ALICE IN DROWNING DEVELOPMENT SHOWING AT QUEENSLAND THEATRE Visual aid document written by Madeleine Lewis for YMC and in partnership with Geoff Munck from Vislan

In the left hand corner of the stage, slightly downstage, Alice stands facing the audience. She is wearing swimming shorts and a sunsafe swim shirt. In front of her, on the floor, are three flat handheld LED lights (one red, one yellow, one blue, though the blue is not on). The lighting creates a gentle wash over the space and the lighting overlaps to create refracted shadows on the walls . Lexie sits in a chair behind her in the very back corner of the stage, she is also wearing swim shorts and a sunsafe swim shirt. A phone rings but neither girl moves to answer it. Alice begins speaking. When she finishes speaking Lexie picks up her chair, walks beside Alice, places her chair down and sits in it to deliver her text.

As the two girls begin to imagine the underwater world Alice picks up and turns on the blue LED and Lexie picks up the red LED. The two girls move across the space using the lights to create shadows on the back wall and floor as they describe what they are imagining under the ocean. The shadows are abstract and fluid and the two lights overlap to create different shapes and colours of shadows. The phone begins ringing again and the girls walk back to their original positions. The red and blue lights are turned off and the yellow left on. Alice begins to put her shoes, jacket and hat on in preparation to continue on her journey. Lexie attempts to stop Alice getting dressed but is not successful.

When the music – Bow River by Cold Chisel – begins to play Alice picks up the yellow light, crosses the stage with it and sets it up pointing into in the far right corner of the stage. Lexie follows with the

chair and the red light. Alice picks up the blue light and brings it over to the far right corner. The three lights create a wash of light that is confined to the corner where the Sunset Vista Motel will be set up. The two girls begin to set up the Sunset Vista Motel by picking props out of a crate and placing them around the space within the area that is being lit. The props are – Two wooden bedside tables, two white bedside lamps, A sign that reads Open on one side and Closed on the other, a sign that reads Toilets, a large metal fish sculpture, a large wooden sign with an inspirational quote, a green welcome mat. Once the room is set up the girls dance along to the music for a short period then exit the lit area. They turn off the three LED lights and leave the two bedside lamps on. The girls then re-enter the Sunset Vista Motel as though seeing it for the first time. They look around them and then move to stand next to each other in the position of being in bed but upright. They speak to each other as though lying in bed next to each other.

The girls say goodnight to each other and turn off both their bedside lamps. They are now in low natural light. They begin to rock back and forth, eventually moving against each other as though rocking in a ship. They begin to move down to the ground. Lexie is awake as she does this, Alice is asleep. Lexie lowers Alice to the ground as though the bed was always on the ground and Lex is waking from a dream. She turns off the blue light and then brings a torch light out of her pocket. As she speaks she explores Alice’s sleeping form with the torch. She then gets up to sit against the wall in the dark. She takes out her phone and calls her mum.

As Lexie speaks Alice wakes up. She too brings a torch out of her pocket and uses it to light Lexie against the wall. As Lexie begins telling the story of how the girls first met she stands up and begins running up and down the stage between the original left hand corner and the right hand corner where Alice sits. Soon Alice stands to move to the middle of the stage. Lexie stops running and the two girls move around each other using the torches to explore each

other as they talk.

Lexie tells Alice she doesn’t want to continue playing the game. Alice turns and uses her torch to light the “Sunset Vista Motel” setup. She turns on the blue light and tries to begin the imagination game from the first scene. Lexie walks to the blue light and peels off the blue cellophane. Alice moves to the red light and again tries to begin the imagination game, Lexie again peels off the red cellophane. Alice moves to the final light and attempts to begin the imagination game, lexie again peels off the yellow cellophane. The space is now lit very starkly with white LED light. Lexie begins to pack up the room. She walks and sits in the chair behind Alice in a mirror of the first scene. Alice stands looking out at the audience.