We Have Stolen Our Bodies From God
Performed in April 2025 at Shopfront Arts Co-Op.
Production Footage by Ang Collins
Instrumentalists: Charlie Barnett, Alex Bozanic, Sam Cheng, Madi Phoenix
Vocalists: Felix Staas, Olivia Tajer
On a tranquil afternoon, in rural New South Wales township, a deeply religious community watches as a UFO crash-lands into a nearby bushland. Some deem it a biblical apocalypse, some form entirely new belief systems around it, while others struggle to reconcile everything they thought to be true with the unearthly events they’ve witnessed.
We Have Stolen Our Bodies from God will probably turn into a musical at some point. For now, it’s a part-song cycle, part-live concept album that combines elements of folk music with ethereal synths and hazy samples. Through both the traditional songwriting forms of musical theatre and semi-improvised interludes, the piece explores crises of faith and identity, as well as the dangers of suppressing or rejecting them.
“Matthew builds a whole new world entirely through music, where each song feels like its own separate pocket universe or mini-narrative within a larger story, all coalescing to a final, powerful duet.”
— Ben Webb, ATYP
“It might just be the nature of this gloriously rich piece that it asks to be listened to multiple times, and then it will reward its audience a hundred fold.”
— Paul Gilchrist, Theatre Red