Dreams In an Empty City

For this acclaimed play, written by Stephen Sewell in 1986 and directed by Ross Coli in Western Australia, we subverted a traditional proscenium theatre and planted a scaffolding structure in the auditorium. Entering from what would normally have been the balcony and seated on four sides the structure allowed the audience to look down into kind of ‘theatre pit’, By reversing the normal actor audience relationship from the one in the proscenium theatre format where the audience look up to the actors on a raised platform here the audience were the ‘gods’.. This was particularly appropriate as the play is about the ‘robber barons’ of Australia.

• The Themes: The play is a dark, existential morality tale exploring greed, political corruption, and the ruthless nature of modern banking and capitalism.

• The Setting: The "empty city" is a metaphorical wasteland—a concrete jungle where human connection has been stripped away by corporate ruthlessness and moral decay.