Lost and Finding captures the youthful energy, raw creativity and stifled ambition of early-career entertainers, stuck between creative idealism and the suppressive world around them.
Lost and Finding: quick links
Lost and Finding: creative disillusionment and self-doubt
It explores themes of creative disillusionment and self-doubt. The audience embarks on an absurd, fantastical journey that reveals the complexity, psyche, and vulnerability of Cassie Shore (Emma Throssell), as she gradually recognises and holds onto her humanity.
Part of the success of this production lies in its location. The theatre is located under Sydney’s flight path, and it is part of the Addison Road Community Centre. This unique space, formerly an unused army depot, is a manifestation of inventive creativity that has evolved to meet the needs of the locals in Sydney’s inner west. It features a collection of transformed eclectic shacks that ooze community. This location adds an unquantifiable aesthetic element to the show and this homage to community is embraced during the performance.
The audience is central to this production. They are involved throughout – from a foyer lucky-dip draw to joining in the comedy sequences onstage.
Lost and Finding: no room for complacency
There is no room for complacency in this show. It begins in the foyer where the audience meet the central character, Cassie. She is caught on a phone queue to Centrelink – and just when she reaches her turn at the top of the queue – she is distracted by a semi-domesticated puppet whom she follows into the underground abyss of lost things. The audience follows her into the small theatre and into this alien realm.
It is in this dusty underground realm we discover Cassie has unsatisfied dreams of becoming a popular comedian, achieving financial stability and feeling worthy of the love of her girlfriend, Heather. Trapped among relics, absurd systems, wacky puppets, and lurking dangers, Cassie – like us – cannot leave until she solves the mystery that holds us all captive.
Lost and Finding: inventive set and puppets
The set is inventive, imaginative and positively crazy – jam-packed with old TVs, monitors, unused doors, dial-up phones, elevated tapestry sheets under spotlights, digital projections, and much more. Every possible corner of the space is utilised and brought to life with unexpected sounds, emerging creatures (puppets) and inventive displays of light.
There are many puppets, all original and gritty in both design and execution. They are made with various textures and colours and come in all sizes – including fish and pigeons. One puppet is even constructed from old cardboard boxes glued together in a random design – but suits the production extremely well. There is a beautiful little puppet called Pocket, who has wide eyes and embodies purity, and is central to the show.
Lost and finding: metaphors and philosophies abound
The narrative feels random, with Cassie chasing illogical, spontaneous and absurd plans to recover her lost notebook of jokes. It really is left up to the audience to decipher any meaning from the situation she finds herself in. They are prompted by the stage setting and the many different metaphors and philosophies that are put forward.
Unfortunately, exploring Cassie’s unhinged ‘psychotic break’ becomes perplexing. With the show running for over 100 minutes without interval, a weariness grows from the numerous random trails that Cassie must follow and the seemingly endless puppets she meets. While this might have been a creative decision it is a bit too much and too long.
There are more than several effective scenes. One includes Cassie’s stand-up comedy routine demonstrating that comedy is a complex artistry and is as much about sadness as with achieving a laugh. This routine occurs at a timely point when the audience does need some clarity and something tangible within the narrative structure. Cassie shows us the risk stand-up comedians take when they boldly share their personal observations, experiences and vulnerabilities.
Lost and Finding: plenty of humour
There is plenty of humour – from tributes to Hilary Duff to a cute anecdote about Suzanne the Snail, who spends months climbing a mountain only to be eaten by a bird. The moral: ‘Even if you achieve success a bird can still eat you.’
The production continually references the systems and red tape that control our lives such as Centrelink, Service NSW, rental applications processes, certifications, documents, job interviews, and the seemingly endless hoops we must jump through to achieve our personal and financial goals.
The story explores the challenges of finding what is important – not ignoring or repressing it – but connecting with it and bringing it to the surface. It offers us reassurance for our failures with the line ‘Memories are as important as dreams.’
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This is a strong production and a brave artistic achievement by this creative team. Such works are essential to theatre’s health, reminding us why original, experimental spaces like this must be nurtured.
Lost and Finding, at Flight Path Theatre, Sydney, will be performed at until 23 August 2025.
