Ensemble taps into 'eerie energy' of Glow Worm Tunnel

The mystery of the Yuba County Five has inspired the Strangeways Ensemble’s The Seven, switching the location of the group’s disappearance from the snowy forests of California to Helensburgh’s Glow Worm Tunnel.  

The Seven – which opens at Wollongong Town Hall on November 21 – marks a turn to the darker side for the ensemble, says writer and director Anne-Louise Rentell.

“The Strangeways Ensemble is a group of seven artists who are neuro-diverse or have an intellectual disability, and they're all theatre makers,” says Anne-Louise, who’s directed the ensemble for the past seven years and before that instigated Merrigong’s first mixed abilities theatre workshop in 2008.

“We meet every Friday afternoon, and we develop ideas for main stage shows and for our cabaret.” 

The Seven is their third stage show. “The first show, Trash Talk, was about the ensemble’s individual experiences of working in Australian disability enterprises. The second show, Something That Happened, was about people with disability auditioning for roles in film.”

After that last thought-provoking production in 2023, Anne-Louise put a question to the ensemble: What do you want to make a show about? 

“They were all pretty unanimous in going they wanted to make something that wasn't foregrounding disability in the same way – that they wanted just to be telling a story, and then they also wanted to be telling a story that had a darker side.”

The team started workshopping ideas around horror, mystery and conspiracy theories – then ensemble member Christian Tagliaferro hit upon true crime inspiration.

“He'd been watching a documentary about the Yuba County Five in America, which is a true story about five people who also had disabilities, who had gone together in the 70s to watch a basketball game, and on the way home, they had disappeared,” Anne-Louise says. 

“It has a grisly outcome. 

“Ours doesn’t … not to the same extent. It's more of a playful look at how, when we don't know what has happened, our imaginations take over and other theories come to the fore, and often those theories are more fantastical, like conspiracy theories, or belief in the paranormal.

“So we decided to make our own sort of locally based crime story. It's a little bit of a riff on the Yuba County Five.”

In the Illawarra version, it’s 1964 and seven friends are heading home after a Sydney concert, dressed in black suits, referencing the bands of the time, like the Beatles and the Monkeys. “The Seven have gone up in cosplay, if you like, to see their band,” says Anne-Louise, who likes the way similar costumes evoke visions of a cult. “We don't really entertain the idea of the cult, but that's another theory that someone might have.

“Our show has horror in it, but it's not totally scary or dark and terrible – I think it's actually quite fun.”

The friends miss their last train home, exit Helensburgh Station and disappear. No trace is found until 60 years later when bones come to light, the cold case reopens and a detective comes to investigate. 

The Seven's cast grew up in the Illawarra and a fascination with coal mining pioneer folklore drew them to Helensburgh. Inspired by talk about ghosts, ensemble member Phillip Prentice came up with an idea to make theatre "a little bit darker", Anne-Louise says.

“He's quite interested in the paranormal himself. He knew a bit about the history of the ghost sightings – of a gentleman who was hit by a train in the 19th century, so there's a belief that he haunts that tunnel.”

In fact, historical records show the miner was killed in a different train tunnel, but for the Strangeways’ purposes, the Glow Worm Tunnel had all the right elements.   

“Helensburgh tunnel has a spooky, eerie energy, so we wanted to tap into that,” Anne-Louise says. “We also chose the Town Hall for a similar reason, it has a strange ambience to it. They remodelled it in the 60s and they got rid of that more Edwardian ornate theatre and turned it into a much more functional, utilitarian kind of space. 

“We connect the two places in a way, through a mythology that there are tunnels that connect all the way to Wollongong from Helensburgh.”

The show is suitable for ages 12 and up, Anne-Louise says, as the horror is not graphic. “It's more atmospheric, I would say.

“It's going to look beautiful. [Production designer] Katja Handt has really transformed the town hall … you'll see quite an extraordinary representation of the tunnel made out of objects from the town hall."

In setting the uncanny mood, sound designer Daryl Wallis, who has supported the ensemble from the start, has been invaluable, Anne-Louise adds.

“The story itself is fun. Whether we believe in these things, like ghosts or aliens or conspiracy theories, I think we live in a world where a lot of that stuff is just out there and accessible [online] … and we've got a world order which leans into it a little bit as well. 

“We're riffing on themes and elements that we all enjoy about living here. It's good to make work about where you live. We see stories about elsewhere all the time … I just think it's a unique and exciting piece of work.”

The underlying theme is “the unknown” and how we make sense of it. “It's about belief systems, to some extent, and it's about visibility,” Anne-Louise says.

“The fact that these seven people are never found, even though we're hinting at a more paranormal reason for that, there's still that sense of people with a disability, particularly in the 60s, not having visibility.” 

Things are different today, but inclusion cannot be taken for granted. 

“We’re much better at people being included into, I suppose, for want of a better word, mainstream society. But also, that's always under threat… we think we've come so far, but there's always a potential for that to regress.”

Merrigong Theatre Company's last mainstage show for the year, The Seven stars Malcolm Allison, Ethan Arnold, Jordan Bowater, Ethan Green, Rachel Head, Phillip Prentice and Christian Tagliaferro. It's at Wollongong Town Hall from November 21-29. Tickets via Merrigong's website