The stage is filled with screens: one large, one small; the smaller with a video camera set on a tripod in front of it, is to the side and upstage of the larger one. Scribbled words on the large screen include ‘whimsy’. Two performers – Arielle Gray and Tim Watts – welcome us. They are dressed in overalls and beanies. It reminds this reviewer of Theatre in Education, back in the day – but using modern tech. Then the magic begins.
One of the more recent example of tech being so central and so brilliantly employed in the telling of tales on stage was the Australian reinvention of The Picture of Dorian Gray, subsequently greeted with acclaim in London and New York. Night Night’s tech use is equally wonderful in a very different way. It’s a combination of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and silent movies – with a 21st century twist.
Set in an imaginary country in the Antarctic region, the production tells of a scientist’s (Gray) search for the origins of life. After many fruitless analyses of core samples and computer decoding, she finally sees a small luminescent stick-figure being emerge from a lump of golden light and makes contact.
The method couldn’t be simpler – Gray is recorded by the camera in front of the small screen as events unfold. Meanwhile, Watts is the puppeteer of the Source Being that’s made of fluorescent tubing so that when it interacts with the Scientist, all we see on the big screen is the interplay between them.
The little being is charming and innocent and protected by the Scientist until the world gets involved and the Being is stolen and sequestered and the place where it was discovered is plundered. Then we follow the excitements and horrors of what happens to science when big business comes into the equation. No current parallels there!
Our scientist wins in the end, with a truly touching moment of realisation for the whole audience, reassuring those of us watching that human connection is the essential core of existence.
Read: Theatre review: Endgames, fortyfivedownstairs
The Last Great Hunt, a Perth-based company, are currently touring with Night Night. If you missed the two Melbourne shows this time, it’s due back in Geelong later this year – see it if you can. It’s profound theatre, perfectly simple and simply perfect.
Night Night
Alexander Theatre, Monash Performing Arts Centres, Clayton
Producers: The Last Great Hunt
Co-director: Luke Kerridge,
Composer: Rachel Claudio
Performers: Arielle Gray and Tim Watts
Night Night was performed on 23-24 May. It tours to Geelong on 29-30 August 2025.
