Afterburner specialises in productions hybridising installation and live performance. Other major productions have included
Fission,
Nag, and
The Cell Trilogy, which included
The Singularity and
The Telescope.
The Cell Trilogy Between 2001 and 2008, afterburner created and presented a trilogy of work about astrophysics and human nature.
The Cell Trilogy included
Man on the Moon (2001),
The Telescope (2002) and
The Singularity (2008).
The Telescope involved composers Sebastian Morgan Lynch and Steve Gallagher present on stage while their music interacted with light and the performers' actions. When presented at the FUEL Festival, reviewer William Peterson described it as fitting in with the New Zealand tradition of theatre practice of "a willingness to cross interdisciplinary boundaries".
The Singularity was written and directed by Miranda Manasiadis, from an original story by Miranda Manasiadis, Roberts and Jason Whyte. The actors were
Danny Mulheron, Jessica Robinson,
Rose Beauchamp and Jason Whyte. Set design was by Roberts, lighting design by Roberts and Rob Larson.
Dark Matter Afterburner's 2016 production
Dark Matter contributes to a small number of performing arts work in New Zealand that centre creative work by lighting designers "as a work about light". A review in
Theatreview compared
Dark Matter to works by
David Lynch, in part because "the tension...never lets up for the full 45 minute performance" due to the darkness and the sound which "menaces and rumbles"; in other words, the tension makes the audience part of the piece. The production
Dark Matter won two
Dunedin Fringe Festival awards in 2016, and Best of Fringe 2017 in the
New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington.
Dark Matter was also featured in the 2018 Dunedin Arts Festival and at the 2019
Prague Quadrennial as a virtual reality exhibit. Designer and critique Sam Trubridge places
Dark Matter amongst the work of other
lighting designers in New Zealand such as Tony Rabbit, Marcus McShane and Helen Todd (and her work with
Lemi Ponifasio), who treat light as "an art form that is expressive in its own right"
. Fission Fission, produced by afterburner, was performed over five nights in March 2019 at the
Allen Hall Theatre, telling the story of
Lise Meitner, who discovered nuclear fission but was overlooked for a Nobel Prize despite being nominated 48 times. It was an arts and science collaboration by theatre-makers and scientists that had a focus on process and learning. One of the frameworks of the project was a "bicultural performance process", and the project investigated connections between science and
mātauranga Māori. There were a number of workshops with reflection, research and meetings in between. The first workshop was in December 2016 with Rua McCallum (theatre-maker and Māori researcher), Megan Wilson (dancer), Roberts, Anna van den Bosch (technician),
Hilary Halba and
David O’Donnell (theatre directors) and scientists
David Hutchinson and
Dr Ian Griffin. Other collaborators were added to subsequent workshops. At the time of the 2019 production
Fission the team of 19 theatre professionals held 19 awards between them. A summary of the research in the creation of
Fission is stated in a paper published in
The Theatre Times: In this work, a scientific theory such as quantum entanglement can also become a dramaturgical and aesthetic principle.
Fission also demonstrates the considerable potential of collaborative devised theatre in opening up connections between Indigenous knowledge and scientific theories. (2020 – Hilary Halba and David O’Donnell with David Hutchinson, Rua McCallum and Martyn Roberts) == List of past productions ==