CREATION CREATION Will Be Performed by Windmill Theatre Co

What is the meaning of life? Are aliens real? Is it possible to lick your elbow?

Windmill Theatre Co will attempt to answer these questions and more in their newest work, Creation Creation, which will premiere at Adelaide Festival Centre's DreamBIG Children's Festival. Performances run May 19-23, 2021.

Created for families and young people aged ten and up, Creation Creation sees Windmill's Artistic Director, Rose Myers team up with documentary theatre-maker Roslyn Oades, longtime collaborator and Resident Designer, Jonathan Oxlade (Bluey's Big Play) and visual artist Fleur Elise Noble (Two-Dimensional Life of Her, ROOMAN) to solve a range of life's most burning questions... sort of.

Creation Creation will see the company step into the world of documentary theatre for the first time with the help of specialist documentary artist Roslyn Oades, who collected over 35 hours of interview recordings with members of the South Australian community aged between the ages of 8 and 102.

"Each of my interviews started with the question, 'what big mysteries would you like an answer to?'", says Co-Creator, Interviews and Scripting Roslyn Oades, "I then spent time with each of the interviewees asking them about their thoughts, answers and solutions to these mysteries. It was an incredible experience that showed me not only the diversity of our community, but all the different points of connection that exist within it, as well."

Oxlade and Noble are 'The Creators'. Together, the artists will take to the stage to build, battle and brawl their way through a series of questions posed by the interviewees. Visual artists and designers by trade, the artists will respond in real-time to the questions and use puppetry, mime, animation, illustration, sculpture and dance to attempt to solve seemingly unsolvable questions.

Performer and Co-Creator Jonathon Oxlade says, "The show is about the idea of creation on multiple levels: it's about how people create meaning and experience the world through things like science and religion and storytelling, but also our process as visual creators and performers."

"This show is unlike anything I've been involved in before," says Performer and Co-Creator Fleur Elise Noble, "it's such a unique offering... it's almost as if each individual scene has the feeling of an art installation. It feels fun and incredibly silly, but also incredibly poignant in parts. It's been a really special experience to work on this show and I can't wait to get in front of an audience."

In a first for Windmill, every performance of Creation Creation will be accessible to deaf or hearing-impaired audience members. Each performance will be signed by community member Dan Cleasby, who will be projected onto the set throughout the show and integrated into the storytelling.

Rose Myers says, "We met Dan throughout our interview process, and fell in love with his enthusiasm. It made sense, in a show that seeks to celebrate diversity and difference, to include AUSLAN into the fabric of the world we're building. We're lucky to be working with Dan and are thrilled that so many people will be able to meet him in Creation Creation.

"This show feels like it's been a long time coming. We count ourselves incredibly fortunate to be the stewards of stories and ideas from all over the world and look forward to making a wonderful mess onstage. It's going to be a lot of fun.

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