For the Ones Who Walk Away

My utopia has no ground, everything is just sky...

What would make you abandon immeasurable happiness for a world that promises nothing?

For The Ones Who Walk Away explores an ethically complex question asked by writers, philosophers, artists, humanitarians and ordinary people throughout the ages: do we accept the happiness of the majority, at the expense of the few?

From the company that brought you The Bacchae and Gonzo, St Martins’ latest work takes over Siteworks, Brunswick, inviting audiences to roam its many rooms in search of the traces of the ones who walked away.

Children grip the audience’s collective hand and bring them into an investigation, a physical metaphor of mystery, philosophy, healing and contemplation. Placed within a global conversation, this is an urgent and prescient new work.

Drawing on the traditions of promenade theatre, installation and live performance art, For The Ones Who Walk Away invites audiences to take part in a rite of passage. Led from the familiar into the unfamiliar, they will encounter a series of events—odes and testimonies, song and spoken word, choreography and video.

With text by Daniel Keene, Ursula K. Le Guin and the St Martins Ensemble, For The Ones Who Walk Away was developed throughout 2017 in intensive workshops across St Martins’ five sites—South Yarra, Northcote, Dandenong, St Albans and Prahran, and features a cast of over 50 children aged between 9 and 18, collaborating with a team of multi-award winning creatives.

Concept and Direction Nadja Kostich; Associate Director Luke Kerridge; Dramaturgy and Video Design Michael Carmody; Set and Costume Design Emily Barrie; Composition and Sound Design Jethro Woodward; Lighting Design Richard Vabre; and Associate Artists: Stefan Bramble, Kat Cornwell, Harriet Devlin, Lyndsay Marsden, Joana Pires, Ahmarnya Price and Gabriel Collie, Fostin Nshimirimana, Josephine Pelman.

Unique in Australia for making work specifically for adult audiences by children and teenagers, St Martins creates bold and disruptive performances. Recent works include Gonzo, The Bacchae, Fitter. Faster. Better. and Banjos, Boots & Beyoncé (a different kind of bush dance).