After years of working in Road Train central, Kewdale, my office made the move last year to St George’s Terrace in the city. Seeing the city during the week changed my perception of it; it’s truly a hub of activity Monday through Friday before becoming a ghost town on the weekends. But amidst the sounds of whirring coffee machines and the clack of RM Williams, something still feels amiss, and frankly, eerie, about the CBD. Looking up and around, you can’t miss the barren shopfronts and dusty windows; they sit neglected, untouched for years on end. What if these buildings could speak? What stories would they tell of the life that once was?
The UP THERE team, consisting of William Gammel, Tay Conway, and Leah Robyn, have carved out a niche in bringing the stories of forgotten buildings back to life through their immersive walking audio tours. You might remember their last tour in Walyalup. In November they’ll present a new version of the tour, UP THERE (Boorloo), I spoke with the team again to chat about this new version of the tour and how their process has evolved.
Hey UP THERE team, thanks for chatting to Magazine 6000. Last time we spoke you were about to do a run of the walking tour in Freo. What did you love about that season?
Will: What’s not to love about FREO! This project is such a nice way to capture a snapshot of the community responding to the way the spaces and people around them are affecting them at a present moment in time. So for us it was so beautiful to meet all of these people that really wanted to engage with us and care so much about the Freo/Walyalup community. Then on the other side of that seeing the responses from the people that came to see the show from 50 year residents to people that have just moved to Perth or are passing through. People laughed, cried, got angry, sang together, listened, looked and after told their stories. It was just so nice to see how much the people of Freo care.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of the tour how does it work?
Will: Audiences will arrive at The Blue Room and will be given a set of headphones. From there we will lead them through the city while they listen to a tapestry of tales from past, present and future – straight from the POV of the community and people who have lived in and cared for the city for a long time. The city is filled with so many empty and underutilised spaces, that although empty are still teeming with life and untold stories, so we are hoping to bring some of those stories to life with the hope that people will start to make new ones.
Photography by Tay Conway.
Now you’re heading to the Boorloo CBD with this series, what appealed to you about this area?
Will: Boorloo CBD is really where the UP THERE Collective spend most of our time. We work, study, create and play through the streets of Boorloo. The idea of the show came from walking through these streets, looking up at the second floors of the shops and wanting to know what was inside. It was this curiosity to know more about this place we live in that drew us to ask the questions. On top of this, our city is empty! I could rattle off the stats but I don’t need to, you can feel it as you walk down certain streets. We are currently in a moment of transformation with ECU City and the Cultural Centre redevelopment to name a few. So we hope that in this moment of change, these stories we tell will help to spark conversations about how the rest of our city can be transformed moving forward.
How has your process of developing the walking tour changed between now and the last series?
Tay: The process has been very similar to our last walking tour. We’re very lucky that the process of making this show is aided by the community, who recommend more people for us to talk to and expand our network. We learned a lot on the Freo show, and we’ve finetuned our framework/process which means we could jump straight into the CBD version! However it has been different in ways because, for the Walyalup project, we did a development months before putting the show up, which meant we could reflect on the changes to the city we found in the months between developments. We haven’t had the luxury of that kind of timeframe (or funding) for this project unfortunately. The CBD also has a very different feel; very corporate, commercial and grungy compared to the laid-back, artistic, coastal vibes of Freo which is shaping the tone of the show into something quite different and interesting.
Photography by Tay Conway.
In a city, sadly filled with many vacant spaces and thousands of stories, do you find it challenging to narrow down what you’ll cover in the tour? How do you select what does and doesn’t make it into the final piece?
Tay: We do find it difficult! For the Walyalup version, a review said they would do a ‘three hour’ version of the tour, which would be great but that would lead to some accessibility issues and a lot of work and a lot of walking for us! Ultimately it’s really about logistics, for example, making the route as accessible as possible, and taking real care of audience safety. And at the end of the day, it’s also what draws us in during the research and planning periods. Some areas are more vacant than others so it makes sense to explore the hows and whys of their vacancies. Or maybe some places are more well known or iconic and so lots of people will have lots of stories to share about them. We really let the stories of the area guide us to create the route.
What reactions do you love to see and hear from your audiences?
Leah: I think my favourite reaction is the joy people have when the stories of the tour are reflected in the action happening in the area. For example, in the Walyalup version we spoke of the history of the Skateboarding community there, and sometimes skaters would ride past at the same time. Sometimes people asked us if they were actors! People loved to see the stories come to life.
Tay: I love when people recognise something from a story, whether it’s a place or event, a person or a voice. Seeing their nods, or turning and gesturing to their friends being like ‘oh my god, thats-’ etc. There was one show where two of our storytellers were in the audience, a father and daughter, and the audio had him saying some lovely things about her, and their reactions to it were so sweet. Also when people get to the end of the tour and would just organically start sharing their own stories and memories about the places we’d just been.
Photography by Gayle O’Leary.
A logistical question, how far are we walking in this tour? Will I be clocking in my recommended 10k steps?
Tay: We’re still adjusting and fine tuning the route but we do know for sure that you can expect and prepare for around an hour of movement during the show. The walk will be slow and meditative however, so hopefully we’re not tiring anyone out! We do our best to keep the tour as accessible as possible, and find lots of opportunity for rest and seated reflection.
Can you give us a sneak preview of what’s next after this series?
Tay: We don’t have anything set in stone, but we are so keen to tour this show regionally. Stay tuned!
UP There (Boorloo) is running from Nov 4-20.