“Total magic”
- The Atlantic
“A groundbreaking performance memoir”
- Paula Toal
RMIT Head of Culture
“Mental health explored like never before”
- The Financial Times
NO FEELING IS FINAL
BY HONOR EASTLY
No Feeling Is Final is a 90-minute genre-mashing live theatre show commissioned by RMIT as the finale event for The Big Anxiety Festival 2022. The show was was a first-of-its kind commission for the iconic Capitol theatre, and sold-out all 600-seats - the first sell-out performance since the pandemic.
Based on the groundbreaking, critically-acclaimed ABC podcast series of the same name, the show is a deeply intimate and unprecedented insight into the lived experience of suicidality. Featuring years of Honor’s own audio diaries, it takes us inside the psychiatric hospital, into the world of 3am panic attacks and suicide call back services, but never without a wink and a nod to the dark humour of these places.
Think This Is Going To Hurt from the other side of the nurse’s station, with the gut-punching magical realism of Maid and the self-deprecating, quick-cut jokes of Bo Burnham’s Inside. This show will flip your understanding of what we think mental illness actually is, and what “help” is and how to find it.
The original podcast series found international acclaim, with rave reviews from The Atlantic, TIME, and The New York Times, as well as winning the coveted International Third Coast Director’s Choice Award, widely regarded as the “Oscars for Podcasts”, amongst other accolades.
The live iteration of the show also received glowing reviews, including from former Australian of the Year and psychiatrist, Professor Patrick McGorry - who said “I was transfixed by her incredible performance… she is a unique creative voice, speaking to the very real human fall-0ut of a broken system… not just with biting wit, but refreshing humour, honesty and insight”.
Paula Toal, RMIT Head of Culture, called the show a “groundbreaking performance memoir” and Manager of WA Museum Boola Bardip, Helen Simondson said “Honor’s creative work is fearless… No Feeling Is Final is beyond brave and a performance audiences deserve to experience”.
“Honor has again pushed the envelope to make something truly special”
- Joel Werner
Executive Producer ABC Audio Studios
“Darkly funny”
- The New York Times
SELECTED AWARDS
The original podcast pitch was selected from over 1200 pitches as a winner of the ABC $1Mil podcasting fund
Over 500,000 downloads and rebroadcast nationally on ABC Radio National
Named on “best of” lists by The New York Times, The Atlantic (Top Three Podcasts of 2018), TIME and The Financial Times (named Best Podcast of 2018)
Winner of the coveted International Third Coast Director’s Choice Award, widely regarded as the “Oscars for Podcasts”, amongst other accolades
Three time finalist for Australian Podcasting Awards, including Podcast of the Year
As well as rave reviews from around the globe:
“Mental health explored like never before” - The Financial Times
“Darkly funny” - The New York Times
“Impressive, bruising and tender storytelling” - Benjamin Law
In 2022, the live version of No Feeling Is Final was been supported by City of Melbourne Arts Grants, the RMIT Capitol Innovation Fund and The Big Anxiety Festival.
“I was transfixed by her incredible performance… she is a unique creative voice, speaking to the very real human fall-out of a broken system… not just with biting wit, but refreshing humour, honesty and insight”
- Prof Patrick McGorry
Australian of the Year and Mental Health Advocate
ABOUT THE LIVE SHOW
In 2022, with support from City of Melbourne, the RMIT Capitol Innovation Fund and The Big Anxiety Festival, Honor was able to spend 4-months in creative development with an incredible team of creatives to develop a new version - using stories from the podcast - but with a complete reimagining and rewrite to create a 90minute, immersive audiovisual live show.
The result was a genre-busting, interdisciplinary mash of music, theatre, lighting design, film, and sound design made especially for the iconic Capitol Theatre in Melbourne. No-one yet or since has pushed the capabilities of that venue the way this show did.
The Capitol Theatre
Some quick facts on the live show at The Capitol:
Over 650+ programmed lighting, sound and film cues in the show
Working with the completely bespoke fully-programmable LED ceiling lighting rig at The Capitol (picture above)
Sold out 600-seat venue, first sold-out show at The Capitol since the pandemic and only sold-out event at The Big Anxiety Festival 2022
“Impressive, tender and bruising storytelling”
- Benjamin Law
CREATIVE TEAM
HONOR EASTLY
CREATIVE LEAD
Honor Eastly is Australian artist, writer, podcaster, and professional feeler of feelings. Her creative work has been described as “darkly funny” (by The New York Times) “total magic” (by The Atlantic), and “something rare” (TIME).
In 2021 she was named the winner of the Australian Mental Heath Prize, Australia’s top mental health award, for her creative and advocacy work.
She has amassed over one million downloads and numerous awards for her podcasts and writing. Most recently, she won the Third Coast Director’s Choice award for her podcast No Feeling Is Final, widely considered as the ‘Oscars of Podcasting’.
She is the co-founder of The Big Feels Club, a peer led mental health resource that has reached over one million people.
Recently Eastly’s work has been shown at The National Gallery of Victoria, The Gallery of NSW, the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, MOD. Gallery, Science Gallery Melbourne and at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
www.honoreastly.com
Selected CV can be viewed here.
ROB CURULLI
CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST
Rob Curulli is a multidisciplinary artist working at the forefront of creative technology. His work spans interactive design, game design, sound installation and process-based audiovisual work. If it has tech in it, he probably knows how to program it.
He worked with Honor to create and program the 650+ bespoke lighting, film and sound cues for the sold-out No Feeling Is Final Live show, made especially for The Capitol Theatre.
He has been recording and releasing music in various forms for over twenty years, in many different genres, and has performed with artists including Sunn O))), Clark, and Peep Tempel, and at festivals including Dark Mofo (Hobart) and Square Sounds (Melbourne/Tokyo).
He currently works at RMIT exploring boundary-pushing creative tech. His current projects include accessible, interactive sound environments, in both browser and venue installation contexts.
NIKKI CASTLE
FILMMAKER
Nikki Castle is a mid-career Melbourne-based director, with two broadcast credits on New Zealand television.
She worked with Honor to create the filmed-sequences for the No Feeling Is Final Live show.
Her short documentary film, Madness Made Me, found viral success and screened at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and New Zealand International Film Festival.
Nikki is building on over ten years as a short and long-form offline editor and story producer, with credits on Maori TV, Food TV Canada, Channel Seven Australia, ABC and SBS.
She has also self-produced and directed countless short documentaries across mental health and social welfare not-for-profits and NGO's. Clients include Vic Gov, Austin Health, Mind Australia and New Zealand's largest philanthropic trust, Foundation North.
GRAHAM PANTHER
MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCATE AND WRITER
Graham Panther is a mental health whizz who has set up award-winning, cutting edge services in New Zealand and Australia. He brings a wealth of expertise from the sector, as well as his own experience of profound crisis and distress.
In 2017, with Honor Eastly he set up The Big Feels Club, a peer-led, global peer support community.
Their work has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and TIME, as well as The Age and the Herald Sun. Since launching on a shoe-string, we’ve had well over a million downloads of their podcasts and articles, and countless messages from club members telling us that finding Big Feels was the first time they’ve felt truly understood in their mental health.
MARDEN DEAN
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Marden Dean is an award-winning cinematographer working across acclaimed television drama and feature films.
Marden’s recent credits include the psychological thriller series, The Gloaming (dir. Michael Rymer/ 2jons, 2020), for Stan as well as the feature film, Breath (dir. Simon Baker/ See Pictures, 2018) for which Marden won a Gold ACS VIC|TAS Award for Cinematography in a Feature Film and earned an AACTA nomination for Best Cinematography in a Feature Film. His other credits include the comedy series The Other Guy starring Matt Okine for Stan (dir. Kacie Anning/ Aqaurius Films, 2017), the feature film Boys in the Trees (dir. Nicholas Verso/ Mushroom Pictures, 2016) and the short film Problem Play (dir. Matthew Moore, 2015) for Goalpost Pictures.
MARTIN PERALTA
SOUND DESIGNER
Martin Peralta is an audio engineer, digital producer and sound designer.
He was the sound designer for No Feeling Is Final Live for The Big Anxiety Festival.
Over the years he has worked on many award winning projects including Walkley winning podcast series for ABC Trace and Unravel, Andrew Denton’s Better Off Dead, Audible's Nut Jobs and Webby and SXSW award winning My Grandmother's Lingo as well as podcasts for Gimlet Media, Somethin' Else, SCA, Whooshkaa and Audible Australia. Work also extends out to music and sound/digital immersive projects for UTS, Black Box and Underbelly Arts.
“Honor’s creative work is fearless… No Feeling Is Final is beyond brave and a performance audiences deserve to experience”
- Helen Simondson
Manage, WA Museum Boola Bardip