The Story:

Six years on, Michelle is telling that story. Weaving the tale of their adventure at the end of the world in 2020 with snapshots of sitting together while Eileen reached the end stages of the disease in 2022. Audiences are invited on board the ship, to the dance party amongst the icebergs and into quiet rooms where things beep too loud.

Michelle is going to tell the story with laughter, dance breaks and a silly hat (because that is what Eileen would do). She’s going to tell you about her grief. She hopes that at the end we’ll all feel less alone.

Everyone is welcome on the journey. BYO life jacket. The first 3 rows may get wet. 

The Stage:

This project is being designed with a self-contained performance structure, which would allow a performance to pop-up anywhere there is a (mostly flat) piece of ground. It will be made of scaffolding pipe, with a central platform that raises and lowers through the show to create different scenes.

This project is in R&D at the moment, the story is still being written and the performance style is in development. Part of the planned process is to discover how audience members can be invited to move the platform, bringing the audience into the story.

The Storyteller:

Michelle is an actor, physical theatre performer and storyteller who has been making shows and creating characters since 2014.

As a performer she has toured her own work across Australia & the UK shows including HOLEPUNCH (2014), LUSTER (2015) and A MODERN GUIDE TO HEROISM & SIDEKICKERY (2018). She has also performed with companies including Reallynice Arts, She Said Jump, The Bureau of Silly Ideas, Netfilx/Mycotoo, Dank Parish, Boomtown Festival, Vulcana Circus, Woodford Folk Festival and Wilde Applause Entertainment.

As a writer she has had her playscript for A MODERN GUIDE TO HEROISM & SIDEKICKERY published, and has worked on projects for The Chronic Love Dispensary (EVERYBODY LOVES A PARADE) and with cirucs artist Rebecca Solomon (SECONDHAND CHILD). She was also long listed for the Thousand Island Screenwriting competition.

Michelle believes passionately that the best stories get everyone involved, she loves bringing her audience into her work, either by dragging them on stage to puppeteer a second character or asking them to suggest endings to the show halfway through. Her work is marked by her instance that we are all telling a story together.

Previous Reviews:

“This performance is a sweet, sweet thing, full to the brim and overflowing with charm and sass. The script is clever and polished, chockers with witty side comments and a bit of audience interaction for the cherry on top.”

– Isolated Nation (Perth)

“if this show’s writing was a superhero I would intentionally get myself into dangerous situations just so it could save me. Great attention has been paid to the narrative, to the tying up of plot points. Zahner’s words have a matter-of-fact poeticism to them: they captivate the mind, lift you up, play with imagery and metaphor in a most delightful manner. Her descriptions of being ordinary are so powerful you can tell they come from an honest place. And yet Zahner transforms the ordinary into something extraordinary, all via language.”

– OUT in Perth

“Michelle’s great strength is her willingness to lay herself bare, to be completely vulnerable to an audience and she wears her awkwardness with an elegance which makes even the most ungainly among us feel like a prima ballerina or Parkour disciple. A master of comic timing”

– Fringe Review (Edinburgh)

Previous Work: