Fast, funny & a little bit strange
What happens when your personalities go to war?
This innovative production explores how we navigate our inner voices through order and chaos to find our true selves.
A psychological drama exploring the hidden mechanics of the mind
Fast-paced, funny, surprising, and just a little bit strange, Unconscious is a brand-new story in both play and film form. The play premiered at The Meteor in Hamilton in late 2025.
Before this, we built the set at Gaslight Theatre and filmed it over 10 days. This is in post-production, due for release...mid to late 2026.
The story? On the surface, it follows Sophia Ignari, a young biotech founder under pressure. But as the story unfolds, the mechanics of her mind are revealed. It’s theatre that is sharp, entertaining, and layered with weird ideas. Think Inside Out (for adults) meets Severance.
At its heart, Unconscious is about psychological trauma, but told in a way that makes you laugh, keeps you guessing, and sparks conversations we often avoid. The premiere production was been shaped by a team of more than 25 Waikato creatives, all working together to bring a brand new story to the stage.
One show, two films
Over the course of 9 sessions, we filmed Unconscious on a set that was constructed (and deconstructed in between recordings) at Gaslight Theatre in Cambridge. Thanks go to the Gaslight team who were trying to rehearse and paint the set for The Grinch while we were there!
With three cameras, multi-point sound recording, the lighting from the theatre (which was being upgraded during the filming) and a green screen, we captured one TB of data that is being edited into a 4K version of the story that (more or less) sticks to the script.
We then moved the set to the Meteor Theatre in Hamilton and ran the stage version of the show over five performances. We had some people walk out half way through. We had some people saying it's one of the best shows they've seen! Aside from the awesome experience of putting on a show, one of the goals was to test it out, to figure out which bits work and which bits don't. With the aim of then updating the script and making it available for theatrical production companies.
Some of the bits that work well were invented by the cast between making the film version and the stage show! And there is a lot more swearing in the stage version!
The stage version was filmed on an iPhone from the sidelines without a directional microphone, so it's not the best quality. Plus the phone ran out of space during one scene towards the end. After some rapid deleting, we only missed a minute or so!
Here it is, free for all to see. The high quality 4K version will be finished soon... hopefully!
Production team
Nigel Slaughter
Author & Director
Nigel is the author and director of Unconscious. Alongside writing, he's primarily a maker of pretty things - posters, paintings, props, etc - but also dabbles in acting from time to time.
Janine Swainson
Producer & Wardrobe
Janine is the ultimate theatre nerd, having studied it, seen hundreds of performances, acted in countless shows and been behind the scenes in many more. She is currently directing her first show - Our Town - at Gaslight.
Kevin Lawrence
Assistant Director & Production Manager
Kevin's worked behind the scenes on a wide range of shows and has an eye for the intricacies of the text and subtleties of expression, guiding actors towards stand-out performances. He's also incredibly organised!