NORPA’s spectacular new outdoor show Love For One Night at The Eltham Hotel opened to full houses last weekend with more than 3200 people expected to attend the production over its three week run. Weekend performances of the show have already sold out but at the time of writing tickets are still available for some weeknight performances at norpa.org.au.
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.
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 8 September “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.”
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.
Love For One Night has been created through a devised theatre making process said Louis “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.
“These extraordinary challenges haven’t stopped us,” says Louis “We’ve adapted and continued to create, produce and present new NORPA works. Love for One Night is our love letter to this region.”
Love for One Night by NORPA runs until Saturday 24th September at The Eltham Hotel. Tickets at www.norpa.org.au
CREATIVE TEAM
Love For One Night was devised through a collaborative creative process.
Performers & Devisors: Lloyd Allison-Young, Claire Atkins, Phil Blackman, Zoe Gameau & Katia Molino
Director & Devisor: Julian Louis
Writer & Devisor: Janis Balodis
Associate Artist: Anna Marais
Associate Artist: Jo Turner
Video Producer: Mic Gruchy
Video Designer: Poppy Walker
Musical Director: Jamie Birrell
Musicians: Luke Bennett & Ben Cox
Movement Consultant: Kimberley McIntyre
Production & Costume Designer: Charlotte Haywood
Lighting Designer: Alex Torney
Stage Manager: Kylie Fuad
Assistant Stage Manager: Ava Jarrett
Production Manager: Steve Gooding
Production Consultant: Karl Johnson
Producer: Sasha Bradbury
Camera Operator: Marcus O’Brien
Video Switchers: Rohan Langford, Eden Crawford-Harriman
Audio Technician: Steve Shaw
Technicians: Rich Morrod, Patrick Bollinger, Andrew Thompson, Nat Rolls-Gordon
EVENT DETAILS
Love For One Night
Presented by NORPA at The Eltham Hotel (441 Eltham, Rd, Eltham)
8 – 24 Sept 2022, 7:30pm
Tickets: $20 – $59
www.norpa.org.au
Dinner will be available at the Eltham Hotel before the show. Please contact The Eltham to make a dinner booking and let them know you are coming to see the show.