Geelong actor seeks community support for choose-your-own-adventure theatre production

A LOCAL actor is seeking support from the community to stage a unique immersive show inspired by individuals living in Geelong and its surrounds in the 1920s.

Libby Brockman, 32, has been working on ROARING for three years.

“It’s set at a 1920s hospital fundraiser, advocating for women’s rights in the women’s wing and that was just a chance for us to put together all these characters who wouldn’t normally mingle in the one space,” she said.

An experienced actor and producer, Brockman trained at the National Theatre Drama School in Melbourne, as well as various intensives in London, Sicily and Catalonia.

ROARING will feature an experienced cast of 10 actors, with an additional crew of five working behind the scenes, and will explore ideas surrounding morality, questioning the intentions of its characters and how their actions affect others.

Brockman said she experienced her first immersive theatre show while she was training and performing in London and had been obsessed with the style ever since.

It takes the form of a choose-your-own-adventure style show, with audience members able to choose which characters they wish to follow.

“The one I saw in London was 600 audience members across a five-storey warehouse through a company called Punch Drunk,” Brockman said.

“I loved how there was a feeling of adventure and curiosity and being able to explore.

“Some audience members like to pop their head into a room for 30 seconds, then run to the next room. Some like to follow one character. Some like to go wherever they hear a noise.”

ROARING will be Brockman’s third immersive piece, after producing similarly styled shows in both London and Melbourne.

Grants from the City of Greater Geelong, Creative Victoria and the Geelong Arts Centre have allowed Brockman to pay 20 creatives through the research and development stages of the production.

She is now seeking community support to fund the production’s rehearsals and performances, including costumes, props, lighting, travel expenses and marketing.

Brockman hopes to raise a further $3,000 before May 30, with all funds raised matched up to $10,000 through Creative Australia’s Match Lab.

Enabled by the donation of the venue, ROARING will run from June 26-July 13 at the Vue Grand in Queenscliff.

“We are making something of high artistic quality that supports businesses during the quieter months, that celebrates history and that acknowledges there is so much regional talent,” Brockman said.

“You don’t have to go to Melbourne to have talented professional performers. We have them along the Bellarine.”

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