Red Scare Theatre Company is bringing its award-winning Immersive production Before We Slip Beneath the Sea around the North Island this July. Written and directed by the company’s artistic director Cassandra Tse, Before We Slip Beneath the Sea follows inhabitants of the fictional island off the north coast called Eglantyne. Here, the local community have gathered for the last time in the wake of an impending evacuation due to rising sea levels. When one community member decides to take a stand against the evacuation, the community is divided, long-buried tensions come to the fore, and everyone must decide how to cope with change, loss and forces far greater than themselves.

Red Scare will be swapping out traditional theatre spaces for community halls for this Immersive show, which aims to break the usual separation between audience and actors. “Immersive theatre is different from traditional theatre in that the audience are actually inside the storyworld, rather than sitting outside and looking in,” says Tse. “In Before We Slip Beneath the Sea, audiences have the freedom to choose their own path to navigate the story, encountering and interacting with different characters. It’s a huge challenge, but there’s also so much potential for exciting storytelling.” Audience members can choose to eavesdrop on budding romances, intervene in family disputes, or even help out in the kitchen.

The play was awarded Winner of Best Play by a Woman Playwright and overall Runner-Up at the 2024 Adam NZ Play Awards. The production’s 2024 Wellington season was called “a hauntingly beautiful portrayal of human relationships” (Elliott Lam, Wellyott) and “an absorbing and salutary experience” (John Smythe, Theatreview).

“In an Immersive show, the actors have to be able to switch back and forth between scripted scenes and improvisation with ease, allowing audiences to engage with the characters while never losing track of the story. It’s a really difficult ask, so I’m lucky that I’m working with such a talented group of actors,” says Tse. The cast consists of a mix of returnees from Red Scare Theatre shows like Charlie Potter (Gutenberg! The Musical), Ralph Johnson (Four Nights in the Green Barrow Pub) and performers collaborating with Red Scare for the first time (Hannah McKenzie Doornebosch, Craig Geenty, Megan Connolly, Helen Jones and Billie Deganutti).

“This show lets each audience member really take control of their own relationship to the play – whether they want to join the characters in conversation, hang back and eavesdrop, or simply float around the hall absorbing the atmosphere,” Tse says. “My hope is that whether or not audience members love or hate participatory theatre, they come away from this show feeling like they’re a part of the Eglantyne community.”

Before We Slip Beneath the Sea will be travelling to Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North and Carterton. Tickets and performance dates for the show are available through Eventfinda.

For marketing inquiries, please contact Jamie Cain, Associate Director of Red Scare Theatre Company

jamie@redscare.co.nz, 0221216419