Story Time

The aim of the StoryLines Festival is to open a dialogue, to listen to and learn from each others stories. It will feature three works from Justin Fleming, Coup d'Etat, A Land Beyond The River and Junction, as well as art installations, dance, live music and a public forum giving voice to Sydney's African refugee, Islamic and Indigenous communities. Fleming says, “The Federal Government debate is a calamity because politicians can't agree on whether to process asylum seekers here or in Indonesia and there's always argument about the number of people we should be taking in. Radio shock jocks would have us think we're being inundated but compared to other countries Australia hardly has any refugees. There's a clear duty because we are at war with some countries and we should be making life easier for people suffering instead of slamming the door in their face. Australia needs skilled workers and sometimes we forget our own origins. I had a Vietnamese taxi driver the other day saying we shouldn't be letting Muslims in.” 

Fleming's three plays for StoryLines will be performed in repertory. A Land Beyond The River is based on interviews with three African refugees who play themselves, and tells the chilling story of their journey to Australia, interwoven with the narrative of To Kill A Mockingbird. Fleming says when he interviewed refugees Kir Deng, Elijah Williams and Alex Jalloh before putting pen to paper, he was struck by their complicity and enthusiasm. “Their story has become my story and my story theirs, which is exciting. They've told me about how their relatives were killed in civil strife and on a lighter note how they couldn't understand why everything is so quiet on Christmas Day when they first arrived. Where they come from there's lots of public rejoicing at Christmas.” 

Junction is about a white girl and Indigenous boy travelling in remote Australia who find themselves drawn into historical events, whilst Coup d'Etat is set against the backdrop of Malaysia's 1988 constitutional crisis, a political thriller in which Fleming puts Christianity alongside Islam and examines feminism in a hijab-wearing world.  Some of the other Festival events include Indigenous artists from the Stolen Generation's Kinchela Boys' Home, exhibiting under their institutional code numbers to illustrate how they were objectified as children. Artists from Villawood Detention Centre will exhibit by number to suppress their identities. Fleming sees Australia's history as a tale of arrivals by people trying to find a different life, including his own family. “My ancestors came out from Ireland mid-19th century, which is only 250 years ago, and when you think about it not much has changed.”

StoryLines Festival opens Tuesday 31 July and runs until Monday 6 August, Parade Theatres Kensington / Bondi Pavilion.