By Brett Ludeman 

Touring Ginger Tomorrow to Melbourne Fringe was a surprisingly long process, in hindsight. This was due to an adaptation to the script. I had been creating work for around a year before this piece and I was starting to develop an understanding of a ‘Bendigo' audience, although, when I sat down to recreate for the Fringe Festival, I found I also understood a lot about a metropolitan audience.

There were several parts of the piece that would be affected by this shift. One was the timing of the piece. The story was running at approx. 1hr23min. This was to be shortened to 1hr. It's not as though the audience had a lesser attention span- they didn't- it's just they appreciate a much tighter story, with no chance to relax or breathe until the end. Cutting a script is reasonably easy when you've viewed it on a stage before. You're able to pinpoint specific moments of importance and climax. Unfortunately, it's always sad to say goodbye to particularly beautiful moments or characters who are cut out completely, as they serve no greater purpose in the big picture.

The stage space is halved, in Melbourne. This is critical to the stage-play and props, as they are without the same freedom. The solution is firstly for the actor to rehearse with a smaller space to familiarize themselves with ways to retain power without the ability to run across the stage, or fill the empty space with a scream. Secondly, the set must be recreated to accommodate for the shrinkage of the stage.

The major affect the shift has had, is the bump in and bump out time frame. A usual production is expected one week of full time work to set a full stage for the audience. The crew will be given 30 minutes for the setting of Ginger Tomorrow. The result: No assigned set, an almost ‘primitive' lighting design, and no realistic time for the actor to bond with the space.

We are currently working on ways to mould the story around these restrictions, but we're confident that the restrictions are actually opportunities, to re-create a story with its own foundations and strengths.

Will Ginger Tomorrow succeed?

Only October 13^th and 14^th will tell.