What happens when fantasy displaces reality? SEANNA VAN HELTEN talks to emerging director TRAVIS DOWLING about the “technical spectacular” that transpires when LAZARUS WON’T GET OUT OF BED.

Lazarus is depressed: unwilling and unable to get out of bed and face life’s harsh realities. The world outside Lazarus’s bedroom is falling apart. But in the vivid interior landscape of the young man’s mind, Lazarus is always the hero: he is Luke Skywalker, he is Harry Potter, and he always gets the girl.

Part-drama, part-comedy, and part-fantasy, this is the unique premise of Lazarus Won’t Get Out Of Bed, a new script by emerging Australian playwright David Burton that offers a glimpse into the experiences of the young protagonist’s struggle with depression.

Lazarus’s fantasy world is laden with comic-book imagery and references to hero narratives in popular culture, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Lord Of The Rings. “The pop culture is very much escapism for Lazarus,” says Travis Dowling, who is directing the play’s premiere production for AS Theatre, a Brisbane-based company of early-career theatre artists. “Through that escapism, Lazarus heals himself and slowly comes back into the real world, to deal with the real issues that are affecting his life.”

Burton’s script earned the playwright the Australian Theatre for Young People’s Fresh Ink Award, as well as a finalist’s place in Queensland Theatre Company’s Young Playwrights Program. “This is the first new work that AS Theatre has engaged in,” says Dowling. The play also marks Dowling’s directorial debut. “And that’s a challenging thing, to take a play that isn’t fully ready and develop it and bring a new work to life. It’s a really exciting process.”

The director says the biggest challenge in “bringing to life” Burton’s play has been “making the clear delineation between when it is fantasy in Lazarus’s head and when it is real; when to let Lazarus go and have fun and let the colour of the story explode, and when to reel it back in.”

He was attracted to the irreverent script’s thoughtful insight into a young person’s experiences and perspective: “It speaks about issues that really matter to people of my generation and younger, but told through an exciting way, using pop culture – the language that we identify with – that we see on television and movies,” Dowling reflects. “We can connect with that language and with the stories that Lazarus is telling and, through that, deal with issues that we have to deal with when we’re young people.”

Juggling the audio-visual and multimedia elements demanded by the script has also been a challenge: “It’s a bit of a technical spectacular!” says Dowling. “Jason Glenwright is doing the lighting and, in his opinion, it’s the biggest lighting rig in the history of Metro Arts,” he jokes. “We’ve got a fantastic AV designer, Craig Wilkinson. He’s creating the scenes from Lazarus’s head on screen projections throughout the show in a comic book style.”

Part of AS Theatre’s aims as an emerging theatre company are “to collaborate and to showcase the work of young artists,” says Dowling, and to provide opportunities for such practitioners – playwrights, actors, directors and designers alike – to develop their skills and experiment with their craft. “As an emerging artist you can’t be caught not doing anything,” says Dowling. “You’ve got to keep working, keep developing because there’s so much to learn... There are projects everywhere; the more you engage in them the better your experience is going to be, trying to create awesome art that people enjoy.”

LAZARUS WON’T GET OUT OF BED plays at the Sue Benner Theatre, Metro Arts from October 13 – 31. For tickets phone 3002 7100 or visit www.metroarts.com.au.

Comments (3)

2. Written by Robbie, on 19-10-2009 05:56 I saw this at reading and a year ago.Script has come along way since. Great show,  bells and whistles used to great affect. Story worth telling!

3. Written by Robbie, on 19-10-2009 05:56 I saw this at reading and a year ago.Script has come along way since. Great show,  bells and whistles used to great affect. Story worth telling!

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