Snow on Mars

First published on 8 Nov 2010. Updated on 5 Apr 2011.

In rural New South Wales, 12 year old Waylon (Rick Everett) dreams of becoming an astronaut and travelling to Mars. Living in a caravan park with his country-singing father (Elliott Weston) and grandmother (Deborah Kennedy), the trio travel from town to town as his father attempts to get a break. After writing to his hero, NASA astronaut Andy Thomas (Tom Burlinson), Waylon is encouraged to pursue astronomy and realises he can achieve his dreams and even travel to Mars if he believes in himself.

Directed by Gale Edwards, Snow on Mars blends the acrobatics of Cirque du Soleil with the storytelling of A Country Practice. Using music, video, choreography and aerial performers, it’s technically ambitious but writer Richard Tulloch had not provided a solid script to support it. The show elicited only a few laughs from the family-heavy audience - but the fast pace maintained by Waylon and his best friend Gabi (Danielle Jackson) was good fun throughout. Monica Connors

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Preview:

Waylon wants to be the first boy on Mars but his dream seems out of reach. Crippled with embarrassment about his brilliant mind, he has discouraging parents and no friends. For Waylon, getting into NASA is as likely as finding snow on Mars.

Acrobat Rick Everett is taking more than a decade off his age to play 12-year-old Waylon in the Theatre of Image's Snow on Mars. But he has no problems relating to the boy's social isolation. At 15, he was homeless on the streets of Sydney, eventually finding a de facto family in Wollongong troupe Circus Monoxide. "It was a case of circumstance - I never really decided to do it," says Everett. "As a kid I was naturally gifted at tumbling and I used to flip around my back yard and do really crazy things, and until I met the circus I didn't realise that you could make money out of it."

Running sideways along the walls and flying through the air, Everett crosses the rings of Saturn and jumps between planets in Snow on Mars. "Flight is a beautiful and lovely thing," the acrobat says, while confessing, "As a kid I was terribly afraid of heights. I probably still am but as long as I'm tied onto something that I can trust, I have no fear at all."

The show was conceived by Kim Carpenter, artistic director of Theatre of Image, arguably the best regarded children's theatre company in NSW. "The show is about heroes," Carpenter says, "which is why [writer] Richard Tulloch and myself contacted Andy Thomas, who is the only Australian astronaut now based at NASA. [Thomas's] real passion, that man's next step is to Mars, really excited us and that's what inspired the project."

Whilst preparing to play Waylon, Everett rediscovered his own fascination with outer space. "You're so obsessed with this stuff when you're a kid; you absolutely love it and think it's the greatest thing. But then you forget about it until something like this comes up and ignites your interest. Ever since my audition I've been looking into UFO sightings and space images on YouTube."

Everett is joined by a multi-talented group of actors with backgrounds in musical theatre, dance, physical theatre and circus. Their performance skills are embellished with lighting and projected animations to create a visual treat for any family looking for an adventure truthfully told. Natasha Gammell