The Nightline

The documentary concept behind The Nightline is inspired by my experiences of insomnia, combined with a curiosity to connect with people of the night – a largely invisible breed for whom the night is day. In part influenced by the opening of Under Milkwood – Dylan Thomas’ play for voices that travels through the dreams of a sleeping village – this work is a homage those awake while the city sleeps. Another influence was phone-phreak culture (which arose out of 1950s America). Phone-phreaks were essentially early hackers who discovered how to connect into other people’s phone calls (including government agencies) by recreating specific audio tones and frequencies. As co-creators, Bob and I were drawn to idea of making a mysterious old-school club where guests could venture unheard and unseen through the city’s phonelines. An intimate underground listening service offering the companionship of strangers to see you through the night.  

The Nightline is a creative-documentary work made up of real-life anonymous voice messages left between midnight and 6am. In other words, every voice heard in The Nightline was literally left for you by a stranger in the night. This collection of voices was sourced via our dedicated Nightline messagebank – which is still active and receiving messages till the end of August (details at nightlineproject.info). For each new season, we invite the local night community to contribute fresh voice content to The Nightline. To date, we’ve received over 1000 messages from open-hearted insomniacs, shift workers, new parents, soul-searchers and hard-wired night owls from all walks of life.  

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to finally create a bespoke edition of The Nightline with and for my home city of Naarm/Melbourne with the support of Malthouse and City of Melbourne. To realise an ambitious documentary-inspired concept of this nature takes a village – we’ve relied heavily on the generosity of community participants, project champions and an ingenious team of trusted collaborators. Needless to say, we’re forever grateful to all the generous night owls who’ve trusted us with their words – without you The Nightline could not exist. Special thanks also to the late-night call-back radio programs around the country who invited me to join them live on air. I have immense respect for late-night radio hosts and the warm nocturnal communities they foster in what can sometime be the loneliest hours. Shout out to Trevor Chappell at ABC Overnights who has just finished up 25 years as a much-loved host and will be greatly missed by Australia’s night community. If you’re an insomniac, you know how seismic this news is. 

The Nightline has been like an old friend to me — a project we've been revisiting since its inception in 2018. With every season it collects new voices and new stories; it's kind of like a restless, living, evolving organism. Even the technology behind the phone line system we're using has ancient origins, dating back to 1920s communication tech.   

As the sound designer for this project, it's really been about honouring the hero of the piece — the wild collection of night-time phone calls, lovingly curated by Ros. I think we’ve created a world that's safe for these artifacts to speak, and we let them guide both the sonic and physical environment in which they're presented.   

It's a table for one – already intimate – with the voice whispering in your ear. It's a different experience for everyone – you may be the only one in the room hearing that particular voice. 

But it's also a group listening experience. I'm fascinated by the power of the shared experience, especially with audio work. I don't fully understand why it happens or what it actually is, but the experience of listening intently as a group is something I find really profound – so enjoy that. 

Out of that intimate voice in your ear grows a world of theatre – physical, light and sound. Warped and twisted night-time thoughts and feelings: a dramatisation of the "night window" of lying awake, restless and overthinking.  

As well as each iteration of The Nightline growing richer from an ever-expanding pool of phone calls, the project has also given me, as an artist, the invaluable experience of being able to tweak and refine the staging and content of the work. 

This has been a real collaborative work with an amazing group of artists, led by the sleepless Ros Oades, with design and lighting by Clare Britton and Fausto Brusamolino, and strict decorum by Katia Molino. Greg Cameron, Keith Tucker, Rowan Cochran and Jem Hoppe all deserve massive props for their creative technical problem solving.   

I hope you enjoy!