THE AGE, Melbourne                                                      TIMEOUT MELBOURNE

                            

 

These theatremakers question the meaning of the universe and then poke fun at the grandiosity of their endeavour: their concerns are the domain of the scientist, the philosopher, the stoner and the madman. Pale Blue Dot is utterly unique, making me feel at once alienated and connected. It is an experience as frustrating as it is tantalising.

Rebecca Harkins-Cross, The Age.

 

A carefully judged, beautifully captivating piece of theatre...an extraorodinary theatrical experience.

Keith Gow, Theatre blog

 

 

In 1977 the Voyager spacecraft sent a time capsule into outer space. Carefully composed golden phonograph records containing images, sounds, music and diagrams were launched into the atmosphere - a calling card to extra-terrestrial life -  a shiny ‘message in a bottle’ from our planet - the pale blue dot.

 

Pale Blue Dot interweaves the stories of several figures connected by brief moments in time and subtle links in space. It explores the lenses through which we experience and view humanity. Who do we frame? What do we exclude? What was on the B-side of the record?

 

Pale Blue Dot is named after Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994) and for
Voyager’s famous photograph of earth, Pale Blue Dot, taken from a distance of 6.1 billion kilometres away; the first image we have of ourselves from space.

 

Devised, Written and Performed by Stephen Phillips, Lachlan Woods, Luisa Hastings Edge and Ben Pfeiffer

Additional Writing and Dramaturgy: Gary Abrahams, Hannah Liddeaux and Tanya Gerstle

Directed by Tanya Gerstle

Associate Director: Gary Abrahams

Associate Dramaturgy: Hannah Liddeaux and Gary Abrahams

Sound Design: Russell Goldsmith

Co-Sound Designer: Robert Jordon

Lighting Design: Tom Willis

Set and Costume Design: Eugyeene Teh

Producer: Nicole Smith