Clay’s life comes to us in fragments, memories from his past, moments from his present loop and fall across the pages. Some are sharp and bright, rays of light illuminating the depths, others are muddier, silt stirred up from the dam.
The only constant is water, always water. Water that, over the years, has held his recreation and his vocation, water that has buoyed his joys and flooded his sorrows. Clay has hidden his pain and his loss under the water, tucked in the cave shadows, abandoned on the ocean floor, but now it is time to dive, to drop below the surface, to face the burdens that threaten to sink him and to float free.
Director’s Notes
I first read Cathedral in May 2023, only a year after the play premiered with the State Theatre Company of South Australia. I was struck by the beauty of the text and the breadth of the journey, and, while it was originally written as a one man show, I was excited by the possibility of directing it as an ensemble production.
Only a few months later, Caleb Lewis had granted permission to adapt Cathedral for a large cast and so the journey began from one to many. I am enormously grateful to Caleb for his play and his generosity with our production. It is a privilege to share contemporary Australian works with the next generation; I hope they are as delighted with their inheritance as I am.
Come with us, take a deep breath and drop below the surface into the world of Cathedral.
- Kalika Duck
In February 2024, the imagined ‘large cast’ became a reality and twenty-five Year 9 and 10 students from four high schools began the dive. From the shallows to the high seas, these young performers have been part of the play-building process with their conceptualisations, casting, choreography and chorus work woven into every part of the final product. We have, at times, struggled to make our way through the tight squeezes and icey waters, the path forward not always clear, however, it has been so exciting to go exploring, to make our own way through the darkest depths and up to the light again.
Cast
Clay Angus Roberts
Rowan Winnall
Tom Boyce-Cam
Rohan Shetty
Tom Franc
Pop
Mum Dad Moss
Jock
Alexander de Vries
Alessandro Di Giulio
Indiana Douglas
Kayla Farah
Peter Harrison Schmidt
Mason Heavens
Helen Herron
Felix Maxted
Joshua Chatfield
Bunny Young
Lachie Winby
Alexander Reed
Aubrey Rogers
Ensemble
Cameron Moltoni
Annabel Rembalski
Jacques Sahel
Wilson Senders
Kaelan Tandy
Aran Vahedi
Ally Wilshire
Creative Team
Playwright Caleb Lewis
Director Kalika Duck
Set Designer & Projections
Sarah Duyvestyn
Costume Designer Madelyn Sumner
Lighting Designer Tess Reuvers
Sound Designer Harry Oliff
Costume Assistance Cass Leaman
Jay Waugh
Stage Managers Nick Hoedemaker Zak Leaman
Deputy Stage Manager Nick Sangalli
Assistant Stage Managers Candice Kang
Otto Fraunschiel
Harry Kornweibel
Lighting Operator
Sound Operator Set Build
Poster Artwork
Program Design
Photography
Backstage Supervision
Front of House
Eden Flynn-Ratcliffe
James Wiltshire
Onstage Arts
Kate Atkinson
Tom Telford
Stephen Heath
Niki Browne-Cooper
Drama Council
The Company would like to thank
Josh Adam
Friends Of Drama
Dive & Fish
Perth Dive Academy
Spotlight on the playwright Caleb Lewis
Seventy metres down the world falls away. First reds, then oranges, yellows, greens, and blues, until there’s nothing but the night. Next goes touch, as your fingers go numb, the water wicking the heat away from you, and then all that’s left to imagine is memory and sound.
When I was ten, on a family road trip from Melbourne to Adelaide, I first encountered the underworld. I remember the reeds and the low hanging sky, and dad pulling on his wetsuit in the carpark as he told us about all the people who’d died here. Piccaninnie Ponds is a system of sinkholes on South Australia’s limestone coast, just south of Mt Gambier. The “Pics” are a mecca for divers the world over, drawn by tales of crystal-clear water; yawning chasms; and a vast underwater cathedral flooded with godlight. Dad was a dive instructor, not a licenced cave diver, but he was here, he figured, and the chance might never come again. We trailed up the wooden
walkway behind him and waited as he slipped on his dive mask and flippers. Then he called us close and kissed us on the forehead — won’t be long, he said — then he slipped beneath the surface. And I wondered what happens if he never comes back?
Cathedral is a play about a diver still haunted by loss, still lost in the deep and the dark. It asks why do some of us sink when others swim. What draws us down into the dark and what calls us back into the light.
In 2020, like so many others, I fell down a pretty dark hole. On top of the uncertainty of Covid and the seeming death of democracy, we lost my Uncle Jeff, then Uncle Julian, and then, impossibly, Logan, just a boy of barely fourteen. I liken depression to a well, and much of my life has been spent clinging to the stones, halfway down, just holding on. Sometimes it’s easier to let go, hit rock-bottom and catch my breath before the slow climb back to the surface.
But this year was harder, the bottom felt colder, darker, and the sky so far away. It’s where I wrote this play. It is a thing steeped in grief, yet ultimately about finding our way back into the light. And if you are down there right now, know that night is only fleeting, that you are not alone, and when you are ready, the world is waiting and alive with light.
2024 Season
CHAIRMAN
Alan Jones
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Gregory Jones
ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
Jodie Busby
Kalika Duck
Mark Storen
PRODUCTION MANAGER/ LIGHTING DESIGNER
Tess Reuvers
COSTUME DESIGNERS
Jay Waugh
Madelyn Sumner
SOUND DESIGNER
Harry Oliff
ARTWORK DESIGNER
Kat Atkinson
SET DESIGNER
Sarah Duyvestyn
TOUR MANAGER
Ralph Gurr
Genevieve Gurr
INTERNATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
Kevin Owen (England)
Elizabeth Briggs (Scotland)
Prof Grant Ferguson-Stewart (Canada)
EMERITUS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Anthony Howes
The Midnite Youth Theatre Company is Western Australia’s longest running youth theatre company for young people aged 10 to 25 years from Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1987 at Christ Church Grammar School, Midnite is treasured for its continued commitment for those seeking to explore beyond the limits of school drama; producing work in professional venues and touring productions internationally.
CONTACT
The Midnite Youth Theatre Company Christ Church Grammar School Queenslea Drive Claremont WA 6010 (08) 9442 1677
midnite@ccgs.wa.edu.au
midnite.ccgs.wa.edu.au
#midniteytc
2024 SEASON
