DIRECTED BY: Samsara
SOUND BY: MBRYO
ALTHEA: Ivana Orlovic
ERIN: Emma Hadyn
PAUL: Damian Vuleta
ROBBIE: James Harvy
Produced and presented by The Owl and Cat Theatre
April 25 - May 5 2017
A passenger plane is shot down. A camera is stolen. Someone is strangled and a baby is on the way. Althea, Robbie, Erin and Paul are forced to do some serious reflecting on their personal lives. Who is responsible? Who is not?
'It is made, set up and played out in such a way that the words the characters say have so much more meaning and weight than if the play was staged in a different, more conventional setting.' Svetlana Tishchenko, Weekend Notes
'The
staging was suitably creative, with short video clips – most of which are
effective – used to set the scene.' Alex First, 3AW
DIRECTORS NOTES:
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| Ivana Orlovic & James Harvy |
We have a need and tendency to take sides. In war there are
sides, in politics, in social debate (are you pro-choice or pro-life?), in
school, at work, and even within families. Psychological theory suggests we do
this to have a sense of belonging. Belonging gives us a sense of control and
control gives us a sense of safety. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,
safety is the second most important requirement in the human condition (after
physiological needs such as food and water).
Mankind has a never-ending history of war, the culmination
of which (so far) have been the Great Wars of the 20th century. The
world was relieved when détente was declared and we moved from a state of hot
war to cold across the developed world and when the Berlin Wall came down in
1989 we rejoiced an end to political dichotomy.
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| Emma Hadyn & Damian Vuleta |
Terrorism became the new battleground. 2011 saw loss of the
Twin Towers in America and the world started refragmenting on religious lines.
Despite this we still lived in a fantasy that political tensions had eased. Both
Russia and China developed capitalism and didn’t that make them more like us?
Then came the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in the
Ukraine in 2014. Suddenly we are seeing signs of a great instability we thought
we had left a century ago. Russia has taken military action against the
Ukraine, denying its independence hard won after the breakup of the Soviet
Republic. Is this the rebirth of something old? Is it contained or are we on
the way to another world war?
And who do we look to for answers? The corruption and lack
of principals in the Murdoch empire have taught us not to trust journalists.
The catastrophes of modern democratic politics have taught us not to trust
politicians. Film can be edited and documents redacted.
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| Emma Hadyn & Damian Vuleta |
We have been taught to believe our eyes but in a world
dominated by film and TV all we see are the images within the frame. What is
lying outside our field of view?
In his seminal work 1984
George Orwell puts the world in a continual state of war between three
combatants – Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. One moment Eurasia is the enemy
and Eastasia is an ally and suddenly the opposite is true. History is rewritten
and the community is reprogrammed.
This is because the sides don’t matter. The conflict provides
a pivot on which to rotate the norms. Look at bipartisan political systems and
you will see the same mechanisms at work.
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| Damian Vuleta & Ivana Orlovic |
Perhaps the only way to real safety is to look and see for
yourself. Develop your peripheral vision. If someone wants you to see a certain
picture or think a certain way take a look at what they have left out so that
you can make your own choices. Give yourself agency and discover a true sense
of safety.
Paul and Althea fight over the camera
Erin explains the plane crash to Paul
Althea and Robbie tear each other apart
Paul and Althea move on
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