Local theatre collective Vaguely Adjacent promises all kinds of funny stuff in Squatch Watch: LIVE, a new MerrigongX production that mixes fact, folklore and conspiracy podcasting.
“Podcasting has become a huge part of how conspiracy theories spread nowadays,” says the collective's Frank Dwyer, speaking ahead of the show's debut at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre this Thursday.
“The show is hopefully going to be an involved experience which lets you get close to the experience of what it's like to be a member of one of these conspiracy communities – whether or not you believe the myth… that’s in your hands.”
The show is a comedic critique of modern conspiracy theorists in the format of a live podcast show. Frank says the age-old Yowie conspiracy provides a light-hearted jumping off point for Illawarra audiences.
“This format lets us kind of move away from conventional storytelling techniques and do something that's a bit more post-dramatic, with a bit more flexibility in how we dive into the themes and stories. The show is inherently very comedic, and we want the audience to have a fun time and enjoy the comedy of it,” Frank says.
“But we can’t just have it be taking the piss. We want to dive into some of the more serious aspects that revolve around conspiracy theories. The ways in which those groups form and how they operate in a contemporary context is something that has some pretty scary implications.
“For a lot of the people who believe in the Yowie, it’s just something they enjoy getting up to in their spare time, and apart from that they’re nice people. Which is not something that’s really shared with a lot of other conspiracy groups.”
The team have taken a Wollongong-specific lens to their look at the Yowie legend, inspired by seven Yowie sightings on Mount Kembla over the 30 years between 1983 and 2013.
“That's a big part of what made us want to put the show on in Wollongong, and that's a through line that we carry through the whole thing. It is a story that's very locally centred and provides a pretty unique and tailored experience for a Wollongong audience,” Frank says.
Vaguely Adjacent members Nick Vagne, Sophie Florence Ward and Luke Standish studied theatre and performance together at the University of Wollongong. Frank met the crew later on and joined the show as a sound designer and actor. Together, the group has dug down into the roots of the Yowie conspiracy, as research for their show.
“There’s an Australian research forum online that’s been running for 20 years, maybe longer. It’s run by this guy named Dean Harrison, who claims to have worked with the Australian military tracking down the Yowie – paragraphs upon paragraphs detailing a military stakeout with trip wires and grenades and sniper rifles and camo suits. It’s a wild story.”
Frank says that the forum has quietened down since the early 2000s but people still regularly post about their often conflicting Yowie theories.
"There are ones that seem more reasonable to an outside eye, like that it's some sort of missing link in evolution. But then there’s people who believe that it is a multi-dimensional being that can transport itself around the world, teleport and transform into a ball of light… or that it's a genetic super-soldier from the missing civilization of Atlantis… or that it's an angelic being that's descended from heaven," he says.
"It's more a way to explain things they've seen or felt that they can't explain otherwise. Like you've had an experience in the woods where you heard something or saw something that you couldn't quite tell what it was. And then some outlandish story, which ties through to all this other conspiracy theory stuff, is how you're making sense of that experience."
MerrigongX is an annual artist program that supports theatre makers of all kinds to take risks and push the boundaries of theatre. The program allows participants to take their time to create something truly interesting – the Squatch Watch crew worked on their show for a couple of years.
“The whole process has been really, really enjoyable,” Frank says.
"I can't give enough praise to Merrigong for how much trust they've had in us. Especially when sometimes they'd walk into a rehearsal and it would just be us saying some of the craziest stuff. I can imagine any other artistic director just immediately putting their heads in their hands. They've been really really understanding in helping us put the whole thing together.
“Beyond that – thanks to the rest of the people behind the show – Luke, Sophie and Nick. And if people have seen anything recently that they can't explain, then please get in contact with us. We'd love to hear your story.”
See Squatch Watch: LIVE on Thursday, September 25; Friday 26th and Saturday 27th at 7:30pm at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre. The show runs for one hour with no interval and is suitable for ages 15+. For this MerrigongX show, reserve a seat for free, then ‘pay what you feel’ afterwards. Book via the Merrigong website
