The Insomnia Project

The Insomnia ProjectFour individuals battle a sleepless night which leads them through a separate, yet shared, journey of fantasy, fear, loneliness and maddening exhaustion. Based on actual events, The Insomnia Project is an innovative, multimedia piece that aims to expose the harsh, and at times hilarious, truths about suffering from this disorder.

Statistics show, that 1 in 3 Australians suffer mild to extreme sleep deprivation and in our 24/7 lives we are increasingly becoming a ‘sleep-sick’ society. Insomnia and up to 70 other diagnosable sleep disorders, underlie up to 70% of visits to GPs in Australia.

Melbourne-based composer and director Natasha Moszenin has been living with insomnia since she was a teenager. Having tried psychotherapy, herbs, restrictive diets, and meditation, she decided to create a music-theatre work about sleeplessness and the related conditions that surround it; anxiety and depression.

Blurring the boundaries of sleep and waking as the characters give in to dream-like imaginings, desires and frustrations through spoken word, physicality and song. Lyrical, jazz-inspired songs invoke both the intimacy and solitude of the night. It is an exercise in survival watched over by the clock as it guides one on a journey of shifting phases through the darkness into dawn.

With a textural merging of light, shade, spoken word, motion and viscerally poignant music, you are invited to become immersed in the loop of tension and release and to consider the comedy and tragedy of the insomniac condition experienced by so many throughout the world. Yet there seems to be little sympathy among the general population for those who simply, cannot sleep, or who sleep badly.

Composer/Director: Natasha Moszenin  Featuring: Jai Luke, Claire Nicholls, Fiona Scarlett and Andi Snelling

The Insomnia Project
La Mama Courthouse, Drummond Street, Carlton
Season: 29 July – 9 August 2015
Bookings: (03) 9347 6948 or online at: www.lamama.com.au

For more information, visit: www.natashamoszenin.com for details.