Mararo Wangai and Arielle Gray.
Camera IconMararo Wangai and Arielle Gray. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Hunting for great advice in The Advisors

Tanya MacNaughtonEastern Reporter

THE unpredictable nature of creativity can take theatre makers on an unexpected journey.

This has certainly been true for The Last Great Hunt collective behind new work The Advisors.

The Advisors is a show about all the advice you need and all the advice you don’t need or want,” co-writer and performer Arielle Gray said.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

“It’s kind of about the fact that we as a society take it upon ourselves to advise others and tell people what to do, how they should be, how they should parent, how they should be a woman, how they should be a man. It’s looking at all of those things and taking it to the extreme.

“We actually started developing a show about what women get told to do and all of these other things just started pouring out; all these other forms of advice that didn’t fit in that category.

“It expanded and expanded until we realised the show wanted to be about all of the advice that we all get all the time, telling us how to live and how to be.”

Directed by Gita Bezard, The Advisors was co-written by Bezard and all five performers – Gray, Jeffrey Jay Fowler, Chris Isaacs, Frieda Lee and Mararo Wangai.

Gray said she enjoyed the writing experience because it was different to the way she usually worked.

“We started doing writing exercises where we’d choose a theme and then free-write,” she said.

“There’s been lots of amazing stuff that come out of that. Then we’ve all gone away with different sections and arranged five people’s different writing into one theme.

“From there Gita took the script, put it altogether and did the final edit. It’s quite amazing because when you read through it, you can’t really remember who wrote what and it’s lovely how the voices have all merged together into one voice.”

THE ESSENTIALS

What: The Advisors

Where: Rehearsal Room 1, State Theatre Centre of WA

When: May 31 to June 10

Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au

MORE: Work begins on new WA museum

MORE: Pizza delivery driver suffers dreadful injuries in hit and run

MORE: Mandurah man takes novel approach to finding work