The War of the Worlds: quick links
The grandaddy of English-language apocalyptic sci-fi novels is arguably HG Wells’ 1898 classic The War of the Worlds. Orson Welles’ famous 1938 radio adaptation apparently provoked widespread panic among listeners who tuned in after the opening credits and thought they were listening to an actual news broadcast (initial reports of mass hysteria later turned out to be greatly exaggerated).
Wells’ novel was written when the British Empire still reigned supreme, but the storm clouds of war on a new and terrifying scale between the European great powers were gathering ominously overhead. More pointedly, the novel is a scarcely veiled critique of social Darwinism; the opening paragraphs refer to the genocide of Aboriginal people at the hands of British settlers in Tasmania as a prototype for the Martian invasion of Earth and subsequent mass slaughter of humanity.
The War of the Worlds: invasion anxieties
Welles’ radio play was broadcast on the eve of World War II, when fascism and militarism were advancing across the globe. By transforming the novel into a fake news broadcast, he was playing a practical joke on his listeners while exploiting their anxieties about war and invasion. He narrated it as if from the perspective of a future survivor, updated the Martian invasion to October 1939 and transposed the novel’s English setting to the eastern seaboard of the United States, all of which gave things an added immediacy.
Perth storytelling theatre company Lit Live’s staging of Welles’s radio play is at Venue 360, a new live venue situated across the highway from Burswood Casino and featuring cabaret-style seating, a revolving stage (wisely dormant for this production), state-of-the-art lighting and sound, and a huge LED screen.
The War of the Worlds: talented cast
Despite this impressive display of technology (which makes you feel like you are inside a spaceship), the show itself is something of a nostalgia trip. The whole thing is elegantly served up by an impeccably talented cast of four in 1930s period costumes, playing all the roles while doubling as Foley artists and providing live sound effects – all which adds to the ambience of times gone by.
Husband-and-wife team (and veteran Perth theatre stalwarts) Sarah and Greg McNeill (respectively actor-producer and actor-director) are joined onstage by the versatile Ben Sutton and a calmly centred Will O’Mahony – the latter taking on the key role of the astronomer Professor Richard Pierson, originally played by Welles himself, and lending a welcome note of gravitas to proceedings.
Another notable exception to the general air of tongue-in-cheek is Sutton’s deranged militia man, who tries to persuade Pierson to join him in an insurgency against the Martians, in order to commandeer some of their tripods and establish a post-revolutionary reign of terror over the rest of humanity.
The War of the Worlds: lost in translation
It’s all great fun, but something is inevitably lost in translation from the invisible medium of the airwaves to the exposed mechanics of the stage. Even the use of the LED screen to display what look like AI-generated images of a devastated and depopulated New York – which inevitably call to mind contemporary vistas of destruction in the pulverised cities of Gaza or Ukraine – can’t compare with what unfolds in our minds when we listen to the original broadcast; and for all their ingenuity, watching the performers screaming or coughing into microphones while simulating the sounds of heat rays or poison gas is amusing enough but belittles the horror of Wells’ prophetic visions.
Indeed, what invasive species could be more toxic to life on Earth than humanity itself? And what octopoid alien monster could extend its tenacles more avariciously across the face of the planet than global capitalism, especially in parasitic collusion with virulent new forms of ethno-nationalism and xenophobia?
Read: Miss Julie review: Strinberg in modern dress at fortyfivedownstairs
Perhaps a contemporary re-imagining of Wells’ novel by someone with Welles’ genius might be just what we need to shock us out of our complacency. Meanwhile, Lit Live’s quaintly old-fashioned take on things makes for a diverting evening and also provides unexpectedly sombre food for thought.
The War of the Worlds will be performing at Venue 360 in Perth until 9 August 2025.
