Coup d’Etat explores Malaysia’s 1988 constitutional crisis
Refugees and Australia’s own Indigenous stolen generation are often seen as simply numbers in political and public debate.
The personal stories of these people are rarely heard.
But the StoryLines Festival aims to break the silence in a four-week celebration of diversity that challenges Australian art and theatre by providing a powerful, creative voice to minority cultures.
StoryLines is built around a season of three plays by Justin Fleming, art installations, and dance and live music from Sydney’s African, Islamic and Indigenous communities. Performers come from South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Malaysia, Japan, the Philippines and regional and remote Australia.
Founder and artistic director, Suzanne Millar, says the aim of the festival is to “open a dialogue, to learn, to listen to one another…and in doing so, find the place where we all meet”.
By personalising cultural debates she hopes StoryLines will promote “a greater display of dignity and respect in the way that we treat one another”.
Assistant Director Patrick Sherwood with African performers – Kir, Alex, Elijah, Akech, Derrick
Asked whether she hopes the festival will shift public perception of refugee and indigenous affairs, Millar says she would like to think it will play a role in informing and stimulating audiences to form a personal opinion.
“Theatre is a moment in time. Singing, music and dance is something inexplicable that stirs us, artwork asks us to think. If you put these together, as we have, it demands a response.”
Justin Fleming shares Millar’s heart beat.
“No matter when we all came here, and in what circumstances, our stories have now become each other’s story,” he said.
“We cannot live in Australia and not share the African experience, the Asian experience, the Indigenous and European experience because that is the Australian experience.”
Fleming describes the rehearsal room, crowded with an extraordinary range of eclectic people from a melting pot of different cultures, as a powerful and emotional space.
“This is the atmosphere we hope to transfer to the stage,” he explains.
And while it is important for audiences to absorb this atmosphere, the organisers believe it is equally important for the performers and exhibitors to have the opportunity to tell their stories.
Inspiration for the launch of StoryLines in 2009 grew from Millar’s personal friendships with a number of refugees and her firsthand witness of their trials in adjusting to life in Australia.
“I was particularly moved by the grace and strength of an individual in the face of extreme and unimaginable adversity who, while subject to great personal judgement, still simply asks for understanding and acceptance.”
Fleming’s trilogy of plays includes a restaging of the critically-acclaimed production Coup d’Etat, a brilliant exploration of cultural differences set against the backdrop of Malaysia’s 1988 constitutional crisis.
It also includes the premiere of the one act plays, A Land Beyond the River – based on the experience of African refugees – and the Indigenous-inspired play Junction.
The art exhibition Voices & Visions, curated by Sandy Chockman, features artwork from the Villawood Refugee Centre (the artists are forced to exhibit by number to suppress their identities) and select pieces from Sarah Barker’s exhibition Let’s Face It installation for the 2011 National Sorry Day, amongst other photographers’ work.
But the most stirring part of this year’s art exhibition is original work by artists from the Kinchela Boys’ Home (the Stolen Generation) who have chosen to exhibit under their institutional code numbers to illustrate how they were objectified as children.
Many of the Storylines participants from 2009 are still actively involved with the festival
StoryLines 2012 runs July 31 to August 6 at Parade Theatre, Kensington before transferring to the Bondi Pavilion Theatre on August 8 to 25 as part of the Tamarama Rock Surfers season.
The Festival launch at the NIDA Parade Theatre, on July 31 at 8pm (and repeated at Bondi Pavilion 8 August 7pm) begins with the unveiling of the art exhibition, the launch of the theatre season with performances of A land Beyond the River and Junction, a showing of Ella Rubeli’s short film Continental Drift, and special guest performances including African and Indigenous dance group The Saints, traditional Sudanese song and dance, and Sierra Leonese drummer Sibo Bangoura.
