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Quiet Faith, presented by Vitalstatistix
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MEDIA RELEASE
Waterside Workers Hall 11 Nile Street Port Adelaide SA 5015 P +618 8447 6211 www.vitalstatistix.com.au [email protected]
1 September 2014
“It's the burden of modern Australian faith communities to see that those most loudly trying to co-opt a religious identity to their political behaviour are those acting with the least selflessness or humanity.”
Van Badham, The Guardian, 2014
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE OF QUIET FAITH AT VITALSTATISTIX From award-‐winning documentary theatre maker David Williams, comes Quiet Faith, a surprising journey into the world of the quietly, progressively faithful. This new work, co-‐commissioned by Vitalstatistix and HotHouse Theatre (Albury Wodonga), and developed through Vitalstatistix’s Incubator program, will have its Australian premiere in October at Waterside, Port Adelaide. The place of Christian faith in Australian politics is often linked to conservatism and intolerance. Many members of the current Federal Government profess deep Christian beliefs and groups such as the Australian Christian Lobby loudly intervene in public policy debates. Yet, new faith-‐based social movements such as Love Makes A Way actively campaign against government policies. The spectacle of religious leaders undertaking non-‐violent acts of civil disobedience, including prayer vigils in the offices of Christian politicians, has captured the imaginations of many. Other Christians work less publically to separate church and hate in their own communities and congregations.
“My hope is that the church expands its voice beyond moral issues, and becomes about what we're for rather than what we're against...
And that is a project of broadening people's theology.” Quiet Faith interviewee Quiet Faith has been generated from hours of interviews with Christian Australians, each of whom has also selected a personally significant song. Quiet Faith creator David Williams became interested in exploring progressive faith politics from noticing the stark difference between the views of Christian family and friends, contrasted with the bigotry of the Christian Right in Australian politics.
MEDIA RELEASE
Waterside Workers Hall 11 Nile Street Port Adelaide SA 5015 P +618 8447 6211 www.vitalstatistix.com.au [email protected]
“It was pointed out to me that perhaps it’s not the atheist left who will make the difference in some of these debates but in fact those progressive Christians on the ground, arguing in their congregations for marriage equality, holding vigils for refugee rights, locking themselves to farm gates to protest against coal seam gas mining. I wanted to explore this idea more, and started interviewing Christians about the entanglement of their faith and political beliefs”, said Williams. For David, creating theatre through extensive research, interviewing and mining real world documents, is not new. He founded and led acclaimed NSW-‐based documentary theatre company version 1.0 for 14 years until 2012, directing many award-‐winning shows covering topics as wide-‐ranging as local government corruption in Wollongong, the experiences of loved ones of missing persons, the Cole Inquiry into the Australian Wheat Board scandal, and sexual violence in contemporary culture. More recently David has been developing and contributing to independent projects (see biography below) and has recently been appointed Curator of the 2015 Australian Theatre Forum, the national biennial gathering of the Australian theatre sector. Quiet Faith is David’s first major premiere post his time at version 1.0. Quiet Faith has been an interesting and important project for Vitalstatistix, a company committed to developing new work that explores contemporary conversations and performance practices. “David has a unique voice in Australian theatre and we have been thrilled to commission this new work. The relationship between politics and religion is increasing and concerning in Australia, and something very worthy of exploration by performance makers. However so often it is easy to stray into a kind of agit-‐prop, eye-‐rolling tone. Quiet Faith has been challenging in the best possible way, and has certainly deepened and changed some of my own personal opinions. It offers a striking and complex exploration of very interesting territory”, said Emma Webb, Creative Producer at Vitalstatistix. David has collaborated with an incredibly talented team in making Quiet Faith, most of whom are South Australian-‐based artists -‐ performer Ashton Malcolm, designer Jonathon Oxlade, lighting designer Chris Petridis and outside eye Roz Hervey -‐ alongside NSW sound designer Bob Scott. “It has been very exciting working with a new team of incredible collaborators to create an immersive, reflective experience for audiences”, said Williams. Beautiful, unusual, full of musicality and heart, Quiet Faith is an antidote to despair about religion and politics, offering a portrait of the very different ways that faith can underpin civic life.
season details and biography next page
MEDIA RELEASE
Waterside Workers Hall 11 Nile Street Port Adelaide SA 5015 P +618 8447 6211 www.vitalstatistix.com.au [email protected]
QUIET FAITH Presented by Vitalstatistix 8-‐19 October 8pm Wednesday – Sunday; and 2pm Sundays Waterside, 11 Nile St, Port Adelaide $32 full; $28 concession; $25 Fringe Benefits Preview 8 October, all tickets $25 Audience Q&A Sunday Oct 12 (2pm show) & Wednesday Oct 15 Book at www.trybooking.com/FPTR More info at www.vitalstatistix.com.au CREATIVE TEAM Writer, director and performer: David Williams Performer and collaborator: Ashton Malcolm Designer: Jonathon Oxlade Sound designer: Bob Scott Lighting designer: Chris Petridis Outside eye: Roz Hervey Creative producer: Emma Webb FOR FURTHER INFO PLEASE CONTACT: Emma Webb, Creative Producer, Vitalstatistix [email protected] 08 8447 6211 or 0407 154 870 Quiet Faith has been co-‐commissioned by Vitalstatistix and HotHouse Theatre and is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. DAVID WILLIAMS is a theatre maker whose productions open spaces for public conversation about political and social issues. He is the Curator of the Australian Theatre Forum 2015: Making It, and works as a director, writer, producer, dramaturg, and performer with companies across Australia. He is a past winner of the Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for Acting, a graduate of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Development Program, and his theatre works have won Helpmann, Green Room and Drovers Awards. He holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales and an Honours degree in Theatre from the University of Western Sydney (Nepean). David has worked with Illbijerri Theatre Company, Radio National's Airplay, Belvoir, Branch Nebula, Sidetrack Performance Group, Sydney Theatre Company, Blast Theory, Bonemap, Platform 27, Urban Theatre Projects and pvi collective. He was the founder of the performance group version 1.0, and co-‐created and produced all of the company's work from 1998-‐2012. He is currently an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney, and on the boards of SAMAG, Theatre Network NSW, and Arts on Tour. Current and recent projects include Black Diggers (Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Festival), Quiet Faith (Vitalstatistix and HotHouse), Luck Bad Luck (Griffin Theatre Company and Google Creative Labs), SongRites (Playwriting Australia and Sydney Opera House), Coranderrk (Ilbijerri Theatre Company), Exploration Licence (Campbelltown Arts Centre), Quay to the City (ATYP), and In This Fairfield (Powerhouse Youth Theatre).
