A head-on smash between music and theatre, Highway Rock ‘n’ Roll Disaster examines the relationship between pop music and the imagery that makes it sell, and the associated imagery that it recalls from our own lives. Like a collection of music videos performed live mixed with an energetic concert, Highway Rock ‘n’ Roll Disaster creates a dirty world of electroclash, couture fashion & electric guitars. Nine “tracks” form a concept album mixing vivid imagery, personal memory and hardcore rock. We grew up, ravenous, on a diet of MTV; in Highway Rock ‘n’ Roll Disaster they take a closer look at just what was on the end of the fork.
The starting point for this work was a collection of popular music, formed from songs that each member of the ensemble had a strong personal memory attached to. These songs and their attached memories served as a springboard for the creation of completely new music, text and imagery, brought together to follow an almost dream-like logic, where an engaging emotional tone is juxtaposed with unexpected, vivid imagery.
The Border Project ensemble both act and perform new musical compositions and soundscapes include vocals, drums, keyboards, guitar, viola, saxophone, electronics and sampling.
Premiere season at the 2006 Adelaide Fringe Festival at Higher Ground.
Return Adelaide season in 2007 as part of the Adelaide Festival Centre’s iNSPACE program.
Sydney season presented by the Sydney Theatre Company’s 2008 Wharf2LOUD program.
| Direction & Set Design | Sam Haren |
| Performed by | Katherine Fyffe, Cameron Goodall, David Heinrich, Jude Henshall, Andrew Howard, Amber McMahon, Paul Reichstein, Andrew Russ, Alirio Zavarce |
| Musical Direction | Andrew HowardAndrew Russ
Cameron Goodall |
| Lighting Design | Geoff Cobham |
| Costumes | Area 101 |
| Design consultant | Mary Moore |
Photography by David Wilson
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“An experience on a new level that breaks the conventions of theatre… interminable and brilliant”
– Gideon Anstey
Brag Magazine
“Marketing products need to be interrogated, and it’s especially satisfying when the process is as fun and energetic as this.”
– Stephen Dunne
Sydney Morning Herald
