Theatre with true local flavours

Really great theatre does all that with a whole lot of local relevance thrown in.

And that's why Artsworx at the University of Southern Queensland is so excited to be staging Fly-In Fly-Out as part of its 2015 season during June - this is live theatre at its very best.

Brisbane-based actor Patrick Dwyer plays Seb, a teenager dragged halfway across the globe and back again, only to wind up in a small regional town.

"Seb's father is a bit of a big shot in the mining industry, so when he's dumped in this town, he kind of has to try and make it work - then he meets Jenny," Patrick said.

"They become each other's anchors at a time when both of them are trying to manoeuvre their way into adulthood.

"They're dealing with their respective family situations, and learning how to live and grow within an environment which is really starting to feel the effects of being part of a FIFO community."

Patrick said although the production focused on the effects of the FIFO lifestyle on family and the community, it was also a touching look at life which audiences of all ages could connect with.

"I think it's got a really strong story for people to latch on to.

"Jenny in particular resonates with young audiences, and although it's a rom-com and a light-hearted kind of show, it's all about growing and changing, and how we deal with big changes at different stages of our lives."

Writer, director and performer at deBase Productions, Robert Kronk describes the production as a comic drama.

"It's gritty and funny, and will resonate with anyone who has ever fallen in love, whose life's gotten out of control, or who has worked in a greasy take-away," Robert said.

"Local audiences will enjoy it because it is set in a small Queensland town - it could easily be Chinchilla or Roma - and it really captures what it's like in regional Queensland.

"The stories and themes around fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out work will be particularly relevant for Toowoomba audiences."

The play centres around the story of a young woman in a small Queensland mining town trying to balance her family, work, school and falling in love.

It explores the chaos of coming of age in a fly-in fly-out town that is also going through a big time of change.

"The show has toured widely in regional Queensland and the response has been amazing," Robert said.

"We don't get to see a lot of Queensland stories, and we get to see even fewer regional/country stories.

"What I love most about this show is sitting in the audience and seeing the joy audiences get from seeing their own lives represented on stage - the joy of hearing their own voices."

Robert first got the idea for Fly-In Fly-Out while working with communities in central Queensland at a time when the mining boom was really taking off.

The conversations he had with locals and their stories really got the show off the ground.

"The aim for the show was to get audiences thinking about some of the issues around living in regional Queensland, around fly-in fly-out work, around families, and most importantly about resilience," Robert said.

"We worked with lots of community groups and schools, and started to develop a show that explored some of the issues around the boom.

"As part of this process, we kept checking in with locals to make sure we were doing their stories justice.

"The most inspiring thing was bringing the play back to a town and getting people's input, and then finally bringing the finished play to town.

"A show can't give the answers, but we can make sure we tell a really good story, and get people thinking and talking."