"As you watch it this sci-fi mystery unravels along the way." – How Luke Murphy made multi-award-winning Volcano

Tell us about the show

Volcano's made as a live sci fi TV show, it runs over four episodes that get performed back to back and as you watch it this sci-fi mystery unravels along the way. It should feel like you start a new show and end up binging the whole thing in one go.

When and how was Volcano conceived?

I keep a notebook on me and I'm someone who's jotting ideas down all the time. So, before I get to writing or to a studio a lot of ideas will have been sitting and evolving for a really long time. 

For Volcano, I first thought of doing an episodic structure in 2009 so ideas can kind of sit in the background and until the right moment or the right lens arrives to understand how to best realise them. 

Usually there's a question or some single thought at the centre of an idea. I think early on I try to figure out what I want the audience experience to be, what the format or setting for the work wants to be and then that leads to really looking at the world/ design of the space.

How do you bring your ideas to the stage?

A lot happens before we actually get into a room to start developing the work. I do a lot of prep, I write a lot of material and I'll have movement languages and images to bring into the space as a first proposal. How much of that ends of being used varies, I think projects tell you what they need as they develop. 

I spend a lot of time really trying to invite the cast and collaborative into understanding how I see things and what I feel is important in the work- when there's trust that everyone understands that lens or value system then the space can become very open. So, I invest in getting everyone on board to go to the same destination and then we can really enjoy the unexpected of how we get there.

Who is your ideal audience member?

What's really special about working on this project is how wide that audience is- theatre and dance audiences love the show because it's full of dance, the story is interesting, and the piece has some great theatre craft to it- but more widely it’s the people who don't go to theatre who seem to have the most visceral experience. 

The people who look out for the next big sci-fi show on Apple+ or Netflix, who tell their friends they need to watch Black Mirror or Severance and geek out on films like Moon or Arrival. I live in Ireland now, and there's a great theatre tradition there but it's not like New York where you have such a huge dance and theatre audience that you can make work to solely cater to them. 

I love that people who might not usually go to see dance or contemporary theatre can take a chance on this show and find it rewarding and exciting.

Can we expect any plot twists in Volcano?

The show's a sci-fi mystery - I'm giving nothing away!