AUTO-TUNE

ABOUT THE SHOW

Mistakes, superpowers, teen drinking, Silverchair

Set in Wagga Wagga in the early 2000s, the raucous work of “gig theatre” follows Michael, a teenage Silverchair fan who discovers he has a strange superpower. The same way auto-tune technology perfects pitch, Michael finds he can time-travel, auto-tuning his life to rid it of dumb statements, awkward pauses and cringe jokes. But when this music-mad weirdo makes the biggest mistake of his life, will his auto-tune superpower save him?

Told through an audiovisual set of fresh indie songs and live video captions, this innovative and genre defying performance feels like discovering your new favourite band on the side-stage of a music festival. In a pitch perfect world where algorithms seem to be the answer, AUTO TUNE is a fifty-five minute romp into a messy, sweaty universe that proves otherwise.

AUTO-TUNE is a play-text that is written entirely in lyrics. It’s a set of 17 banging songs - a weird mix-tape of genres and flavours. Its big dramatic question is: What is the value of a mistake? 

AUTO-TUNE is a regret-filled love letter to millennial culture - Nokia 3315s, teen drinking, Limp Bizkit and questionable decision-making. The show, like all of re:group’s works, finds a unique theatrical form to tell the story. It’s essentially a live music gig, with some theatrical flourishes, that uses eclectic and energetic songwriting to weave the narrative. They even sell their own band shirts and vinyl at a merch desk afterwards.

“re:group prove they are the most exciting performance collective working in NSW at the moment...an absolute must-see”

REVIEWS

“AUTO-TUNE was like a fever dream, a complete mess, a catastrophe of sounds and sights, of laughs and lows, a riotous party full of cultural cliches and rock anthems. And I would 100% see it again.”
- The AU Review 

“This is a brilliantly inventive, totally engaging piece of theatre.”
- Theatre Red

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCE

Audiences respond to the mix of nostalgia, raucous energy and emotionally impactful storytelling. They enter the theatre to see a set-up that recalls a corner stage at a bar - drum kit, amps, keyboard, red curtains.

The work begins with an introduction by musician Ashley Bundang, who inducts the audience into the surtitles projected above the stage and says that “Wolfman will be out here any minute”. Her and another musician, Snowy, then climb onstage, feedback whines and a cacophonous introduction is played - as the shadow of a wolf’s head appears on the back curtains.

As the music crescendos, Wolfman enters and hypes the crowd. From there a set list of songs take us through the initial narrative. Each word appearing on-screen as it is sung, as a kind of expressive lyric video or caption. Michael - our main character - learns mid performance of a Silverchair song at school assembly that he has a superpower. Every time he makes a mistake, a portal appears, and he can skip back in time to correct it. We learn that Michael mostly uses his power to try and win the heart of his crush – Brooke Torrini. The only problem is, Brooke starts going out with his best friend and bandmate - Andy. With the performer standing on the bass drum, Wolfman/Michael sings of how after kissing Brooke at a share house party, Michael’s auto-tune superpower deserts him, and, driving home drunk with Andy in the car, Michael crashes. Killing his friend, with no portal for a do over.

The second half of the narrative deals with the fallout from this event, and Michael’s desperate, decade-long effort to try and correct his mistake and ‘make it mean something’. The songs traverse hyperpop, hardcore trap, country jangle, cabaret and post-rock, culminating in a disastrous performance back at their old high school, where Brooke Torrini now works as a drama teacher, having unwittingly booked Michael for an anti-drink driving performance for students as Wolfman. 

Towards the end of the show, in a brilliant theatrical trick recalling The Prestige, it appears that the performer really does travel through a portal, suddenly blinking out of existence in the middle of the audience and appearing back onstage in an instant. Eliciting gasps of disbelief from the audience.

The show concludes with a scene between Andy and Michael in the car as they drive towards the tree that killed him, finally having an honest conversation about the value of auto-tune technology in music, before the band plays one last song together—one of Andy’s—about a sad, lonely wolf.

The audience leave the theatre space past our merch desk, where the performers are selling long sleeve band tees, vinyl records, hats and cassette tapes.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

re:group performance collective is an independent theatre company comprised of dear friends who work together to make “live cinema” and contemporary performance. They are Mark Rogers, Solomon Thomas, Malcolm Whittaker, Steve Wilson-Alexander and Carly Young. They are based between Sydney and Wollongong and take inspiration from the highs and lows of pop culture to make their theatre projects.

Acknowledgements: AUTO-TUNE was commissioned by Sydney Opera House and further developed with the support of Brand X, Crush Collective, Intimate Spectacle and the University of Sydney’s Department of Theatre and Performance Studies.

Production Photography Credit: Ravyna Jassani