June 17, 2025 • 10 mins
Troy Rainbow speaks to Subculture about The Door In Question - his new immersive theatre production.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Well, listeners, we've got something very very special to talk
about today. We're going to be talking about a brand
new immersive theater experience called the Dora in Question that
is happening in Footscray in Melbourne. At the moment, we'd
thought to find out a little bit more about the
Door in Question, we would actually get the brainchild of
it on the phone to chat a little bit about it.
Welcome to the program, Troy Rainbow.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thanks for having me. I'm definitely a child. I don't
know about a brain.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So Troy, tell us a little bit about the Door
in question. For our listeners out there who might be
interested in going along, tell us a little bit about
what they actually experience with the Dora in Question.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, okay, So yeah, it's an interactive mixed reality theater
piece that takes place across three basically three different locations.
It starts in a disused more and then there's a
part where you walk to another occasion in foot screen,
(01:03):
So in that sense, you, yeah, you get to experience
a different different parts of the suburb with narratives that
are sort of linked in. And I suppose yeah, it
plays a lot between between the virtual part. So the
virtual reality and physical reality and a lot of interactive
(01:24):
ops and fun things like that in between.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So I understand that this came from a very personal
place for you as well. Tell us a little bit
about that journey of putting the door in question together
and where that idea first came from for you.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, So it's yeah, the themes around it. It explores
sort of psychosis from from within, I suppose, and that
comes from a really personal place, being that my mother
had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and I myself have had
(02:00):
some experiences with psychosis. So a lot of the I
suppose formative material was when when my mother died, I
found a bunch of her writings. I mean I had
a bunch already, but I found a bunch more in
her flat and sort of sat on those things, thinking
(02:20):
I've got to do something with this. This is like
the writing is so Yeah, for me personally, it was
a you know, it was an insight into the other
side of the wall that I'd been subjected to. But
thinking about it more, you know that because she was
very articulate but also so fractured. So it's just a
really I suppose point in way to like explicate what
(02:45):
madness is so Yeah, in part that I'm driven by
by that desire to sort of I suppose represent her
as well as Yeah, just have through that sort of
fascination and what others can glean from it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And I'm kind of interested as well. Where did your
fascination with XR and VR technology come from as well?
That was that something that you've always been into, Like
was this was this how you wanted to present this
all along? Or did that change as well?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It was It was a bit of a coalescence sort
of thing. Like my main sort of artistic background is
is music and composing as well as some film and
video video art sort of world. So around the sort
of I don't know, the twenty seventeen, I think when
(03:41):
the sort of the second wave of virtual reality popularity
was coming about, that's when I started doing I did
some sort of live AMBI sonic concerts with people performing
in virtual reality headsets. And I was already sort of
still teasing over what to do with these writings, as
(04:03):
I mentioned, and then it's yeah, it just dropped and
it you know, it became clear that between you know, madness,
potentially it exists between a quote unquote virtual space and
a quote unquote real space. So it's Yeah, the fascination
isn't so much with the the technology itself, like, it's
(04:25):
how that technology can be deployed in a way that,
you know, you explore the edges of reality.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, and how long did it take for you to
put this together? From concept to opening night? How long
did it take for you to put all this together?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
This particular version. Yeah, I was writing through last year
and it's it's an iterative project. So I've done it.
I've done it in a very different way before, and
so it was sort of building on, building on that
what I learned in And yeah, it's got together, you know,
(05:04):
through artistic networks, got together a team of I can't
even count now there's around thirty five to forty people
like production designers, the computer programmers, virtual reality pre d artists, builders,
(05:26):
you know, just sort of I think that's and that's
one of the joys of it as well, is that
there's so many different modalities in there that, Yeah, bringing
such a I suppose disparate group of people together to
yeah with that goal is really good.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Definitely. And as someone who suffers from mental health themselves,
I've suffered from depression and anxiety in my entire life.
I found that these days it's a lot easier to
talk to people about it, like even talking about it
on air, Like I think I kept it secret from
from our listeners for the first decade or so that
I was on air, but now I can openly talk
(06:05):
about it. Do you find that audiences are a lot
more acceptive and reactive to the experience these days than say,
what they would have been ten or twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, firstly, I'm glad that you, yeah, that you feel
comfortable talking about it. I think they are. I think that,
especially especially through COVID and everything like that, people became
a lot more aware of anxiety and depression, at least
I think to some degree, sort of more fractured states
(06:41):
like psychosis are still a little bit intimidating for people.
But you know, we've had a couple of people go
through over the last few days just in rehearsals and
then this morning when it actually launched, and yeah, it
is the profound sort of experience that they've had has
(07:03):
been really, yeah, overwhelming to say. At least one particular
person said it was you know, it enabled them to
rediscover parts of themselves they thought that they'd forgotten. So
it's a really powerful thing and I think as well,
everyone Yeah, everyone can contributing on the project that's been
(07:24):
drawn to it because of that. So there's there's clearly, yeah,
there's clearly a want and need for people to talk
about it more. I just think we're maybe not quite
as matured in the conversation about psychosis as we are
with things like depression and anxiety as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, And we did have a listener question as well
when we shared the news that it was coming back
to Melbourne, we did have a listener question, is necessary
for people of all ages or are there a certain
age group that you feel that this would be better for.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's definitely accessible to most stages. It is. It is
does have some heavy content at times around some of
the I suppose the delusional belief systems that are being
explored through the characters like they beliefs and some quite
(08:20):
heavy themes. But there's with the last one we had
people who I think the youngest we had to go
through was about twelve yea. And so it's definitely, you know,
it's definitely accessible. So it's not there's no sort of
(08:41):
an age a hard age limit on it, but there
is some adult themes I suppose definitely.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Now for all of our listeners out there, if you
do want to go along and see the door in question.
It begins at forty seven Paisley Street in Footscray and
takes audiences through various locations throughout Footscray and it's on
from the fortieth to the twenty ninth of June. And
if you want to find out more information and grab tickets,
you'll be able to go to our subculture Entertainment dot
com website. We will have a link up there, so
(09:10):
wherever you found this interview, you'll find a link to
where you can grab tickets from as well. So I
guess to finish off, what would you like to say
to people out there who are thinking about going along
and seeing the dorin question?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, I would say do it because you know, especially
if you have I suppose I would say, surrender yourself
to it. And that's that openness is where you can
start and then you can start to understand. And it's yeah,
it's a it's a full spectrum of madness, not not
(09:46):
just the heavy stuff. It's it's sort of there's a
lot of good humor and revelation in there as well.
So it's it's really something that we're super excited about
because the yeah, the format is something that, yeah, most
people have come through have said they've not experienced something
(10:06):
that in this format, which is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Definitely and for listeners out there once again, The Doric
Question begins at forty seven Paisley Street in Footscray and
takes audiences through various locations throughout Footscray. It's on from
the fourteenth to the twenty ninth of June and you
can go to the subcultur Entertainment dot com website to
find out more information and to grab tickets.
Well, listeners, we've got something very very special to talk
about today. We're going to be talking about a brand
new immersive theater experience called the Dora in Question that
is happening in Footscray in Melbourne. At the moment, we'd
thought to find out a little bit more about the
Door in Question, we would actually get the brainchild of
it on the phone to chat a little bit about it.
Welcome to the program, Troy Rainbow.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thanks for having me. I'm definitely a child. I don't
know about a brain.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
So Troy, tell us a little bit about the Door
in question. For our listeners out there who might be
interested in going along, tell us a little bit about
what they actually experience with the Dora in Question.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, okay, So yeah, it's an interactive mixed reality theater
piece that takes place across three basically three different locations.
It starts in a disused more and then there's a
part where you walk to another occasion in foot screen,
(01:03):
So in that sense, you, yeah, you get to experience
a different different parts of the suburb with narratives that
are sort of linked in. And I suppose yeah, it
plays a lot between between the virtual part. So the
virtual reality and physical reality and a lot of interactive
(01:24):
ops and fun things like that in between.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
So I understand that this came from a very personal
place for you as well. Tell us a little bit
about that journey of putting the door in question together
and where that idea first came from for you.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, So it's yeah, the themes around it. It explores
sort of psychosis from from within, I suppose, and that
comes from a really personal place, being that my mother
had a diagnosis of schizophrenia and I myself have had
(02:00):
some experiences with psychosis. So a lot of the I
suppose formative material was when when my mother died, I
found a bunch of her writings. I mean I had
a bunch already, but I found a bunch more in
her flat and sort of sat on those things, thinking
(02:20):
I've got to do something with this. This is like
the writing is so Yeah, for me personally, it was
a you know, it was an insight into the other
side of the wall that I'd been subjected to. But
thinking about it more, you know that because she was
very articulate but also so fractured. So it's just a
really I suppose point in way to like explicate what
(02:45):
madness is so Yeah, in part that I'm driven by
by that desire to sort of I suppose represent her
as well as Yeah, just have through that sort of
fascination and what others can glean from it.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And I'm kind of interested as well. Where did your
fascination with XR and VR technology come from as well?
That was that something that you've always been into, Like
was this was this how you wanted to present this
all along? Or did that change as well?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
It was It was a bit of a coalescence sort
of thing. Like my main sort of artistic background is
is music and composing as well as some film and
video video art sort of world. So around the sort
of I don't know, the twenty seventeen, I think when
(03:41):
the sort of the second wave of virtual reality popularity
was coming about, that's when I started doing I did
some sort of live AMBI sonic concerts with people performing
in virtual reality headsets. And I was already sort of
still teasing over what to do with these writings, as
(04:03):
I mentioned, and then it's yeah, it just dropped and
it you know, it became clear that between you know, madness,
potentially it exists between a quote unquote virtual space and
a quote unquote real space. So it's Yeah, the fascination
isn't so much with the the technology itself, like, it's
(04:25):
how that technology can be deployed in a way that,
you know, you explore the edges of reality.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah, and how long did it take for you to
put this together? From concept to opening night? How long
did it take for you to put all this together?
Speaker 2 (04:42):
This particular version. Yeah, I was writing through last year
and it's it's an iterative project. So I've done it.
I've done it in a very different way before, and
so it was sort of building on, building on that
what I learned in And yeah, it's got together, you know,
(05:04):
through artistic networks, got together a team of I can't
even count now there's around thirty five to forty people
like production designers, the computer programmers, virtual reality pre d artists, builders,
(05:26):
you know, just sort of I think that's and that's
one of the joys of it as well, is that
there's so many different modalities in there that, Yeah, bringing
such a I suppose disparate group of people together to
yeah with that goal is really good.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Definitely. And as someone who suffers from mental health themselves,
I've suffered from depression and anxiety in my entire life.
I found that these days it's a lot easier to
talk to people about it, like even talking about it
on air, Like I think I kept it secret from
from our listeners for the first decade or so that
I was on air, but now I can openly talk
(06:05):
about it. Do you find that audiences are a lot
more acceptive and reactive to the experience these days than say,
what they would have been ten or twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, firstly, I'm glad that you, yeah, that you feel
comfortable talking about it. I think they are. I think that,
especially especially through COVID and everything like that, people became
a lot more aware of anxiety and depression, at least
I think to some degree, sort of more fractured states
(06:41):
like psychosis are still a little bit intimidating for people.
But you know, we've had a couple of people go
through over the last few days just in rehearsals and
then this morning when it actually launched, and yeah, it
is the profound sort of experience that they've had has
(07:03):
been really, yeah, overwhelming to say. At least one particular
person said it was you know, it enabled them to
rediscover parts of themselves they thought that they'd forgotten. So
it's a really powerful thing and I think as well,
everyone Yeah, everyone can contributing on the project that's been
(07:24):
drawn to it because of that. So there's there's clearly, yeah,
there's clearly a want and need for people to talk
about it more. I just think we're maybe not quite
as matured in the conversation about psychosis as we are
with things like depression and anxiety as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, And we did have a listener question as well
when we shared the news that it was coming back
to Melbourne, we did have a listener question, is necessary
for people of all ages or are there a certain
age group that you feel that this would be better for.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's definitely accessible to most stages. It is. It is
does have some heavy content at times around some of
the I suppose the delusional belief systems that are being
explored through the characters like they beliefs and some quite
(08:20):
heavy themes. But there's with the last one we had
people who I think the youngest we had to go
through was about twelve yea. And so it's definitely, you know,
it's definitely accessible. So it's not there's no sort of
(08:41):
an age a hard age limit on it, but there
is some adult themes I suppose definitely.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Now for all of our listeners out there, if you
do want to go along and see the door in question.
It begins at forty seven Paisley Street in Footscray and
takes audiences through various locations throughout Footscray and it's on
from the fortieth to the twenty ninth of June. And
if you want to find out more information and grab tickets,
you'll be able to go to our subculture Entertainment dot
com website. We will have a link up there, so
(09:10):
wherever you found this interview, you'll find a link to
where you can grab tickets from as well. So I
guess to finish off, what would you like to say
to people out there who are thinking about going along
and seeing the dorin question?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Well, I would say do it because you know, especially
if you have I suppose I would say, surrender yourself
to it. And that's that openness is where you can
start and then you can start to understand. And it's yeah,
it's a it's a full spectrum of madness, not not
(09:46):
just the heavy stuff. It's it's sort of there's a
lot of good humor and revelation in there as well.
So it's it's really something that we're super excited about
because the yeah, the format is something that, yeah, most
people have come through have said they've not experienced something
(10:06):
that in this format, which is really exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Definitely and for listeners out there once again, The Doric
Question begins at forty seven Paisley Street in Footscray and
takes audiences through various locations throughout Footscray. It's on from
the fourteenth to the twenty ninth of June and you
can go to the subcultur Entertainment dot com website to
find out more information and to grab tickets.
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