Adelaide Festival show The Secret River will use Hills quarry as backdrop – WBNews

By Matthew Smith Updated February 12, 2017 15:58:34 Adelaide Festival show The Secret River will be staged in a quarry, but organisers warn that might force cancellation of performances if there is extreme weather. Workers have been busy preparing a stage at Anstey Hill and makeshift dressing rooms for next month’s show. Set designer Stephen Curtis said the production had its challenges. “As soon as you come outdoors to do anything, things become more unpredictable … but makes it exciting and a little bit more complicated,” he said. The Secret River director Neil Armfield is resigned to the risk the weather might pose. “We imagine there’ll be one or two performances that might be lost to weather, but we’ll deal with that,” he said. Back in 1988 another Adelaide Festival show The Mahabharata was staged, to critical acclaim, in another Adelaide Hills quarry. As well as setting up the stage and surrounds, the production crew has joined forces with national parks staff to strip weeds from a cliff face behind the stage. Curtis hopes there will be a mesmerising effect for the audience when the sun shines on the cliff. “They’ll be taking their seats in the golden hour when Australia is at its best … the western sun will just be slanting across the cliff as they’re taking their seats,” he said. Quarry ‘makes you feel small, humble’ Broome-based actor Ningali Lawford-Wolf loves the location. “It sort of makes you feel so small and makes you humble, this location,…more detail