There are performances that entertain, and there are performances that transform. Fusion Theatre’s The Weathering, directed by Darcy McGaw and Jo Raphael, does both – inviting its audience into a world teetering between collapse and renewal, where art becomes an act of endurance, empathy, and collective strength.
Based in Dandenong, the company has assembled one of its largest and most inclusive ensembles to date featuring 26 artists both with and without disability – who have woven together a piece of theatre that is as bold in its vision as it is generous in its spirit.
The diversity of the ensemble is not simply represented; it is celebrated, shaping the creative process in ways that make The Weathering a truly original and deeply human work.
Emerging from a year of creative development, the performance takes “weathering” as its provocation – exploring the forces of climate, time, and survival, while reflecting on how we, too, weather the storms of our lives.
Meeting weekly in workshops, the ensemble has distilled these ideas into a genre-defying fusion of physical theatre, original sound, projection, and puppetry. The result is a production that defies categorisation: part poetic meditation, part visceral experience, wholly unforgettable.
Under McGaw and Raphael’s sensitive and inventive direction, The Weathering moves fluidly between chaos and calm, mirroring the rhythms of the natural world. Bodies surge and recede like tides; voices rise through the wreckage. What might have been a bleak commentary on climate crisis instead becomes a radiant testament to human resilience.
The technical elements are both imaginative and resourceful. Under Justin Heaton’s evocative lighting, recycled plastic sheeting become clouds one moment, and rolling waves the next, while a collection of mismatched chairs form multiple uses. Umbrellas, handled with deft choreography, morph into canvases for exquisite shadow puppetry – simple objects made profound through creative alchemy.
A major strength of The Weathering lies in its live music. The (mostly) original live score by Ross Attrill and Lilith Becker is a living, breathing presence on stage. One of many highlights was the hauntingly beautiful, The Weatherlings, featuring music and lyrics by Attrill, and sung with luminous conviction by Suzanne van Rooy.
What sets this production apart is its courage. It refuses easy binaries of despair or hope, instead finding power in the messy, mutable space between. Through movement, voice, and image, The Weathering reminds us that to weather is to adapt, to endure, and to transform.
The Weathering is a bold, boundary-pushing work: a poetic act of resilience, regeneration, and radical inclusion – it’s the kind of theatre that reminds you why live performance matters. Fusion Theatre are to be commended for this beautifully moving work.
The Weathering
Theatre Works, 14 Acland Street, St Kilda
Performance: Thursday 16 October 2025
Season: 16 – 18 October 2025
Information: www.fusiontheatre.com.au
Images: Fusion Theatre presents The Weathering – photos by Darren Gill
Review: Rohan Shearn