with a judicious amount of showbiz licence. Having said that, for most people, I should think, a certain amount of implausibility will prevail. After all, for mere mortals, trapped in boring, garden-variety occupations, the idea of travelling the wide-open spaces of our countryside, like the Kirkpatrick or Chambers families, or Fred Brophy and his boxing tent, will seem as hopelessly romantic and remote as walking in outer space. Even the name Waylon is a little out there.

The theme of following one’s dream is strong and, of course, always valid, if not new. I bought it, anyway.

A surprise video appearance by Tom Burlinson, as Andy, was a treat.

The rest is down to aerial feats, acrobatics (there’s a lot of it about, at present), choreography, backdrops and ‘oh, wow!’ video effects, all of which are executed brilliantly. And director Gale Edwards has made the most of everything and everyone at her disposal.

While Snow On Mars isn’t The Wizard of Oz, it’s engaging, magical, well-played and accessible. And none too tedious for the big kids, either.

Curtain Call rating: B+

The details: Snow On Mars plays the York Theatre, Seymour Centre, as part of the Sydney Festival until January 16.