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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Scene A small room with a mattress in one corner. There is a dirty bed sheet on the mattress. The whole atmosphere is lit by a blue fluorescent light, covered in the ceiling by a cage. Suddenly the door of the room, which is located in the back, will open and a MAN will be thrown in. He tries to stand up, but he feels pain in his stomach, so he bends and tries to bear it.'
Source: Opening scene, from Southerly republication.
Production Details
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First produced at The Old Fitzroy Hotel Theatre, Woolloomooloo, 27 January 2003. Performed and directed by Shahin Shafaei.
Produced at The Cellar, Sydney University 14th and 15th April 2003.
Produced as part of the Sydney Writer's Festival 2003 at the Bangarra Theatre (the Wharf), 24 May, 2003.
Produced as part of the Arts and Human Rights Conference at the Canberra Youth Theatre 7 August 2003. Directed by Jennifer Hamilton
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Refugee Life Writing in Australia : Testimonios by Iranians
2014
single work
— Appears in: Postcolonial Text , vol. 9 no. 2 2014; This paper examines a growing trend of contemporary Australian writing, life narrations by refugees, along the genre of testimonio. It uses the example of Iranian writings, as Iranians compose the majority of asylum-seekers in Australia today. It questions the voice refugee writers are given by the Australian writers who help them to write or publish their life stories and ask how their writings redefine the genre of testimonio, used to tell the history of contemporary traumatic migrations to Australia. [Author's abstract] -
The Citation of Injury : Regarding the Exceptional Body
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , December vol. 33 no. 4 2009; (p. 459-472) 'Australia's instrumentalisation of non-citizen bodies via the practice of extrajudicial immigration detention produces a context for abjection in the form of hunger strikes and self-mutilation. This article examines the representation of these self-injuries in the poems 'Asylum' by Mehmet al Assad (2002) and 'Make a whistle from my throat' by an anonymous Baxter detainee (2005); Shahin Shafaei's solo play Refugitive (2002-04); solidarity fasts by Australian activists (2002-04); and Mike Parr's performance installation Close the Concentration Camps (2002). While presenting Australian audiences with the possibility for imaginative encounter with injured bodies that seem immutably 'other', these works also offer something more troubling, but potentially transforming: a context for recognition of proximity (both ethical and political) to the sovereign-produced position of exception.' (p. 459) -
Sustaining Language/Existing Threats : Resistance and Rhetoric in Australian Refugee Discourses: A Response to Linnell Secomb
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Judith Butler in Conversation : Analyzing the Texts and Talk of Everyday Life 2008; (p. 163-186) -
Theatrical Naivety Mars These Detention-Centre Presentations
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 August 2003; (p. 10)
— Review of Halal el Mashakel 2003 single work drama ; Refugitive: A One-Man theatre Work 2003 single work drama
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Theatrical Naivety Mars These Detention-Centre Presentations
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 August 2003; (p. 10)
— Review of Halal el Mashakel 2003 single work drama ; Refugitive: A One-Man theatre Work 2003 single work drama -
Sustaining Language/Existing Threats : Resistance and Rhetoric in Australian Refugee Discourses: A Response to Linnell Secomb
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Judith Butler in Conversation : Analyzing the Texts and Talk of Everyday Life 2008; (p. 163-186) -
The Citation of Injury : Regarding the Exceptional Body
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , December vol. 33 no. 4 2009; (p. 459-472) 'Australia's instrumentalisation of non-citizen bodies via the practice of extrajudicial immigration detention produces a context for abjection in the form of hunger strikes and self-mutilation. This article examines the representation of these self-injuries in the poems 'Asylum' by Mehmet al Assad (2002) and 'Make a whistle from my throat' by an anonymous Baxter detainee (2005); Shahin Shafaei's solo play Refugitive (2002-04); solidarity fasts by Australian activists (2002-04); and Mike Parr's performance installation Close the Concentration Camps (2002). While presenting Australian audiences with the possibility for imaginative encounter with injured bodies that seem immutably 'other', these works also offer something more troubling, but potentially transforming: a context for recognition of proximity (both ethical and political) to the sovereign-produced position of exception.' (p. 459) -
Refugee Life Writing in Australia : Testimonios by Iranians
2014
single work
— Appears in: Postcolonial Text , vol. 9 no. 2 2014; This paper examines a growing trend of contemporary Australian writing, life narrations by refugees, along the genre of testimonio. It uses the example of Iranian writings, as Iranians compose the majority of asylum-seekers in Australia today. It questions the voice refugee writers are given by the Australian writers who help them to write or publish their life stories and ask how their writings redefine the genre of testimonio, used to tell the history of contemporary traumatic migrations to Australia. [Author's abstract]