Through The Dark

Arielle Gray takes the call in Cairns – she'd arrived the day prior following a week at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane, and a few dates prior to that in Darwin. Port Macquarie to Port Pirie, and a slew of places in between still loom on the schedule, a 45-stop UK and Australian tour and following critically acclaimed seasons at both the Sydney Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013. Gray, alongside Tim Watts and Chris Isaacs, are taking their latest work, a Perth Theatre Company commission, It's Dark Outside, on an extensive tour of the country, something they got used to with the globe-trotting success of the show that made this work so keenly anticipated, The Adventures Of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer.

It's Dark Outside uses a similar aesthetic and quaintly adventurous mode of storytelling – mask and puppetry, animation and live performance – this time completely dialogue-free, and marks a further progression of the unique fruits of their collaborative labours. This is following their extensive tours for their last play, meeting far-flung and constant demand for the show.

“Because all three of us have been on the road for a really long time, on and off, with Alvin, we are in a place where we're absolutely able to say anything when we're working without people getting offended or precious – we're able to be absolutely honest with each other and just kick the bullshit out the door.”

It's Dark Outside is inspired by experiences and research into Alzheimer's Disease and Sundowners Syndrome, and follows an old man who ventures into the unknown as shadows gain in length and memories swirl. “We do have personal experiences with our grandparents having Alzheimer's,” admits Gray – the mask of the old man character she performs as in It's Dark Outside was modelled on Watt's grandfather. “I don't think that that particularly affected the show but it has definitely had little influences. The really interesting thing is while I knew there was a lot of people suffering from Alzheimer's, it wasn't until touring the show all around the world and talking to people afterwards that I realised how many people, because pretty much everyone we talk to has a connection somewhere, it's actually kind of horrifying how it affects everyone in some way or another. We've had a lot of people say it's been a very closed subject, and we've had some older people that have been delighted that we, as younger people – I mean, I don't feel that young, but apparently I am – are discussing it. It's good because we don't really talk about it – it's a very visual representation, it's an adventure, an old man going on an adventure, it's not a docu-drama where everyone talks about how sad and uncomfortable they are feeling. By having their imaginations engaged and watching something beautiful and interesting they're able to connect with it a little bit more.”