Kip Chapman’s interactive style of theatre has returned with his new show The Resistance, thanks to the collaboration with Auckland Theatre Company and Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP).
This new interactive theatre piece will be showing at The Rebel Theatre from Thursday 16th February until Saturday 11th March 2023. The show features an amazing and diverse cast of young talents sharing the stage with industry veterans.
The cast includes Genevieve Lemon (The Dressmaker, Dubbo Championship Wrestling, Prisoner), Jo Turner, Diya Goswami, Lakesha Grant, Thea Sholl, and Jack Walton (Netflix’s Clickbait).
As this is Goswami’s first mainstage production with ATYP, they are “beyond excited to be part of The Resistance!”
“The Resistance is a party – and as much as there is the fun element it’s also got a serious message behind it,” Goswami said.
City Hub spoke with writer and director of The Resistance, Kip Chapman who is eager for the audience to either watch the show or jump right into the thick of it.
“Interactive theatre and immersive theatre is the most live that theatre ever gets. Interactive and immersive theatre is an invitation to the audience to experience it in the way that they want to experience it,” Chapman told City Hub.
“And that means for some audience, they literally want to sit there in their seats and watch the show. And they are going to have a sensational time just doing that.”
“But other people might want to become involved in various tasks and we’ve created opportunities for them to do that. Each audience has the chance to affect the experience and it’s this mix between the audience and the performers that makes this type of work so memorable.”
The Resistance follows the story of a gang of climate strikers of various backgrounds who have come together to put on the biggest climate strike in Australia’s history. However, something goes wrong and it’s up to the gang and the audience to work together to make this rally happen.
Since the 2019 School Strike 4 Climate rally, Chapman was inspired and wanted to bring the energy and message into his interactive theatre.
“I started to see what was happening with the School Strike 4 Climate movement and I was just so unbelievably impressed by the youth movement, what they were trying to achieve, their moral clarity, their messaging and just the way they were going about it and just the sheer theatricality of their political statement.”
“And I was thinking maybe I could use my interactive techniques and together we can make that an experience on stage.”
“We’ve had the School Strike for Climate movement really take off a couple of years ago, heaps of my friends and I went to that. It’s really inspiring to see young people take the future into our own hands,” Goswami said.
Photo: Grant Leslie Photography
When asked if any characters that the cast play were inspired by anyone, Chapman said only one was inspired by a famous environmentalist activist.
“There is a character called Eva Lawson in the show who’s coming to the march, and she is definitely inspired by Greta Thunberg,” Chapman said.
“We’ve tried to embrace the diversity that is part of the School Strike 4 Climate movement.”
With no set age limit on audience participation, Chapman eagerly invites people from all ages and walks of life to join in, with plenty of tasks available for them to take part in.
“We’ve probably done thousands of these types of shows over the years and the shows work best when there’s a massive demographic,” Chapman told City Hub.
“We’ve got some older audience members and then we’ve got some young audience members. This style of theatre is really good for teenagers. At these shows, I’m seeing someone over 50 and I’m seeing a 13-year-old.”
“Everything is designed so that everyone has to work together, and everyone has different skill sets. Like a 13-year-old is going to be way better at one thing whereas an adult is going to be better at something else.”
“I purposely design it so that I require different skills to make the show.”
It has not been all smooth sailing for the The Resistance as production was paused for a few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. With restrictions to crowds for indoor areas, Chapman’s interactive theatre style took a hit.
“The major challenge was covid. I make interactive work and I’m trying to bring everyone into a large space to work together. So of course, Covid-19 was a bit of a challenge when we were initially going to be doing it,” he said.
“But I think we’re now at a safe enough time with Covid-19 that this type of work can come back come on stage.”
The Resistance will be showing at The Rebel Theatre between 16th February until Saturday 11th March. So if you’re looking for fun for the whole family or love interactive theatre, tickets are available now.
