*Lucid is no longer being staged, instead Kirk will be performing a one man spoken word piece.

Often dreams feel as real as life itself. At other times the illusion is lucid, creating a world where nothing is impossible. If you can do anything in a dream, why can’t you do the same in real life? This is the question which director Chris Kirk tackles in  Lucid, a new work premiering at this year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival.

The show follows two men and two women as they fall in and out of sleep during a two week stay in a Brunswick attic. They are left naked and vulnerable, both emotionally and physically, as they attempt to form intimate connections with each other both in their dreams and in waking life.

This is Kirk’s debut as a theatre writer, director and producer, having previously been involved with the Melbourne spoken word scene, involving open mic performances of everything from poetry to free-form rap. Moving into theatre, Kirk wants to create a space where he can express himself more openly, “a safe space” which should be “a bit humble”.

He said the choice to have the actors naked on stage was made to ensure that the audience’s connection with the piece be as safe and intimate as possible, while still exploring the idea of what it means to be vulnerable.

“Having the actors naked is really not supposed to be a provocative thing or an aggressive thing at all, but something very gentle and soft,” he said.

The idea of being physically present in a work is an integral part of Kirk’s artistic expressions.“Coming to a theatre, you can really create the world you want to through more theatrical means rather than just speech,” he said. “I think I can really take that further and communicate my vision of the world.”

Kirk said the main point of the show is about being present in one’s own experiences. “When I do spoken word, because I am just standing up there in front of all these people, a large part of the message is just being present,” he said. “To have these naked performers interact with each other and then have the audience present in the same room while that is happening, that’s a large portion of the message.”

Lucid will run at 11pm from 22 – 28 September at The Mechanics Institute in Brunswick.

To purchase tickets, please visit melbournefringe.com.au or call (03) 9660 9666.