In an unnamed city, a group of strangers, acquaintances, and family members cross paths again and again without realising. They’re all struggling to find peace and purpose in their lives whether they have years stretching out before them or the end looms on the horizon. But they share one common coping mechanism: song.
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In the early 20th century, London was developing as a global cultural mecca as international influences, particularly from eastern Asia, were growing in popularity for audiences of poetry, literature, and theatre. From amongst this atmosphere came Lady Precious Stream by SI Hsiung, a play “in the style of traditional Chinese theatre” and based on Chinese folklore. But despite its hit status in 1930s London, the classic has since fallen into obscurity.
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The Cold War was a time of great paranoia with international powers Russia, China, the US, and the UK all vying for political and ideological dominance. In Australia, growing suspicions about communism meant a ramping up of national intelligence and ASIO surveillance of everyone, including everyday Australian citizens.
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Hannah Arendt’s theory on the banality of evil has become part of the common vernacular when considering the darker side of humanity; the way the whispers of cruelty seep into people undetected until the unthinkable happens. In the two-part production Morning Star, a group of writers imagine the consequences of pernicious ideas infiltrating otherwise unremarkable narratives.
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The last few years have felt particularly prophetic as the global timeline twists in on itself with the rise of fascism in the west, the collapse of democracy in Hong Kong, the civil rights movement of Black Lives Matter, and the “unprecedented” times of COVID-19 which saw responses from political leaders uncannily similar to the AIDS crisis and the 1918 flu pandemic. So it’s not surprising to see artists turn to the well-worn narratives of George Orwell as an imperfect mirror for the cycle of oppression and revolution we’re living through.
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Image by Blake Condon
Perhaps this is an unremarkable Friday evening in the home of an upper-class family with its usual problems. Or, perhaps this is the evening that finally begins the process of throwing the many cracks of regret, deceptions, and desires into relief; when the rocky marriage, alcoholic sister-in-law, fake friendships, and co-dependent daughter all come home to roost.
Image by Dawn Pugh
Based on the real events of a student invading the home of Germaine Greer, The Female of the Species sets past, present, and future feminists against each other to find the reckoning point between theory and practise.
Night Writes 