Water Wars - Touring Showcase

For Your Consideration

WATER WARS

A new work of national significance by Elaine Acworth.

Water Wars is a timely and darkly funny exploration of what happens between neighbours as our country gallops between flood and drought.

Set in a time of water scarcity, but referencing a past time of flood, Water Wars charts the bumpy road of neighbourliness as people decide that their way is the only water way, and tempers fray, then explode. It plots the descent into madness of the occupants of a regular street, in any suburb or small town – the very people who saved each other in the floods years before.

In the middle of all this is a young boy, Cal, and his dog, Freddo. Cal is trying to understand his world – the nightly news of drought refugees, the ever-present dust, the attack on his friend, Janey, by water thieves. And now Cal’s nightmares are coming alive.

Water Wars looks at the ever-present tension between two competing human instincts – the instinct to survive, to save yourself and bugger the rest of them. And the instinct to protect a stranger – the instinct that brought out the mud Army, the instinct to save the herd, the community – to self-sacrifice.

How do we balance the two? And what happens to an imaginative 7 year old as we do?

Queensland Touring Showcase Presentation

You can view the Water Wars Prezi presentaion from the Artour Queensland Touring Showcase online.

And you can download a .pdf of the text from the Showcase presentation.

Virtual Program

We've created a Water Wars 'virtual program' that's been optimised for mobile devices in order to reduce the numbers of traditional printed programs.

Education Resource Pack

The pack includes full notes for the creation of an in-class performance piece on the themes of Water Wars, a sustainability audit of this process, notes for an assessment of the play Water Wars (traditional or green), and an option to have Elaine Acworth, the playwright, take a playwrighting workshop with your class.  These modules follow the forming, presenting and analysing model.  They privilege the student as the artist and recognise that professionals who are expert in their field are often very good facilitators of a student’s process. The student becomes the creator, with support, and this allows them to be the assessor and interpreter of theatre and its history.

You can read more and download the Water Wars Education Resource Pack here.

The storm

A short scene from Water Wars that demonstrates the sustainable lighting design of David Walters and the stunning sound design of Guy Webster.

The production values demonstrated here explain why Water Wars truly is 'the biggest little show on earth'.

Water Wars set bump-in

A time-lapse of the Water Wars bump-in at the Oakey Cultural Centre.

Original Cast

Chris Baz, Kellie Jones, Amber Salas, Jess Veurman-Betts and Kate Wilson

Original Production Team

Writer & Producer Elaine Acworth
Director Shaun Charles
Lighting Design David Walters
Design Penny Challen
Sound Design Guy Webster
AV Design Freddy Komp
Dramaturg Kathryn Kelly
Assistant Director Sita Borhani
Executive Producer Nicholas O'Donnell

 

Original tour of the production presented by The Empire Theatre.

Production Funding Water Wars has received financial assistance from the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.	Official Event
Sponsors
La Boite Indie Partners
Production Supporters
Presenting Partner
Creative Development Funding
Supporters