Access Guide
Everything you need to know ahead of catching our show at Festival Hub: Trades Hall
This is the relaxed performance & access guide for I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is), a new play premiering at Festival Hub: Trades Hall during Melbourne Fringe.
In this document you can expect to find:
- Event details
- What to expect in a relaxed performance
- Information about what you will experience during the show
- Information about the performers and characters
- Pictures and info about the space the show is performed in
- Information about Festival Hub: Trades Hall, the venue of the show
- How to get to the venue
- Support resources
- Contact details to provide feedback
We hope this is a useful resource for you and that you enjoy the show! :)
Event details
Performance Times
Wednesday 8th October, 8:00pm
Thursday 9th October, 8:00pm | Masks preferred
Friday 10th October, 8:00pm
Saturday 11th October, 8:00pm
Sunday 12th October, 7:00pm | Relaxed performance
Wednesday 15th October, 8:00pm
Thursday 15th October, 8:00pm
Duration
The show runs for approximately 60 minutes.
Venue
Festival Hub: Trades Hall - The Carpark
Corner Lygon & Victoria Streets, Carlton, VIC, 3053
What to expect in the relaxed performance
The below changes to the show will occur to accommodate for those with different needs and have been designed with a member of the arts neurodiverse community.
- The sound and lighting for the show is augmented to be a low sensory version of a standard showing.
- No lock out, people can come and go as they please.
- People can rock, stim, hum, pace, change seats, and come/go as they need/please.
- Audience can use support devices during the performance.
- A quiet room will be available in the venue.
- Extra front of house staff will be available to assist you.
Content advice
This play is about an end-of-lease house party, and is set exclusively in the bathroom. During the show, we watch five characters come in and out of the bathroom and interact with each other.
There’s no audience interaction at all.
Technical details
The show is lit with a variety of LED lights placed around the space. There may be some light bleed into the audience, particularly if you are seated in the front row.
There is only one blackout during the show right at the end which lasts for a couple of seconds before the cast enters to bow.
The sound for the show plays from a bluetooth speaker hidden in the set. It plays a mixture of local independent music at varying volumes, depending upon the content of the scene.
Because the venue is open to the courtyard, there is a lot of noise from people talking and drinking that you can hear in the space.
There are some sound effects used in the show to emulate the sound of a bluetooth speaker being paired, Spotify ads playing on a speaker, and a phone call being made.
Verbal details
The characters in the play discuss a wide variety of themes. These include suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, sex, assault, loneliness, misogyny, and a reference to a possum being hit by a moving vehicle.
These are generally discussed in a light joking manner the way folks in their early twenties do in private. There is no explicit descriptions of sex, self-harm, violence, or assault—only references to.
To request a copy of the script, please email ryan@ryanhamilton.work, and we’re happy to provide you with one ahead of when you see the show.
Visual details
The actors move around the space, occasionally sitting on a toilet amongst the audience, getting into a bathtub, or leaning on a bathroom vanity positioned amongst the audience.
There is one performer, playing the character of Luce, who appears shirtless in one scene. In another scene, they take their pants off for a quick moment while performing on the toilet, but are never completely nude.
Another performer, playing the character of Max, also pulls down their pants while performing on the toilet.
In one scene, a character (Sav) looks for a razor to shave with, but another character (Indie) thinks she will use it for self-harm. In this scene the two of them then fight to get the razor, and in the process the actor playing Indie will pretend to hit their head against the toilet.
There is fake blood used in one scene where the character Henry gets a nose bleed.
The actor playing Max mimes vomitting in the toilet during another scene.
There are a couple of moments where fighting is staged, and characters will use fake punches to pretend to hit each other.
The performers and their characters
Reuby Chip (they/them)
Reuby plays a character called Luce.
Luce is a blokey guy and instigates a lot of the drama in the play. The show is set in Luce’s house, which he is moving out of. During the show Luce begins wearing a costume like Woody from Toy Story, but ends up wearing a school jersey.
Ally Long (she/her)
Ally plays a character called Sav.
Sav is the younger sister of a character named Max, and has slipped into the party that Max and Luce are throwing. Sav wears a light coloured dress for most of the show, and sometimes appears wearing white feathered wings.
Mads Lou (they/them)
Mads plays a character called Max.
Max is one of the main characters of the show, and it’s at their house that the story of the show takes place, where they are hosting an end-of-lease house party. Max begins the show in one half of a Bert and Ernie costume, but ends up wearing jeans and a white top.
Jo Jabalde (they/them)
Jo plays a character called Henry.
Henry is Max’s boyfriend, and begins the show wearing the other half of a Bert and Ernie costume, and ends the show in more comfortable clothes.
Eliza Carlin (they/she)
Eliza plays a character called Indie.
Indie is a friend of all of the other characters, and wears a costume based off of Kim Possible during the show.
The space
The show is performed in traverse. This is a word used in theatre which means when the stage is in the middle of two seating banks which face each other.
Here’s a picture of what the performance space looked like during our tech rehearsal. You can expect that during the show there will be a lot more chairs.
The set
To imagine the full space, you can have a look at the technical diagram below.
In the middle of the space is the empty stage where the performance will happen. At the top of the diagram is a large white bathtub which will be used in the performance.
In the middle of the front row of seats on the left-hand side of the diagram, there‘s a toilet. This toilet is a part of the set, and the actors will perform while sitting on it.
Opposite the toilet is a set of drawers decorated to look like a bathroom vanity, with a sink and tap.
The seats
There are two types of seats used in each seating bank.
The front two rows will usually consist of a short wooden folding seat. This can sometimes be quite uncomfortable, particularly for people in larger bodies.
The back rows will consist of higher stools, which are a little more study and have a plastic seat on them, so are smoother to the touch.
Getting in and out of the space
Audiences will enter and exit from the bottom of the diagram above, where they will walk around the building to access the space. For folks using the accessible lift to access the venue, they’ll enter from the door on the bottom right of the diagram.
There will be Melbourne Fringe front of house folks there to help you the whole way.
During the relaxed performance
You’re free to move about the space as you like during the relaxed performance. However, we would ask you to stay within the general space displayed on the diagram above. Our actors are using a space that is not shown on the diagram, tucked behind a wall, to get ready and rest during the show.
The Venue
I Promise This Isn’t About You (Even If It Feels Like It Is) is performed in The Carpark at Festival Hub: Trades Hall. It is a real functioning carpark by day, and by night we will transform it into the venue for our show.
Service animals are welcome inside the venue.
To get to the carpark, you can expect to walk about 100 metres from the Festival Hub’s internal courtyard, through the Loading Dock Bar, down some steps, and out onto Victoria St. Then, you’ll be guided to Trades Hall Place — the lane behind the venue — and up a cobblestone pathway to the venue.
Volunteers will be available along the route to assist you if needed. Please don't hesitate to ask for help.
Wheelchair Information
The venue is wheelchair accessible, however the pathway to the venue is via a cobblestoned laneway. Please notify the Melbourne Fringe and they can take you via the lift and a ramp to the space.
There are accessible toilets available on the ground floor of Trades Hall.
Quiet Space
The Festival Hub will host a dedicated Quiet Space for Neurodivergent attendees to take a break from the festival’s hustle and bustle. The Quiet Space will be available every night the Festival Hub is open, from 5:30-10:30pm each night (4:30-9:30pm on Sundays).
Getting to the venue
Festival Hub: Trades Hall is located on the corner of Lygon Street and Victoria Street in Carlton. The main entrance is via Lygon Street where you will be greeted by friendly Melbourne Fringe volunteers during the festival.
Public transport
There are several trams (1,3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 78, 70, 109 and more) and bus stops (200 and 207 routes) nearby, two major train stations (Melbourne Central, Parliament) within walking distance and commercial parking options in the surrounding streets.
Each bus stops within a 5 minute walk from the venue. 220 and 223 stop at the front of venue.
Car drop-off
Accessible drop-off and pick up spaces via Lygon St, next to the front entrance.
Support resources
Support Act
A free phone counselling service for anyone working in Australian music and arts. You do not have to be in crisis to call the helpline.
T: 1800 959 500
Lifeline Australia
A 24 hour crisis support service.
T: 13 11 14
W: https://www.lifeline.org.au/crisis-chat/
Feedback
To provide feedback and ask any further questions, the best person to contact about the show is the producer who made this document: Ryan Hamilton (he/they).
You can email him at ryan@ryanhamilton.work, but he’ll also be at every performance of the show and is happy to chat with you.
If you have any questions about the festival, or venue access, the best people to contact are the staff at Melbourne Fringe. You can email them at info@melbournefringe.com.au.