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[0:10] Josh Mitchell: And we've packed our bags once again and we've headed back to Gander because Come From Away is coming to Sydney.

[0:16] Josh Mitchell: Actually, by the time you guys are listening to this, previews will have started. So get your tickets, because we'll touch on that later on where you can get them. But today we are talking to Emma Powell, who plays Beulah and others in CFA Australia. Hey Emma, how are you going?

[0:30] Emma Powell: I'm very well, Josh.

[0:32] Josh Mitchell: I am fantastic. I'm so excited to be talking about Come From Away again.

[0:36] Emma Powell: I know. Isn't it wonderful?

[0:38] Josh Mitchell: Such a fantastic show. Um, and for anyone who hasn't seen the Australian tour yet, last chance. Get your tickets because you are not gonna want to miss this whatsoever. Um Emma, do you want to give us a quick rundown on Beulah?

[0:55] Emma Powell: Uh yeah. Um, so Beulah is she's actually the character in the show is uh a real person. I mean they're all real people in the show from Gander and Come from Away, but she's actually made there's actually two women who have become the Beulah that I play. So um the Beulah in Gander, she runs um uh the Gander Academy, which is the school. Uh and she basically it's where I think she housed 700 people in her school in, you know, on the basketball court, the classrooms and in the cafeteria. Uh and she's kind of like that person that when there's um a problem or you're in crisis, who will just make you food and who will sit you down and get you a cup of tea. You know, she's that she's the maternal kind of that the womb of the place if you get my drift.

So it's sort of she's that she's that person you go to for a hug or to have something organized. So and she's pretty, you know, she's pretty, she loves a good joke, she's not real good at them, but you know, she's just salt of the earth, you know, everybody's auntie. Do you know what I mean? It's like or grandma, basically. Um showing my age, but um, yeah, she's just she's one of those really good country folk, basically.

[2:19] Josh Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Um you mentioned real people, uh, and you've actually got to meet the people that this character is based off. So a bit different from regular musicals, where it's usually text or historical figures reached what's it like to actually get to pick the brains of these people who went through this to help develop that character?

[2:43] Emma Powell: It was wonderful and strange and daunting and awesome all at the same time. Normally, you know, when you opening night in a show is the most nerve-wracking or nervous that you'll be. But the night that they all came, they arrived in Melbourne. This was originally when we opened it. They arrived in Melbourne a few days before, and we hadn't met them yet, and then we found out they were in the preview that night. And we were beside ourselves. We were so nervous and we were so anxious and also excited to have them in the audience. Um, and they came on stage afterwards, which wasn't going to happen, but they did anyway. It was just wonderful, and that's where I met um Beulah and Diane, who uh who Beulah is based on, and it was kind of like everything clicked into place in terms of the script and the score and the work that you know we'd been doing on our characters.

It was like everyone, everything went, oh right, okay, I see. You know, it was um and it was just it was kind of as I said, it was just kind of like meeting my auntie or meeting a mate or, you know, just really fa I mean they've you know they've they went to the New York opening, they went to the London opening, they've been everywhere. You know, they're they're kind of stars, you know, they're absolute stars uh back home in particular in Newfoundland, but they're just so grounded, wonderful. And you know, I love a drink. Who doesn't? Um we're just like we've got to open in a week we can't keep coming out with you. But yeah, just really really great people. And yeah very it was daunting. It was really really daunting.

[4:21] Josh Mitchell: Yeah. Did you pick up on anything after meeting them? Did you change anything subtly or do you have a pretty good um representation? Like did those conversations click anything into place where you just slightly adapted a way you presented something?

[4:41] Emma Powell: Not really. I think, you know, with the six weeks of rehearsals that we'd done um with the creative team you know they asked us to interpret these roles ourselves. Like you know that we're not doing a version of these people. So at its core, we had the core um values and the core ideas really solid by the time we hit the stage. So it really just confirmed what we'd done for the last six weeks really. Nothing changed as such. It was all very um it was all pretty solid. And you know the creative team, I mean they're incredible and they've been working on this show for such a long time they get it you know but they did say you're not doing an interpretation you do or you're not doing them you're not playing them you are doing your interpretation of this character within this show that that's come from a real person so it's yeah um yeah it just sort of solidified that we're all and that we're on the we were on the right track that I was on the right track too that was really nice.

[5:28] Josh Mitchell: What was your experience with Come From Away prior to being cast and starting to rehearse the show?

[5:28] Emma Powell: Absolutely nothing. I had no idea what it was. Um, uh someone had said to me I think maybe a year before auditions came out they'd heard that it was coming and they went oh you should go for Come From Away and I went great no idea what you're talking about um but I'll look out for it and then when I heard that it was a show you know Canadian I thought and it's got an accent that isn't just Canadian and I thought to myself oh well it'll be like French Canadian right I had no idea that there was this this place northeastern tip of Canada that um had Irish in there. I have no idea and so when when the brief came out and you know they sent some information on the on on the accent and I was just what's happening in my brain I was like what's I don't un I don't understand this which everybody felt pretty much um and even I went to a dialect coach for the auditions and she'd never had to do a Gander accent so or Newfoundland accent, so she had to research it.

And you can't just type into YouTube Newfoundland accent, right? So it doesn't just really doesn't come up. Um so in that sense, and I had no idea what the story was either. And it was such a beautiful, beautiful story, um, because I had researched that obviously and it kind of just reminded me of you know what we do as a community during bushfires here and floods and things like that. It was a very similar had had that sort the generosity and um but I also was a bit like a 911 story. Huh how's that gonna go here you know the elevator pitch a lot of people hear and that's what to do for buying tickets. They're like oh 911 yeah bit dark no that type of story it's definitely the there's obviously we have to tell the story of what actually happened and why the yeah but it's more about the the community and the sharing the love side of things than the distress.

It's more of a universal uh theme it 911 is simply the context in which this happened it's a bit like the French revolution for example um you know like these stories of these people um they could happen in any in any context you could put you know as I said it could be a bushfire it could be a flood it could be so but as you say the elevator pitch and I think that's why this show does so well once we're into the run of the show because it's it's such a word of mouth show because people might say oh 911 not sure about that but people come to the show and then they bring people back and then they you know it's like this and it just starts to build and the audiences get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger and caught in it and then it just spreads.

[8:52] Emma Powell: And it's quite funny. Like there's a there's a lot of humor in this show, and people go, What? And I know, but but and and also as Aussies, that's how we cope too, right? Like we we do. We're really good at sort of um, you know, joking to get ourselves through a difficult uh crisis and difficult situation. So it yeah, it does um it does enjoy a good long run so that we can sort of build um build that what about and you know people just keep coming back and bringing people. It's beautiful, yeah.

[9:25] Josh Mitchell: Yeah. Getting the 9-11 side of things, what was your personal experience? What did you remember from that? Taking going into the room and having to kind of relive all of that.

[9:38] Emma Powell: Well, my it was I was doing Mamma Mia in Melbourne, and it was a Tuesday night. My daughter was being looked after by my sister at her house, um, because my husband at the time was in Sydney doing show. So I was on my way home to pick her up via my sisters, and I had the radio on and there was something on there that something had happened in New York. I was like, Oh, I don't know what's happening. Picked her up, got home, turned the telly on. It was Sandra Sully, and you know, the twin towers were burning. Well, only actually only one at that point. I rang my husband at the time and I said and he said to me, the Pentagon's been had a plane gone into it. I said, darling, that's the World Trade Center, it's not the Pentagon.

And he said, No, it's the Pentagon. I said, It's not. We were there a few years ago, blah blah blah. Anyway, he'd been watching another station, obviously. And then up came the double thing of the Pentagon. And I was like, Oh my gosh, it's both. So um when we went into the rehearsal room, we spent uh a morning or an afternoon or even the whole day, sort of talking about our 9-11 experiences. And we had a couple of um actors uh from the US who were in the room, and their experience was quite different to ours, obviously. They were quite young at the time, but it's still incredibly like what one of our actors couldn't they couldn't get on to his auntie. And it really was that thing of what are we at war?

What's like what's happening? And I think there was quite a lot of emotion in the room when we talked about it because it was um it changed the world. Yeah, you know, it ch it changed the world, and our response, the West's response to it changed the world as we know it, and so we did spend quite a lot of time talking about that that response and the fear that it kind of instilled in us that it had touched us that way. Because I think you know, the West we'd been fairly untouched, you know, and then suddenly there we were, but um, so yeah, we did we did spend quite a bit of time talking about that because that is such an important part of the piece, is about people's vulnerability at the time and how you know communication went down, they didn't know where they're why they were flying in, they didn't know like most people didn't know it was happening. They're like, We've heard something, but we don't know what it is, and then how that then translated to how they dealt like yeah, quite a quite a deep conversation about about that time, yeah.

[12:15] Josh Mitchell: I feel like that is kind of why the show like you can you could see the show in London in New York and Australia and get a slightly different interpretation because the story means different things over the world because the way people perceived it, obviously through media, but also distance and everything like that. The the actors uh felt different things and bring that to the stage differently.

[12:41] Emma Powell: So something I hadn't thought about with this show.

[12:43] Josh Mitchell: That's definitely interesting.

[12:46] Emma Powell: Yeah, yeah, it is. Getting to share the different perspectives on stage of this story though, because it's not just Beulah's, it's the other minor characters that you flip between throughout the show. Um getting to flip those scenes and play multiple characters sharing this story. What's that like getting to flip between characters?

[13:10] Emma Powell: Well, I mean now it's sort of uh it's in the body, it's muscle memory, it's mind memory, it's it's all it just sort of clicks. But originally, yeah, we had to really sort of embody, you know, one moment you're embodying one character having a certain response and then next thing like seconds later you're embodying a different a different character.

[13:34] Emma Powell: So yeah, we really had to shift that focus. Um and often it didn't work. Like I, you know, I play my two, um, Beulah, who is my main, I spend most of my time as Beulah into Dolores, which is a New York woman at the back of the plane who created quite the hubbub, and there was literally a person who had claustrophobia and created quite a lot of hubbub on her plane. Um, and that's me. So, and I remember in the dialogue I just couldn't do the New York accent. I just kept going into the Irish, you know, Newfoundlander accent instead of, you know, the sort of New York accent. So yeah, really, I don't shift as much as others. Um, there's a couple of people in the show who shift quite a lot and spent a lot more time in their secondary character.

Yeah, um, and I really, I just, you know, they're incredible how they do it. Um, and also there's like a physical change, like it's like a, you just change, you, I mean, there's different ways that you can do it. You can do it via accent, you could do it via imagining yourself in that position, or you can make a physical change which can just change how you then, how the role then, you know, is physically in the world. Yeah, um, but yeah, I mean, you know, there was a lot of work to be done from everybody to inhabit those roles. Um, but the show itself, not only in the roles, but we go from direct address to the audience to being in a scene to direct address to being in a scene to, you know, so there's a lot of, there's a lot of, let's say, acting gymnastics, I suppose you call it. It's very much, you know, you have to be really sort of pliable and elastic while you're doing it.

[15:29] Josh Mitchell: Yeah, 100%. What's the biggest thing that you, um, as an actor, have learnt through this experience with this show?

[15:29] Emma Powell: Oh, how to let things go. Um, because, you know, it's live theatre, you're gonna make mistakes every now and again, right? You're gonna be tired, or you know, you might fluff a line, but you might trip over something, and we, you know, we bash ourselves about that, you know. We go, oh, oh, that's no good. But with this show, we just have to keep going. So you have to put, because then otherwise it affects the rest of your performance if you're hanging on to it. In other shows, often you can go off stage, do a costume change, have a bit of a rah moment and let it go. But this show, because we're on stage all the time, you know, you don't have that moment to decompress. Yeah. Um, so I've learned a lot about that.

I think too, a lot, most of the roles I've done have been kind of the funny sidekick or the comedic role. So I've, you know, um, Beulah's, you know, quite funny in some moments, but you know, she's got this, I've sort of been able to, at 53 years of age now, I'm sort of doing more dramatic work, which I really enjoy. Um, so that's been a real focus for me and a challenge as well, because, you know, it's not easy to be funny, but that's kind of my shtick, you know. That's sort of what I've done in the past, and that's what I'm known for. But being able to balance that with some really, uh, really nice, I'm not blowing smoke, but, um, you know, the show itself is a beautiful dramatic piece as well. So, um, to be able to tell that story, you know, and be in the moment, be present. That's the other thing too. Yeah, I've had to learn.

[17:22] Josh Mitchell: You've got to tour with a ton of amazing shows that have come through Australia. Kinky Boots, which is where we first met, um, Mama Mia, you said. Comparing those shows with like audience reactions to Come From Away, what's that like? Like obviously people, yeah, all the shows are great, but I feel like this show has a lasting effect. Um, like it really makes you think about certain things after you leave. Um, so getting to hear audience reactions and that type of thing, what's that been like?

[17:58] Emma Powell: It's pretty extraordinary actually. I mean, I feel like, you know, the business that I'm in is, you know, can range from being a distraction for people, like you go in and you get entertained for, you know, a couple of hours, uh, and that's great. Um, and then there are other shows or experiences that people have in a show that does change something intrinsically about themselves, or at least a seed will drop in. I mean, Kinky Boots was a little bit like that too. Um, but Come From Away, the responses we've had from audiences are things like, like people at Stage Door, for example, things like, I forgot that we can be good. Yeah. As humans, we actually have goodness in us. Um, it's a bit of a me kind of world, so it can be, and I think that it just taps people in.

I mean, people, I mean, the mask wearing has been difficult that the audience in Melbourne, they, this second time round wearing masks and then again in Brisbane after lockdown. That was difficult because we can see the audience quite a bit during the show because we do direct address and, uh, the fourth wall is well and truly kind of down in that respect. And it's amazing how much we can't see in terms of their, or we can see eyes, but without the rest of the face, it's been an interesting thing for us in terms of what we can see. But, you know, people just in tears of joy or sadness at certain points or just moves people, I think. And you know, at the end when the majority stand up and there are people who will go, thank you, thank you.

You can, they're just reaching out and going, thank you, thank you, you know. And I, and that to me is a good 110 minutes worth of performing, you know, like that's, you know, I hope that it does, um, make people realise that we can, we can be good, we are good, you know. As humans, we are, we do have that capacity, everybody has that capacity. If a little town in Gander, Newfoundland can do it, then we can all do it. We've all got that capacity.

[20:14] Josh Mitchell: Yeah, I love that. Um, speaking of 2020 and the lockdowns, how did you go with dealing with kind of getting taken away from the show and getting taken away from work and everything like that? And how did you process those months off?

[20:30] Emma Powell: Um, I think initially, you know, I think initially everybody was a bit kind of, whoo, I'm gonna do exercises and I'm gonna bake bread and I'm gonna, you know, I think everybody was sort of, um, trying again, trying to see the fun side and the interesting side of it. And it also felt a little bit like normal in between gigs too, where when you're in between gigs, you don't go out much because you don't have the money, so you don't go out anyway, so just at home and waiting for the phone call to say, here's a gig coming, or there's an audition. But the longer it went on, and the stress of going, oh money, what are we gonna do? Um, and then the understanding that dropped in that was like, oh, what we do is live.

What we do requires people to gather. This is a nightmare. Yeah. And it was just, we could not project when or if we were ever gonna get back. And then in September, so Melbourne was still kind of in semi-lockdown, I think, in September, and the second one, um, and that big one, and we got the news, I think in September, that we were gonna be back in January in Melbourne, and I went, we won't. We so won't, you know, it just didn't seem in Melbourne, you know. I was like, oh, see you in Brisbane, you know, like it's not gonna happen, like in my head, and maybe that was a protection thing, not to get too excited. But as it got closer, and then, you know, the new people started rehearsing, it's like, oh, maybe, and then we did a New Year's Eve sort of, um, filming, and I went, oh, maybe, and then we were there on the 2nd of January rehearsing, and we just couldn't. I mean, we did lock down during the run, but we did it, and people came to the, because that was the other thing, like we could rehearse it, but are people gonna come?

Are people gonna feel confident in coming to a theatre and just sitting next to each other? Granted, with a mask, so there was so much, yeah, it's just like we don't know it. There's so much don't knowness. I didn't, um, that's not even a word, uh, I didn't really do much during that whole year. I was creatively really dry, and I know a lot of people did some incredible work. Um, but it sort of knocked me for six a little bit, I think, and it made me go, oh, is this what I really want to do when I grow up? Maybe I should do something else that if we have, if we have another pandemic, then I'm not gonna be out of work, you know, like all of those things which I wasn't alone in feeling like that.

[23:12] Josh Mitchell: Um, so what about you? How did you, I was doing, what did you do?

[23:17] Emma Powell: So I started, I was, I started a podcast with Six the Musical at the start of twenty twenty.

[23:24] Josh Mitchell: Oh right, right.

[23:25] Emma Powell: Lockdown kind of kicked that picked up 'cause everybody was at home. So I kind of own little bubble doing podcasts and talking to people about a show and kind of recreating that moment and we were going deep into things like challenges and certain moments in shows. So it was kind of like reliving the show for an hour every week, which was great for me. And I was putting myself back in there and then at the end of the year I got to that point where I was like exhausted. I was just like, I need to take a couple of months off and got everything ready and that's where this show came from. Um, yeah, I was like cool by that time Frozen was open in Sydney so I had gone back to a theatre and gotten that excitement back and then I came back to see you guys in Melbourne.

So it was just, it was a very weird time like 'cause I was living in my own little bubble talking to people all over the world and creating this kind of little moment of yay and then looking at the outer world and being like 'cause I got stood, I got made redundant from my job and everything like that as a travel agent. So like it, I know pretty much similar like, oh my god, is this really what, when's travel gonna be back? Like what's going on? So yeah, um, yeah, like a similar thing like obviously different industry but very similar experience in a way. Um, and that leads us perfectly into the next question, getting back in the room with everybody, yes, and getting those creative flows back together knowing cool we're going back on stage, we're gonna have an audience. What was that like getting to pop that balloon?

[24:43] Emma Powell: I think when we first came back in the room, which was actually to rehearse the New Year's Eve, the John Farnham Foreman, uh, New Year's Eve telecast, which kind of came out of the blue, but we were doing Welcome to the Rock and this, that day that we rehearsed, there were so many tears. Like the moment we saw each other, the moment that we did the, we just, Luke, our, uh, musical director, he basically said, hey, how about we just sing it, see what happens, right? See what happens. And as soon as that boop started, we just all went, oh god, sing. I got Zoe Gertz was the worst, she was just like all the time, she's like, oh no, I'm off again. Um, first time we got it on its feet, so there were a lot of firsts, right?

And, and something was a little different this time round, you know, like particularly the theme of this show, which is about community, it's about doing for others instead of yourself, which is what we'd just come out of. Everybody, you know, people were doing things to make sure that we could all get back, you know, and it was with that sort of energy that was brought into the space. Um, you know, my line in the show, one of my first lines is, um, that morning I'm in the classroom. It's our first stair back. So, you know, the first audience that I did that to was pretty special because the first audience was made up of a lot of returns from, you know, fans. Yeah. Who were just like, I'm coming, I'm coming.

So that first show was pretty special, really special. And it was a preview, but it doesn't really matter where it sits, uh, it was really special and we, we did a family and friends, which was, I think it was 500 people as well. That was, that was the day before the first preview and Danny, our director and Ricky, our choreographer from the US, they did a bit of a talk beforehand and they'd done this, they'd written it down because they knew that they'd cry.

[27:21] Emma Powell: And they did because of course New York when were they coming back? You know we were the first we're the first for a lot of these shows. And because of that it was kind of exhausting too because we were just all like oh god crying at this crying at that crying at this crying with gratitude though too you know absolute gratitude that we were there and gratitude for and because I was in Melbourne which sorry to the rest of Australia but it's kind of Come From Away spiritual home in a way and you know having come out of that second lockdown and then back into performing it just felt like the perfect place and time to do it. And yeah, so a lot of gratitude because a lot of our friends weren't working and they didn't know when they were going to.

So yeah, we were we were it was and it has a different feel now for sure. And it's that thing of being in the present going, we don't know, we could get locked down tomorrow. Yeah. You know, I'm in Melbourne, maybe in one shortly, but we could. And so let's just enjoy the moment that we're in, you know. Um but yeah, stepping back, I mean our bodies were a bit like, what are you doing? You've been sitting for seven months. What are you doing to me? Yeah. That's you wanna you wanna what? Like okay. Yeah, it's like I don't want to see another chair in my life. Well, I've been sitting on one for seven months and now I've got to move them. I don't understand. Yeah, so we were um yeah, we it took us a little while to get show fit, but yeah, it was um yeah, a lot of firsts, which was even though we'd done it before, if you know what I mean.

[29:07] Josh Mitchell: One of my favorite character to character um kind of interactions is the relationship between Beulah and Hannah. How did you go with Cherice and kind of work on that relationship? Because it's one of the more pinnacle relationships, I think, in the show um that's underlying right until the very end. Find out what goes on. Um so delving into that side of things and having to make that connection um and create that relationship on stage. What was that like?

[29:43] Emma Powell: Um, well, I mean, we we connected off stage immediately anyway. It was just we both kind of um not long into the first round of rehearsals, we were like, Oh yeah, we're gonna get along, you know, and um which I think was a great start, you know, like it's have a have a great relationship off stage as well. Um but certainly the on stage uh you know there's a joke that she does at the end and I laugh and we hug. And I said to her recently w uh when we came off, I said that my laugh, every show is genuine because you make me laugh. There was there's something you every time it's a bit different and you do something and and it just I'm actually genuinely laughing at you. I'm not pretending to laugh, which you know, uh eight shows a week for this long is pretty cool that that every time I'm just like you know, oh that's funny.

Um, same line, everything, but there's just something about her. Um and also too, I mean, she's um I mean I'm a mum and so I can kind of I guess uh I have empathy with Hannah, the character of Hannah too. Um and Beulah is as well. So I think that's where that that comes from. And I think they meet their match in a way because Hannah is she's strong, you know, she's she's trying to get get through to talk to her son and she has a go at Bueller and then Beulah's like, Oh yeah, that was the wrong thing to do. But they kind of give as good as they get. And I think um I think it's that as mothers, um, these two characters connect on that level, you know, and I think that that's I think that's at its core what it is.

And they and they to this day are such good friends. Yeah. They're absolutely like the real um Beulah and Hannah are just still incredibly, incredibly close friends um so I think that's where they they kind of connect in those moments but also personality wise they're still that they sort of they kind of um they're a bit like a magnet you know when you put it the other way and it kind of goes and it doesn't quite meet but it's still perfect you know it's such a great feeling that isn't it it's that little not quite but but then when you turn it it goes snap together. So it's it's a little bit like that you know I love it. Yeah it's a beautiful thing to sort of work through with her as a mate anyway to have those moments so sometimes you know I'm not gonna give anything away but in that last moment yeah I I find it very difficult to disconnect as Emma to what's happened.

Yeah it gets me every time and when you look like every time further into it it's just like once you know the history behind it and what happened you just like as well um after you see it like a second time and everything like that.

[32:45] Josh Mitchell: Yes. As Beulah what is your favorite moment in the show?

[32:49] Emma Powell: Oh wow so many um I have to say I I love sitting and watching Colby Kindle do the Bob um his I call them his stand up routines because they kind of are and he's so good and he's so funny. I just love sitting because at that point we're just sitting on stage watching and I just love it. I just love how he does it I love what he does. Yeah, I love you know him and he's just so good. I also really really really like um Somewhere in the middle of nowhere um when we're headed home. Yeah uh that's really beautiful and kind of bittersweet too, you know, um going home, but also that it's that was an experience I don't ever want to forget, you know. So it's it that's a really really lovely moment. And I'm an animal lover, so Bonnie with her animals at the end, is love that. I think they're my favorite, yeah. Just there's so many cool moments in this show, and I know, right? It's hard, it's a hard question. Do you have any favorite moments in the show?

[34:03] Josh Mitchell: Screech in is just Oh, yeah, that's fun. As soon as that picks up. Um there's just so many. Like I know, right? That's a hard question. I think my favorite thing about the show is the roller coaster of emotion. You go from being all excited to being put back in your seat and almost crying to being picked up again and then going, like you go from screeching to me in the sky, and it's just like uh oh, okay, like wow. Uh emotion, and then you get to the end of the 110, we're nearly as exhausted as you guys, because we're like, what am I supposed to be feeling right now? Like, oh my god. Um I think that's my favorite thing, is just how well the show flows and it's not cutscene, cutscene, cuts.

[34:50] Emma Powell: Do you know what I love about it is that you know, in terms of uh theatrically, is it treats the audience with respect because it says, Okay, we're gonna tell you a story. Now, some of it, most of it will be chronological, some won't. We're gonna do it this way, and then we're gonna do it this way. And it says to the audience, we know you're gonna come with us. We know you can, right? We we're not gonna spoon feed you yeah you know this is you get on the ride um and we want you to not participate that's the wrong word because there is no audience participation but you know it really just does say to the audience we you know we got you you got us let's go you know it's a relationship and um and that's what I love about it is that um and people don't get lost yeah exactly that's what either I was like you don't need clear in a way that you don't need a blackout to process that scene like no go from one scene to an X back to back and not need that 30 40 seconds to be like oh my god that was yeah it it's just very surface level easy to follow really nice to pick up on but with really but it's doing something as well at the same time dynamic so dynamic yeah yeah yeah and I yeah I think that that's the beauty of it and also the audience is kind of feeling what happened then because you know they went for five days straight with very little sleep yeah so so the show goes goes goes goes goes goes goes goes goes so you have that you have that effect of that's why um it's great that it's one act because it doesn't stop so it doesn't stop and there's very few moments in the there's only three three applause moments you know for that reason as well because like no we're going we're going we're making toast, we're we're giving the person some clothes, we're putting someone up in our house, we're checking on the thing.

Oh, there's a baby over here, okay, blah, you know, so it it's that it's that sense, and we feel that on stage too. Like it's that one to the next to the next to the next to the next. And then at the end, when we sing to you, you are um here at the start of a moment, we are like passing the baton to you, to the audience. It's like we've told our part of the story over to you. Yeah. When is when have you had to do this? Do you you know, this is your we're gonna give you this sort of um we've given you our experience and now it's yours. You know, and I think I think that's what that's why we get the response. We go back to the our conversation about the responses, is that there is an absolute relationship with the audience.

They are they are the other character in the room, you know. They are just as much a character as Chair Seven, you know, like or uh as as we are, you know. Um and it's that invisible umbilical that you can feel with an audience too.

[37:54] Emma Powell: Yeah. It just you just know, you just you go like we'll come off from a show and go, oh, or during a show and go that you can just feel it. You feel that that energy like Yeah, that a that elastic that's joining us together.

[38:10] Josh Mitchell: Well, Emma, that brings us to the end of the episode.

[38:13] Emma Powell: Oh no.

[38:15] Josh Mitchell: Um guys welcome. If you haven't seen Come From Away, even if you have, it doesn't matter. Um go back, come back. Um what date do you guys start? Is it June 8?

[38:25] Emma Powell: Uh 10th, we open, um, and the third is our first uh first Sydney show.

[38:33] Josh Mitchell: It's a preview, but it's our first Sydney show, and we've been trying for a year to get there.

[38:38] Emma Powell: So the one company's company.

[38:41] Josh Mitchell: So like Yeah, beautiful. It's gonna be a really cool vibe. I know there's the triple B seats in, so there's gonna be no orchestra pit, so it's gonna be like pretty much sitting on top of the stage if you're down the front. But it doesn't matter where you are, guys, you're gonna have a wonderful experience. So make sure you head to comefromaway.com.au forward slash tickets right now to purchase your tickets and get there. I'm gonna be there multiple times. So if you see me, hi. Um but we will be sharing this story uh this week and next week. We've got a line of trainer coming on next week's talk from a stand perspective. Um we're back in Gander, and I could not be more excited.

[39:20] Josh Mitchell: Um to wrap things up, Emma, for anyone sitting on the edge of their seat being like, oh, 911 musical. If we haven't convinced them by this point, what's your final sales pitch to those people?

[39:33] Emma Powell: Okay. Good question. I want to say you won't be disappointed, but that doesn't that doesn't cover it at all. I think particularly with um what we're going through now. I feel like if you want your heart to be touched and to have a good old laugh as well, come. If you want to have an experience, a live experience with this beautiful story, um, come see it. Come see it. You won't, yeah, you won't regret it. You won't. You 100% won't regret it. Money's worth.

[40:07] Josh Mitchell: 100% agree. And guys, that is where we're gonna wrap up this week's episode. Thank you for joining us, and we will be back next week with a brand new episode of the We Are Theatre Podcast. Bye.