When it comes to large and tricky revolving pieces on a stage, the folk behind Illawarra company So Popera understand what goes around comes around. So Popera director Amy Copeland says the outfit’s next show, Come From Away, is the sixth it has staged since 2008 that features a big thing that turns – with all the technical challenges that entails.
“Our motto has always been ‘It isn’t hard to try’ – we are fortunate that people on our productions are all talented in electronics, engineering etc, so we all put our heads together,’’ says Amy of the process that has produced a three-storey castle for Beauty and the Beast and a free-wheeling bus for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Led by Amy and her brother, Peter, So Popera was founded and is managed by University of Wollongong graduates professionally trained in showbiz. It provides an arena to develop artistic and technical talent and has staged four musical shows along with cabaret and curated offerings.
Come From Away is inspired by the true story of how a tiny Canadian community catered for stranded air travellers in the days after the September 2001 terrorism attacks on the US. It has, as they say, all the “feels’’ expected of a saga that tells of a mass act of kindness after one of cruelty.
So Popera’s cast of 12 will be busy – playing 38 roles as well as being their own stage crew, carefully navigating and placing props and costumes in specific places to allow the magic to continue.
There are no lead roles, but there are stars, including Australian Idol winner Damien Leith and NZ opera professional April Neho amid faces well known to Illawarra audiences. Every performer plays a resident and a “plane person’’, illustrating, as Amy points out, how at any time, anyone could be in need of help and the one giving the help.
‘’The thing I love most about this show is that it looks effortless, but the blocking and technical aspects are so incredibly complex – that challenge excited me from the offset,’’ she said.
Come From Away shows at IPAC, April 11-19.
What's On at Phoenix Theatre
Phoenix Theatre gets busy in March, with two projects bound for its Coniston stage. Noah Cegielski and Zachary Hanlon appear in Next to Normal (March 7-15), a musical exploring how a family copes with a member who has battled bipolar disorder for 16 years. Ashworks (Lost Souls) runs from March 27-29 as four half-hour shows written by budding artists with a focus on soul-searching experiences.
