“The Disappearances Project is sobering stuff that would draw compassion from the hardest of hearts, and you can only hope it will never happen to your family”. ALEXA COETSEE, PERTH NOW
“...The Disappearances Project is a compelling piece of theatre, unorthodox enough to generate unwavering interest yet believable enough to be deeply relatable. In the final blackout, the fraction of a second’s hesitation before applause signified the audience’s lingering entrenchment before surfacing for breath. There’s no substitute for witnessing genuinely original live theatre; what a privilege!”. COURTNEY J PASCOE, AUSSIE THEATRE.COM
“The performance used a deftly sympathetic interweaving of complementary elements: the live narrators, frozen in time and space; cinematography, relentlessly searching; the music score and
sound design, underlying the growing emotional intensity of the piece. The backdrop of the backlit projector screen was used as a light source, as well as to provide dynamic scenery and to convert the performers into silhouettes. The images moving across the screen were never quite in focus, small town, suburban, urban Australian streetscapes, creating the mood of relentless, never-ending searching. [...] The performers’ control was staggering. Moving barely a muscle and with only subtle changes in the intensity of light, their tone of voice alone took us from one character to another. Indeed, Gregory and Taylor took us out of the theatre, the intensely personal and direct nature of the monologues transcending a traditional idea of script and placing the audience as intimate listeners. Monotony was avoided by frequent change of pace, the narrators taking up roles in each other’s stories, directly interrogating each other over details, but most often telling the tale as it unfolded in tones which suggest they’re trying to impose a structure on chaos, to convince themselves that it will all make sense in the end.” NERIDA DICKINSON, ARTSHUB
“...this is a classy production, finely tuned and respectful to its audience. Version 1.0 is regarded as Australia’s preeminent political theatre ensemble, and this piece is an example of how simplicity can be powerful. The creators have all done a sublime job in constructing such a well thought out production”. COOL PERTH NIGHTS.COM
“The direction by Taylor and version 1.0 founder and CEO David Williams, along with Frank Mainoo’s slow, precise lighting plot, gives the production the punctuation, restraint and intelligence it needs to fully realise its material… This is far from a bleak production, despite its painful subject. I can’t recall an hour in the theatre going by more quickly, driven by the poetry of the text, the quality of the performances and the sounds and images in which they are framed”. DAVID ZAMPATTI, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
“These are the stories of people riddled with confusion and doubt… Paul Pretipino’s dense and unsettling soundscapes accompany a sparse production and heighten the stress, tension and the sheer frustration that comes with not knowing being exhibited in the dialogue”. DAVE DRAYTON, THE DRUM MEDIA
“Illuminating, immensely moving theatre”. DIANA SIMMONDS, STAGE NOISE
“...it’s a work that lingers in the mind and some of its impact is derived from our own fearful projections, the inevitable “what if”. But The Disappearances Project is also a quiet plea for action that could help so many in this scarcely imaginable predicament: the inflexible application of privacy laws, bureaucratic inertia, the lack of a dedicated channel for these kinds of inquiries in welfare and mental health services… [A] spare, beautifully crafted and moving work…”. JASON BLAKE, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
“Version 1.0 is known for its playful, slightly subversive take on the documentary theatre genre, but this time they have adopted a different approach, which [Yana] Taylor terms “documentary minimalism”. This means that the work is short (under an hour), the venue intimate (audiences are restricted to 100), and the aesthetic restrained (there only two performers onstage and they do not so much play characters as simply “re-speak the words of others”)… Of course, Version 1.0 is not just drawing on the public record but, in a way, contributing to it too. Though these souls have disappeared, Version 1.0 is assuring that their stories don’t”. CAROLINE WAKE, TIME OUT
“…this is an exceptional offering from one of Australia’s most exciting theatre collectives”. TRISH ROBERTS, CONCRETE PLAYGROUND
“Version 1.0 has established and continues to consolidate a niche in documentary theatre that is valuable and instructive, without being didactic or patronising. It also supports and exemplifies a truly democratic model: an ostensibly egalitarian ensemble, that creates performance through collaboration. As they put it, “investigating and enacting democracy.” LLOYD BRADFORD SYKE, CRIKEY