Urban Theatre Projects

ASYLUM (2001)

Safety? Sanctuary? Refuge? Detention.

How do we greet people fleeing persecution and war? Detention centres in the middle of nowhere, razor wire, years of waiting, bureaucratic mind games. A deliberate strategy of demonising and dehumanising, for cynical political ends.

Asylum breaks through the silence, allowing refugees to be seen and heard on their own terms. The work draws on some of the artists’ personal experiences, as well as research inside Villawood Detention Centre. Personal narratives of persecution and flight to Australia are juxtaposed with performative explorations of life in detention.

[Asylum] had power and poignancy because of the great strength of some mature performers and the immediacy of the political situation in Australia’s atrocious handling of refugees. - Keith Gallasch, RealTime, July 2001

Asylum has only been running for a few minutes, and already its audience is immersed in a metaphoric version of the refugee experience… an emotionally moving presentation of these essential stories – and a searing indictment against the current regime. - Stephen Dunne, Sydney Morning Herald, June 2001

Devised by the team in collaboration with those who came to Australia as refugees and service organisations including Sisters of Mercy and Refugee Council of Australia

SAWAH (2001)

Sawah in Arabic means ‘together’. In 2002, in partnership with the Arabic Communities Council Links to Learning Program and Bankstown Girls High School, Claudia worked with a group of young women from diverse Arabic communities. Set in a boxing ring Sawah was a short performance that explored notions of identity, culture and girlhood.