Review: ABC Radio 702 Sydney
Wednesday 19 August 2009 Filed in: Alex Buzo
| Emma Buzo
| Alana
Valentine | Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah
Listen
to a
PODCAST of
Diana Simmonds speaking with Richard Glover
about Norm & Ahmed plus Shafana
& Aunt Sarrinah at
the Seymour Centre until August 29 2009. Terrific to
hear how much a piece of theatre has affected
someone just by the tone of their voice. Click on
this link to listen to the
PODCAST of
the review on August 18th 2009.
Review: beautifully wrought bookends
Tuesday 18 August 2009 Filed in: Alex Buzo
| Alana
Valentine | Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Emma Buzo
| Laurence
Coy |
Craig
Meneaud |
sheridan
harbridge | camilla Ah
Kin
Review: powerful...fascinating and moving...highly successful
Tuesday 11 August 2009 Filed in: Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Alex Buzo
| Alana
Valentine
2009 Alex Buzo Memorial Lecture: Alana Valentine
Monday 10 August 2009 Filed in: Alana
Valentine | Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Alex Buzo
| Norm and
Ahmed
Review: Extraordinarily brave and bold double bill
Saturday 08 August 2009 Filed in: Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Norm and
Ahmed |
Alana
Valentine | Alex Buzo
| Emma Buzo
| Aarne
Neeme |
Laurence
Coy |
Craig
Meneaud |
sheridan
harbridge | camilla Ah
Kin
Opening Night: new worlds to be fathomed
Friday 07 August 2009 Filed in: by Emma
Buzo |
Alana
Valentine | Alex Buzo
| Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah
While it's always a joy to see Laurence Coy (Norm) and Craig Meneaud (Ahmed) weave their magic as I've had the privilege to do on countless occasions, it was the premiere of the new work that was most exciting for me. Sheridan Harbridge (pictured above) and Camilla Ah Kin's illuminating performance was for an audience including many of the Muslim women interviewed by Alana Valentine for Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah. I know by now that when people come out of the theatre talking excitedly and starting sentences with "I never thought of it like that..." or "I had no idea..." that the vision is a success. As Shafana so profoundly utters:
"there
are yet, new worlds to be fathomed and new
impossibilities to be
revealed."
SHAFANA AND AUNT SARRINAH by Alana Valentine
August 6th-29th 2009, Seymour Centre
Beautiful new images from the production here
Bookings here
Article: Working on fresh approach to Buzo classic
Wednesday 05 August 2009 Filed in: Alana
Valentine | Emma Buzo
| Alex Buzo
| Makiz
Ansari |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Norm and
Ahmed
Article: Holding a mirror to an Australian classic
Tuesday 04 August 2009 Filed in: Emma Buzo
| Alana
Valentine | Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Alex Buzo
Ahmed takes Norm to a Pakistani restaurant
Tuesday 04 August 2009 Filed in: Norm and
Ahmed
Article: Triumph of censor's target
Monday 27 July 2009 Filed in: Alex Buzo
| Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | by Emma
Buzo |
Emma
Buzo |
Alana
Valentine
Read Triumph of censor's target in The Australian
Norm takes Ahmed to the footy
Monday 27 July 2009 Filed in: Norm and
Ahmed
![Norm Ahmed Rugby League[1]](files/norm-ahmed-rugby-league005b1005d.jpg)
AHMED: No I don't really have time for that sort of thing.
NORM: No time for sport??
(from Buzo's Norm and Ahmed)
During the show's rehearsal period, Laurence Coy (Norm) took time out to rectify this situation by taking Craig Meneaud (Ahmed) to the footy and pointing out some of the finer points of the game.
Article in The Sunday Telegraph
Sunday 26 July 2009 Filed in: Alana
Valentine | Emma Buzo
| Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Norm and
Ahmed
Ahmed interviewed for Pakistani TV
Friday 17 July 2009 Filed in: by Emma
Buzo |
Norm and
Ahmed |
Zahid
Minhas |
Laurence
Coy |
Craig
Meneaud
Uni of Syd student speaks about observing rehearsals
Wednesday 15 July 2009 Filed in: Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Norm and
Ahmed |
Aarne
Neeme |
Alana
Valentine | Alex Buzo
![Chris-web-pic[1]](files/chris-web-pic005b1005d.jpg)
Variations on a theme: Aarne Neeme interviewed
Wednesday 15 July 2009 Filed in: Aarne
Neeme |
Alana
Valentine | Norm and
Ahmed |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah
"What's exciting about the whole thing, is that it's not two plays that are directly the same. Alana hasn't tried to do a female version of Norm and Ahmed, but she's certainly picked up on the issues and the shape of the play...In Alana's play we don't have the two strangers meeting and clashing in a very sort of masculine way, we have two women who know each other very well, who share many of the same backgrounds and assumptions. They similarly have a clash, which is again resolved in their terms, not in the way men generally resolve things...It's the variations on a theme...they're the same but they're different and you have virtually celebrate both aspects of that process." Read more: PODCAST
Alana Valentine on her new play
Friday 10 July 2009 Filed in: by Alana
Valentine | Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah
Makiz Ansari visits rehearsals despite her bad hijab day
Tuesday 07 July 2009 Filed in: by Emma
Buzo |
Alana
Valentine | Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Makiz
Ansari
Today
we were privileged to have Makiz Ansari from
Affinity Intercultural
Foundation and
her cousin Tamkin Ansari visit the rehearsals
of Shafana and Aunt
Sarrinah.
Afghani/Australian Makiz was a major source of
inspiration for playwright Alana Valentine and her
character of 'Shafana' takes much from Makiz's
eloquently told story. The entire creative team were
able to ask Makiz questions about her faith, her
cultural heritage and her experience of life in
Australia as a Muslim woman. Makiz joked she was
having a 'bad hijab day' but she was able to give
actor Sheridan Harbridge a valuable tutorial in
wearing the headscarf.
(Above: Sheridan Harbridge and Alana Valentine speak with Makiz and Tamkin Ansari, observed by University of Sydney students)
(Above: Sheridan Harbridge and Alana Valentine speak with Makiz and Tamkin Ansari, observed by University of Sydney students)
First day of rehearsals
I
visited the first rehearsal of Shafana and Aunt
Sarrinah yesterday
which is in excellent, spine-tingling shape. Alana
Valentine has steadily and masterfully filtered
feedback received over the last 6 months and crafted
the play into something markedly different to the
draft I first read in January.
Clockwise
from the checked shirt: Daniel Hunter (SM), Aarne
Neeme (Director), Deirdre Burges (Designer),
Sheridan Harbridge (Shafana), Camilla Ah Kin (Aunt
Sarrinah), Alana Valentine (Playwright), Tony
Youlden (Lighting) and May-Brit Akerholt
(Dramaturg). In the background: one of the
numerous University of Sydney Department of
Performance Studies' students studying the
rehearsal process.
That old "f" word: still a producer's nightmare
Saturday 04 July 2009 Filed in: Norm and
Ahmed |
by Emma
Buzo |
Shafana
and Aunt Sarrinah | Graeme
Blundell |
censorship
| Alex Buzo
This
week, a Sydney high school whose English department had
booked out an entire performance of Norm and Ahmed + Shafana and
Aunt Sarrinah,
were forced by their principal to cancel the
booking. The reason? That pesky old "f" word uttered
by Norm. It appears the more things change, the more
they stay the same. 40 years ago, that one word put
the play at the centre of a censorship battle which
saw it banned in three states, but also gave
Australian theatre its front page debut. Buzo was
bemused and perhaps a little annoyed. While the
publicity achieved instant fame for the play and its
author, he felt its important themes were somewhat
overshadowed by the brouhaha over one word.
The most distressing part about this school principal's fearful, archaic attitude is that it shows a complete lack of understanding about the purpose of dramatic art, which is to ask questions, encourage self reflection and open minds. Does banning students from seeing a production about the tension between cultures and generations in Australia help them become good citizens and critical thinkers? I think not.
Here's a very short bite from an ABC TV 'Talking Heads' episode on Graeme Blundell who produced Norm and Ahmed in 1970 with some great footage of the play being done for a magistrate and his court.
The most distressing part about this school principal's fearful, archaic attitude is that it shows a complete lack of understanding about the purpose of dramatic art, which is to ask questions, encourage self reflection and open minds. Does banning students from seeing a production about the tension between cultures and generations in Australia help them become good citizens and critical thinkers? I think not.
Here's a very short bite from an ABC TV 'Talking Heads' episode on Graeme Blundell who produced Norm and Ahmed in 1970 with some great footage of the play being done for a magistrate and his court.