This production was nominated for a 2009 Sydney Theatre Award
“Given the abundance of great independent theatre in Sydney in 2009, this is a huge accolade for Emma Buzo and her fledgling company 2009 to be one of only four nominees.” (ABC Radio National)
NORM AND AHMED
by Alex Buzo
SHAFANA
AND AUNT SARRINAH
by Alana Valentine
Director:Aarne Neeme | Designer:Deirdre Burges |
Lighting:Tony Youlden
Cast: Camilla Ah Kin, Laurence Coy, Craig Meneaud &
Sheridan Harbridge
Seymour
Centre, August 5-29 2009
"sensitive...powerful...fascinating and
moving...beautifully performed...a highly successful double
bill."
The Australian
"an
extraordinarily brave and bold double bill...for those who
are adventurous and tired of the white, safe, predictable
plays of late and who are ready to be truly moved and
inspired by theatre: I urge you to see this
production.”
Australian Stage Online
"(the
plays) are like beautifully wrought bookends to a part of
Australia's recent history"
Stagenoise
In
a first for Australian theatre, a classic play is
reinvigorated by the creation of a contemporary companion
play. Buzo’s enduring themes of cultural and generational
conflict are taken up by award-winning playwright Alana
Valentine in a thoroughly 21st century story of two
Australian Afgani Muslim women and the tension within a
family over the wearing of the headscarf. Buzo’s NORM AND
AHMED gave Australian theatre its front-page debut when it
premiered in 1968 and was banned in three Australian
states. On its 40th anniversary, it has just been placed on
the NSW HSC Drama list.
Education resources at BUZO ED
Watch Alana Valentine give the 2009 Alex Buzo Memorial Lecture on ABC FORA TV, presented during the season at the Seymour Centre on August 10 2009, referencing ‘Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah’
The story of Alana Valentine's new play SHAFANA AND AUNT
SARRINAH
Award-winning playwright Alana Valentine takes up Buzo’s
astonishingly enduring themes through the story of a young
Australian-born Muslim woman, who turns to the religion of
her heritage for answers after the September 11 attacks in
2001, resulting in a deep experience of faith and a
controversial decision to wear the hijab.
SHAFANA AND AUNT SARRINAH is partly a plea for
understanding, partly a bellow of rage from Muslim
Australian women about the ignorance and misunderstanding
that surrounds the wearing of the traditional Muslim
headscarf. Based thoroughly on personal interviews and
produced with the sustained support of a large number of
Muslim women from a diversity of Muslim cultures, this
short play addresses theatrical and social questions about
representation, religious freedom and inter-generational
conflict raised by Buzo. SHAFANA AND AUNT SARRINAH likewise
will surprise audiences with its portrait of Afgani Muslim
women who are articulate, highly educated, deeply spiritual
and profoundly enraged by the portrait that is painted of
them in the Australian and global media as oppressed, meek,
and silent. Read
more
