Gene Tree: Listen. Now. Again
4 - 13 November 2022
Presented by St Martins in partnership with Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
‘Do we have to have hope to evolve?’
Leading audiences on an interactive performance adventure through Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, children and teenagers ask ‘impossible questions’ about evolution, adaptation and hope.
An ode to the planet, Gene Tree: Listen. Now. Again invites audiences into small moments: feet on the grass, back against a tree, face in the wind.
Music, rhythm and projections interlace with children’s stories of change and connection to nature. Part living sculpture, part call to attention, Gene Tree immerses audiences inside a chorus of children’s voices, dreaming futures together within the nooks and crannies of the Gardens.
Location / Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
Meet at the Visitor Centre
This performance takes place outside. Please dress for the weather and bring appropriate footwear.
Accessibility / This performance is assisted wheelchair accessible. Contact the Visitor Centre for further information.
Auslan interpreted performances /
Sunday, 6 November
Saturday, 12 November
Relaxed performance and access guide
Cast and Creatives
Performers / The Gene Tree cast comprises 14 young people from Congress, St Martins’ think tank ensemble aged between 11 and 17 years old, and 15 young people from Dandenong Primary School aged between 9 – 12 years old.
Concept, Composer, Musician / Elissa Goodrich
Director / Nadja Kostich
Producer / Lara Week
Associate Director / Katrina Cornwell
Set / Nature and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Lighting / The Sun
Production Design / Emily Barrie and Rachel Burke
Video Design and Dramaturgy / Michael Carmody
St Martins collaborating Artists / Amelia Ducker, Nicolette Forte, Maria Theodorakis and Alice Qin
Musicians / Rodrigo Salgado (double bass), Gideon Brazil (woodwinds), Leah Scholes (percussion) and Elissa Goodrich (percussion)
Production Manager / Rain Iyahen
Stage Manager / Zsuzsa Gaynor Mihaly
Technical Manager / Russell Goldsmith
Production Assistant / Millie Levakis-Lucas
‘We invite you to embrace silence, even in the midst of all this sound. Silence isn’t the absence of something but the presence of everything, it’s a way of paying attention.’
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australian Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. Gene Tree: Listen. Now. Again has also been made possible due to the contribution of the JumpStart! grant from VicHealth and an Annual Arts grant from the City of Melbourne.
St Martins also acknowledges the support we have received from the Besen Family Foundation and the Robert Salzer Foundation in funding this project.
