Survive the Apocalypse!

Choose your own ending

A collaboration between Rhiannon Petersen and Michelle Aitken sees a virtual choose your own adventure where the audience becomes the protagonist in an apocalyptic world which is referential of our pandemic, climate crisis reality.

As part of the Creative Development program in Winter Nights 2020.

Hit the free activity button or click here to give it a go!

What is your development/work about and what happens?

Surviving the Apocalypse is about trying to navigate an apocalyptic world, but not an overly dramatic one – one where you still have to water your broccoli and try to find Fancy Feast so your cat doesn’t yell at you. It’s a digital choose your own adventure thread where you play the protagonist and attempt to survive.

How are you developing your work?

We’re lucky in that we’re not working on a project where we need to meet and rehearse in a physical space together. Our work is designed to exist online – the audience engages through making character choices and clicking on links that takes them to different bits of the story.

What are you excited about in this project, and what are you hoping to get out of it?

I’m currently in the research phase, but I’m super keen to get stuck into writing it.  I’m excited to have a go at making work in a new way, which exists in a different space, and has a different level of accessibility to theatre. Plus, I guess this is my contribution to the pandemic zeitgeist.

What are you exploring?

We’re investigating tropes of apocalyptic fiction, its significance within our current climate, and the portrayal of individualistic versus collectivist approaches to survival. We’re also exploring (as artists who predominantly work in live performance) how to make fun, lo-fi, online art.

What is your audience going to experience?

The adventure will be free to play, you just have to click on the link and begin! And it’s kinda up to you how you want to play it – whether you just want to follow one story tangent, or whether you want to go back and try to uncover all the elements of the work – whatever you feel like!

Who is in your team or involved, and what is their role?

I’m working with Michelle Aitken, who will write and construct the thread with me. We are also hoping to collaborate with some other artists to create different elements within the adventure, (there will be memes, gifs, and sound that accompanies the text).

A creative development as part of Winter Nights 2020
Supported by Minderoo Foundation