Feet First Collective
Feet First Collective
FFC specifically makes uncompromising high quality independent theatre.
Our goal is to tell brutal and beautiful stories that engage our audiences with provocative form and content.
Feet First is about bold, brave ideas that encompass artistic development for the members of the collective and challenging experiences for audiences.
Feet First uses theatre as a magnifying glass to focus on stories and themes that have urgency and contemporary resonance.
Feet First Collective: We make theatre from the ground up!
Feet First Collective was founded in 2015 and has a studio space in Fremantle, Western Australia. FFC is known for its larger scale immersive works Frankenstein, S-27 and MEDUSA and its finely etched miniatures This Is Where We Live and Shadow Boxing which toured to Melbourne Fringe in 2022 and Sydney Fringe in 2023 respectively to critical acclaim. FFC recently remounted Shadow Boxing for Perth’s FRINGE WORLD and won a prize in the Theatre and Performance category.
Company Members:
Artistic Director and Creative Producer: Teresa Izzard
Vocal Performance Coach and Dramaturg: Donald Woodburn
Associate Artist and Associate Producer: Samuel Addison
Guest Artist for ‘Medusa’ and ‘Shadow Boxing’: Bec Price
Guest Artist for ‘Medusa’ and ‘Shadow Boxing’: Christian Lovelady
Publicity by TRPR: Tracy Routledge
Production Photography ‘Shadow Boxing’: James Dove
Board Members: Donald Woodburn, Ross Mackenzie and Eadmund Izzard
Reviews of FFC Productions:
★★★★1/2 "Addison is a phenomenal performer and he acts what is essentially a 50 minute monologue with emotion and heart. It’s a compelling performance by an actor at the top of his game."
(Laura Money on ‘Shadow Boxing’ for Fourth Wall Media)
“Any solo, one-man show is an impressive feat. Add in boxing, skipping, push-ups, and 50 minutes of rigorous storytelling, and that’s a superhuman ability. I don’t think you’ll find another piece of theatre this polished yet gritty in this year’s Fringe program."
(Holly Ferguson on ‘Shadow Boxing’ for Magazine 6000)
★★★★ “Shadow Boxing is gripping from beginning to end. I was struck by the sheer physicality of Addison’s performance – he covers every inch of the stage as he nimbly delivers his lines while jabbing at opponents, both real and imagined.”
(Jeffrey Disney for Out in Perth)
★★★★ “… a raw, vivid and exciting piece of theatre.”
(Helen Hopcraft on Shadow Boxing for Arts Hub)
“Simple staging, a terrific script and a sensational performance – if boxing were this good I’d be at every bout.”
(Paul Gilchrest on Shadow Boxing for Theatre Red)
★★★★1/2 " Feet First Collective has created an unforgettable experience of immersive theatre in MEDUSA, which is sure to inspire an array of innovative creative endeavours." (Nanci Nott for Arts Hub)
'I’ve never seen the full three storeys of The Rechabite Hall so brilliantly used for a single performance.
(Jay Darroch on MEDUSA for Magazine 6000)
★★★★★ " …. a sharp script rendered intense by Beeton and Addison’s high-octane performances.” (Laura Money for The Fourth Wall on This Is Where We Live)
★★★★★ " … the impact of the inevitable conclusion is a tragic gut-punch delivered by a powerful group of theatre makers." (Laura Money for The Fourth Wall on This Is Where We Live)
★★★★1/2 ” On a bare stage, two young actors play out a story that bleeds… [they] … are extraordinary… ”
(Vicki Renner for Arts Hub on This Is Where We Live - Melbourne Fringe season)
★★★★1/2 “…this is a taut, relentless and powerful production from a very accomplished company.”
(John Wells on S-27 for Adelaide Theatre Reviews)
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/FeetFirstCollective
https://www.instagram.com/feetfirstcollective/
Engaging with the intuitive spark of an idea.
COLLABORATE
CREATE
Excavating this idea through movement, text and image.
CONNECT
Sharing the experience, offering the potential for transformation.
Inaugural Production:
Frankenstein: Some Assembly Required
Image credit: Joseph Dennis
"God? Monster? Which are you?”
Descend into a world of creation and destruction in this contemporary re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s 200-year old classic. Venturing through the haunting, intimate rooms of Fremantle’s iconic Moores Building the audience becomes part of this interactive ghost story that brings to life Shelley’s gods and monsters. Your journey, through eerie spaces and intimate encounters, will merge the Gothic great with a contemporary experience of the ‘other’.
Enter Frankenstein’s laboratory.
Become his witness.
His conspirator.
His creation…
The world premiere of this original work commissioned by the Moores Building Contemporary Arts Gallery was part of the curated 2016 Fremantle Festival. An ambitious, immersive production inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein: Some Assembly Required”, was an art exhibition by day and an immersive theatre experience by night. This debut production for Feet First Collective was supported by City of Fremantle, Fremantle Festival, The Moores Building Gallery, Moore and Moore and The Hayman Theatre Company.
“Heading to the Moores Building I didn’t know what to expect. I knew there was audience participation and I was looking forward to immersing myself in Mary Shelley’s world. The play did not disappoint! Right from the opening wedding scene I felt engaged and included; a feeling that didn’t leave me until the electrifying finish. Special effects in both lighting and sound, great direction and use of movement through a number of rooms along with professional performances by all of the key actors made the show a real highlight. The show had drama, intensity, humour and thought provoking messages.” (Jackie Hunt, Teacher on Frankenstein)
Our Productions:
“Frankenstein: Some Assembly Required” Created by Feet First Collective (2016 Moores Gallery / Fremantle Festival)
“S-27” by Sarah Grochala (2019 Fremantle Arts Centre / Fremantle Festival and 2020 The Mill /Adelaide Fringe)
‘MEDUSA” Created by Feet First Collective (2021 Fremantle Arts Centre - Work in Progress showing whilst Artists in Residence)
“This Is Where We Live” by Vivienne Walshe (2022 Girls School / FRINGE WORLD 2022 and TheatreWorks / Melbourne Fringe)
“The Flower that Fell from the Sky” by Heloise Wilson (2022 Co-production with Little y at The Blue Room Theatre)
“MEDUSA” Created by Feet First Collective (2023 The Rechabite)
“Shadow Boxing” by James Gaddas (2023 Emerging Artists Share House / Sydney Fringe and 2024 The Jonesway Theatre / FRINGE WORLD)
Engaging with the intuitive spark of an idea.
Current Project: Shadow Boxing
Current Project: Shadow Boxing
Feet First Collective presents:
Shadow Boxing by James Gaddas
★★★★ “… a raw, vivid and exciting piece of theatre.”
(Helen Hopcraft on Shadow Boxing for Arts Hub)
EXPLORE THE SEXUALITY, MASCULINITY, VIOLENCE AND VULNERABILITY OF THE BOXING RING!
Shadow Boxing by James Gaddas is a challenging solo work that explores masculinities, sexuality, violence and identity. It looks at how human beings create their own fights, both inside and outside of the ring. We meet Flynn late one night after he has made the courageous decision to take back the respect society has ripped from him. With minimal props and set, performer Samuel Addison shares with us what brought Flynn to this decision, and his journey to accepting his identity as a gay man within the hypermasculine world of boxing and demanding the respect he deserves back. The character Flynn allows us to delve into the paradoxical nature of humanity. A paradox Gaddas distils through the metaphor of hands: which can be used to create, hold and caress, or to beat, pound and destroy.
About the play: James Gaddas wrote Shadow Boxing whilst in Australia in 1989 in response to actor David Field asking him to write a solo work. Gaddas was inspired by the fact Field’s father had been a boxer. Its Australian premiere was in 1994 at The Stables Theatre, Sydney and it toured Australia over the next couple of years including being the inaugural production of the Tamarama Rocks Surfers. Described as “fast paced and physically intense” (George Nott for the Watford Observer) and “haunting [and] poignant” (Beverly Bronnert for Weekend Special), it has been performed widely; including at Edinburgh Fringe, the Brits off Broadway Festival and the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2021 a streamed version produced by Room 15 Theatre was part of the United Solo Festival. Playwright Gaddas is also a British stage and television actor.
Critics in Perth and Sydney had this to say about Shadow Boxing:
★★★★1/2 "Addison is a phenomenal performer and he acts what is essentially a 50 minute monologue with emotion and heart. It’s a compelling performance by an actor at the top of his game."
(Laura Money on ‘Shadow Boxing’ for Fourth Wall Media)
“Any solo, one-man show is an impressive feat. Add in boxing, skipping, push-ups, and 50 minutes of rigorous storytelling, and that’s a superhuman ability. I don’t think you’ll find another piece of theatre this polished yet gritty in this year’s Fringe program."
(Holly Ferguson on ‘Shadow Boxing’ for Magazine 6000)
★★★★ “Shadow Boxing is gripping from beginning to end. I was struck by the sheer physicality of Addison’s performance – he covers every inch of the stage as he nimbly delivers his lines while jabbing at opponents, both real and imagined.”
(Jeffrey Disney for Out in Perth)
★★★★ “Addison deserves the utmost admiration for the sheer scale of his commitment; it was one of those occasions where an actor threw everything at a role.”
(Helen Hopcraft on Shadow Boxing for Arts Hub)
“Another contender for Sydney Fringe best actor awards … the emotional blows and lows hurt even more than the physical ones. Not to be missed.”
(Chuck Moore reviews about on Shadow Boxing)
“Samuel Addison as Flynn is superb … he delivers a performance that is high energy and tremendously physical while simultaneously utterly at one with Gaddas’ brilliant words.”
(Paul Gilchrest on Shadow Boxing for Theatre Red)
“Simple staging, a terrific script and a sensational performance – if boxing were this good I’d be at every bout.”
(Paul Gilchrest on Shadow Boxing for Theatre Red)
