Mission to lift off World Theatre Festival

Americana Kamikaze which will feature in the World Theatre Festival. Source: The Courier-Mail

During the next 90 riveting minutes you help save the three astronauts of Apollo 13 320,000 km from Earth after an explosion.

Legendary flight director Gene Kranz (Jason Whyte) may ask or command you to do your bit. You may receive odd messages or maths problems, which have to be solved using paper and pencil.

Apollo 13 is a New Zealand production - part of the new genre of theatre breaking the bounds of the rectangular stage to create a thrilling and visceral audience experience.

It's being shown with 15 other works as part of the World Theatre Festival at the Brisbane Powerhouse from February 9 to 20.

"Rather than showing big, expensive productions you would see at a mainstream festival, the World Theatre Festival offers the point of view of a new generation of theatre as a global art form," Powerhouse director Andrew Ross says.

It features groups from Britain, Netherlands, US, Chile, New Zealand and Australia, with a range of works from physical theatre to combinations of live performance and video.

As well as showing eight existing and commissioned works, the WTF will also be "a forum where work can be created". So there are talks from eminent theatremakers; a Scratch Series of eight works in progress; masterclasses and networking opportunities to stimulate creative collaborations.

More than $1 million in funding has been contributed to hold and develop the festival during the next three years  - $500,000 from Wotif.com founder Graeme Wood as well as government funding.

Apollo 13 co-creator Brad Knewstubb says the production aims "to have people have as much fun as possible and do what they wanted to do as a kid". Yet the show is by no means "dumbed down".

"Nothing quite prepares you for the collective buzz you get from this immersive role-playing experience," wrote a reviewer last year of the production at the Sydney Opera House.

The idea for Apollo 13 came from a visit to Cape Canaveral in the US by Knewstubb and friend Kip Chapman in 2007.

"We went to see the (Kennedy) Space Centre and found they had the original control room from the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 there. It was an amazing room but everyone was held back behind railings."

Longing to get in there and "flip switches and press buttons", the idea for the drama was born.

On the original Apollo 13 mission, one of the astronauts was pulled out before the launch due to a measles scare.

So before the show starts and the audience is milling in the foyer, a character resembling broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite arrives, asking for a volunteer to replace him. The would-be "astronaut" is whisked off, to reappear in full kit and climb into the top of the "space craft" in the foyer, to rapturous applause.

"From there, doors are open to mission control and everyone makes their way in," Knewstubb says. "The thing I find most satisfying is watching the first 15 minutes. It starts off with people being tentative; not sure if they can touch, but then a switch flicks inside their head and they get absorbed."

While Apollo 13 is a great night out for adults and young people alike, Americana Kamikaze is not one to bring your children to. Produced by American theatre company Temporary Distortion, the play is a combination of drama and video; described as an "East meets West psychological horror story, inspired by Japanese ghost stories".

But forget Friday the 13th or slasher movies. Japanese horror is more poetic, confusing and suspenseful.

The hour-long play is performed by two American and two Japanese actors.

"All of our work is performed in these claustrophobic box-like structures," says writer and director Kenneth Collins.

"The performers are split by a projection screen . . . when the performance begins, there are two separate narratives."

Simultaneously on the video screen is video from a horror movie, which is in English but subtitled in Japanese.

"The cinema is a counterpoint, which sometimes parallels and sometimes contradicts the action," Collins says.

"It's a very layered experience of two different stories, with different things coinciding with one another in a way that makes you begin to ask questions."

Collins also promises "moments of surprise and humour . . . and there are definitely moments that are intense".

Another unusual offering at the festival is the physical theatre show The Waiting Room, by Melbourne performers Born in a Taxi plus independent artists.

Company member Penny Baron explains: "The set is just chairs; a waiting room, and the audience can sit anywhere."

Gradually the six performers enter "and we begin to kinesthetically connect in a playful way. We spark off particular people and surprising things happen".

Each of the performers is dressed as different characters "although we don't hold to those characters", Baron says.

"Somebody looks like they have come from a ball or party, another person looks like they have come from the country, another is in a chemist's outfit.

"A combination of games, events, scenarios and stories emerge."

How the performance develops can vary, depending on audience response.

The WTF promises to expand and enhance the theatre scene in Queensland considerably.

The World Theatre Festival is on February 9-20.

Visit www.brisbanepowerhouse.org