Spaceships, Climate Change, And Bowie: Auckland Fringe Best Theatre Winner ‘Alone’ Tours North Island

From Auckland-based independent theatre company Dusty Room Productions (Proof and Such Stuff as Dreams) comes ALONE; a new award-winning Kiwi play about space exploration, feminism, climate change, and David Bowie. ALONE is an electrifying and innovative sci-fi thriller with sustainability at its core. ALONE premiered at the Auckland Fringe Festival 2020 to sold out audiences, receiving critical acclaim and went on to win ‘Best Theatre’ and a PANNZ Tour Ready Production Award. Audiences proclaimed it “...an original, suspenseful and genuinely moving script showcasing the talents of two amazing actors. I didn’t move for 90 mins.” Another urged “If you have other plans tonight, ditch them to go see this piece of art instead. ALONE is such a fantastic, beautiful, authentic and dark show. I mean it. Don’t miss out.” Now the team are excited to take their show on the road and are thrilled to take ALONE to three cities across the North Island this summer.

The North Island tour runs from the 18th of February to the 6th of March and will see the team perform in Palmerston North as part of Papaioea Festival of the Arts, at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, and in Wellington as part of NZ Fringe Festival.

ALONE is written and directed by Luke Thornborough, known for internationally recognised short films Jess (Cannes Short Film Corner), Skin (NZIFF), and Stay (NZIFF, Giffoni). Thornborough created the characters especially for Auckland actors Kat Glass (Proof, Interoception, and Tim Bray Theatre Company favourite) and Courtney Bassett (The First Time, and YASC’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Pop Up Globe Theatre). The play follows a two-woman crew on the home stretch of a three-year space mission that could provide a solution for an Earth ravaged by climate change. Pragmatic and passionate Dr. Sarah Taylor (Glass) believes her work with alien micro-bacterium could make Earth habitable once more. Jessica Holland (Bassett), a charismatic and quick-witted young pilot, is charged with getting Dr. Taylor’s work and samples home. Thornborough says “ALONE is a test of the human condition. It stands as a metaphor for our own times. We are on a planet bound for disaster and our only chance of making it through is to put aside our differences and find strength and love in one another.” ALONE is an intense and thrilling ride to the edges of space and human nature.

Feminism, sustainability, and compassion are some of the core values of ALONE, and are at the heart of Dusty Room’s process. The team are prioritising eco-friendly practices behind the scenes and fundraising towards Trees That Count, a reforestation programme that plants native NZ trees to assist with CO2 absorption. Producer and actor Kat Glass says “We believe that as artists you should have something to say and use your art to say it. We’re proud not just to bring a show we believe in to stages across New Zealand, but to keep finding new ways to act sustainably for our future throughout our processes.”

ALONE will play at Globe Theatre 2 and Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science, and Heritage in Palmerston North as part of the inaugural Papaioea Festival of the Arts from 18th to 20th February. Then from the 24th to 26th February it will play in the heart of the gallery spaces at the internationally renowned Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Art Centre in New Plymouth. Then finally from the 2nd to 6th March at Te Auaha in the Tapere Iti theatre for five nights as part of the NZ Fringe Festival. (With thanks to NZ Fringe and CreativeNZ).

Dusty Room Productions presents

ALONE

Written and Directed by Luke Thornborough

18th Feb - 6th March 2021

Papaioea Festival of the Arts. Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. NZ Fringe Festival.

Tickets available at www.eventfinda.co.nz or www.fringe.co.nz

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