Thriller breaks the mould

Broome Civic Centre is set to experience a live sci-fi thriller reminiscent of popular television series Stranger Things and Twin Peaks.

Perth-based performance makers Side Pony Productions and The Last Great Hunt will be bringing their award-winning production The Irresistible to Broome for a one-night only performance on September 28.

The production was created by Tim Watts, Zoe Pepper and Adriane Daff, some of Australia’s most innovative theatre makers, and combines Watts’ beautiful theatrical visuals with the complex stories and characters familiar in Pepper’s body of work.

Writer and director Zoe Pepper said The Irresistible tells the story of two sisters affected by an event that occurred in their childhood.

“One of them tries to bury it and live a normal life while the other has tried to convince everybody of what they saw,” she said.

“That memory is sort of thrown up again and it shows how the two sisters deal with it and the ramifications of trying to bury that memory.

“We wanted to explore this idea of unconscious bias and wrapping that idea up in the sci-fi genre as a way to give form to something formless.”

Pepper said using sci-fi as the basis of the production was because of the language surrounding unconscious bias.

“Some of the language that describes unconscious bias can be quite cerebral and intellectual,” she said.

”By angling that language to make it part of a mythology that is within the realm of sci-fi meant that we could communicate that information but make it part of an entertaining narrative that people can sink their teeth into.

“It’s quite dark and mysterious but there’s also some comedic elements.”

The Irresistible comes fresh off the back of a season at the Sydney Opera House, a sold-out season at Dark Mofo, a mid-winter arts festival in Tasmania, and a nod for best play at the 2018 Helpmann Awards.

Pepper said it felt exciting and surreal to have the production achieve so much success already.

”We really wanted to break the mould with this show and push ourselves to do something new and we think it has paid off,” she said.

”It’s a wonderful feeling when you’re a small company and your production is nominated for best play against much bigger production.”