ESA presents 'The Chrysalids'. In a post apocalyptic world, society has formed a new dictatorial religion. Any non-conformists are banished into the wastelands where loneliness and death are rife. Students from all years make up this talented cast.

‘The Chrysalids’, by John Wyndham, is ultimately a story of how friendship and love can still form in the most trying and oppressive of environments. The place in question is a barren dystopia set 200 years after a devastating nuclear war in which mankind has established a singular and unbending ideology , 'The Norm'. In this new religion, any sign of difference in the form of post nuclear mutation or 'moral' deviation from the strict dictums of the faith are met with banishment or death.

Banishment in this food deprived age is as close to a death sentence as is possible to imagine or though many that have been exiled have banded together to form a new tribe, the fringe people. From this strange and dangerous world, young David Storm must navigate his radicalised and violent father and a society that lurched too far into authoritarianism.

“I have been so impressed with how ESA students have thrown themselves so imaginatively into this world building and we are all looking forward to sharing our work with live audiences.” says Director Andrew Mallen.

“It’s a lot different from what the school has been doing from the past few years; It’s a lot darker and a lot more edgier… but yeah I think it’s very interesting and it covers a lot areas within kind of what the future holds.” - Lucas Y13

Production Manager Jayme told ESA that “The biggest challenge in the production was having no budget due to Covid. We had 0 budget and a lot has been taken from skips and little places where we could find stuff…junk that would suit the show but we couldn’t have made it look this good if we would have bought it.”

He continues to explain that the highlight of the show “has been working with my crew. They have been really supportive and very professional with their roles.”

Communication Manager Jude talking about the production and his strategy to get ESA students talking about the show “The reason why I decided to put an installation in was to set the filed within the college before the production to get people to question what is about, since it’s a pile of scrap and used materials.”

Jude posing with ‘The Chrysalids’ installation

‘The Chrysalids’ has been such a creative and engaging brief for all departments at ESA. The aim of adapting such a great work of fiction has certainly been a challenge both in generating a script and then physicalising in set, props, makeup, sound design, costume and acting, a world that reflects our own but is also alien and original.

Producer Emily Adamson said “The Chrysalids has been an epic project to work on from start to finish. The design - inspired by films such as The Road, Max Max, and Book Of Eli - has been an incredibly rich world for our Production Tech students to build. It's a world where there's no water, nothing grows, and we haven't seen anything green in hundreds of years; just dust, rubble and remnants of the old world slowly disintegrating. Our drab conformists are the natural inhabitants of this place, practically blending in to the bleak landscape, a stark contrast to our punky, toxic-coloured mutants who offer some vibrance and hope. It's been such a joy to work on this wild project and has been incredible to have such a huge team comprised of students from all years and disciplines.”

The Chrysalids might seem like an unusual choice for a Christmas show but is ultimately a celebration of the human spirit and that is something we have need to remember in these difficult times.

ESA welcomes you to join us the night of 8th and 9th December. It's sure to be a thought provoking and visually dynamic production.

Get your tickets here: Ticket Sale

Enjoy the show!

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