NORPA’s new hit show Love For One Night opened last Thursday at The Eltham Hotel to full houses and continued the ‘sold-out’ trend over the weekend, with more than 700 people enjoying the production.
Love For One Night is a series of love stories told through story, movement and song with a live band scoring all the action. The Eltham Hotel itself becomes both set and character with live videography projected onto its façade and the audience taking it all in from tiered theatre seating constructed in front of the hotel.
Delighted by the response
Director Julian Louis (Artistic Director of NORPA) said he was delighted with the response by the audience, the performers, the creative team and the venue. ‘To be honest I think it’s more than I imagined,’ said Louis after the opening night performance on Thursday.
‘The creative team and all the forces they brought – the design, the projection, combined with music – to actually see that happen and come together was truly a highlight in my career so far. I’m really proud of NORPA, I’m proud of the team and I’m delighted to live here in a beautiful place where we value storytelling, arts and culture, and gathering in such a way.’
A brilliant cast
The brilliant cast includes long-time NORPA collaborators Katia Molino and Phil Blackman alongside local talents Zoe Gameau, Claire Atkins, and performer Lloyd Allison-Young. Between them they play twenty-four characters exploring love in all its guises from deep friendship to infatuation, to romance and heartbreak, to sexual attraction and unbridled lust.
The stellar creative team includes: Director and Devisor Julian Louis, Writer and Devisor Janis Balodis, Video Producer Mic Gruchy, Video Designer Poppy Walker, Music Director Jamie Birrell, musicians Luke Bennett and Ben Cox Movement Consultant Kimberley McIntyre, Production and Costume Designer Charlotte Haywood and Lighting Designer Alex Torney.
A devised theatre-making process
Love For One Night has been created through a devised theatre-making process. ‘It’s a collective creation, a method of theatre-making in which the script, performance and production originates from a collaborative process. It’s a process we love, and why we describe our works as being built from the ground up.’
Love for One Night has been created in the face of incredible challenges. The pandemic forced the closure and cancellation of two years of performances before the floods ripped through Lismore taking with it NORPA’s home and the region’s major performing arts centre, Lismore City Hall, leaving the venue closed for the foreseeable future.
Challenges haven’t stopped the production
Louis said extraordinary challenges haven’t stopped them. ‘We’ve adapted and continued to create, produce and present new NORPA works. Love for One Night is our love letter to this region.’
Weekend performances of the show in its three-week run until September 24 have already sold out but at the time of writing, tickets are still available for some weeknight performances at norpa.org.au.
