Inside the imposing architecture of Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne, an ensemble of eleven young, diverse performers will take to the stage for ‘The Word’ presented by St Martins 17 – 26 May 2024.
‘The Word’ brings together these young performers with a cohort of established practitioners including Hmong-Australian writer Michele Lee, composer/musician and proud Yorta Yorta woman Allara Briggs Pattison , international choreographer Bridget Fiske and set/costume designer Matilda Woodroofe. Long time St Martins’ collaborators, dramaturg/video designer, Michael Carmody and lighting designer, Richard Vabre, complete the creative team.
‘The Word’ reaches across epochs, emerging out of an organic process of young people digging for light inside recent dark years.
Who is in control? “When things went to shit, I hid into myself, into my own mountains and rivers. Before and now and after. I fought battles with gangs, with history. I’m still listening out for my gut, my soul, my magic.”
The clock is ticking. The Word is at risk. Two rival groups hide in a disused place, an abandoned archive. They hash out clues to a feud fuelled by fragments from the past. Reaching across the Before, Now and After, the group fights, dreams and grapples with scattered pieces of truth.
‘The Word’ reflects the depth, curiosity and courage of the young theatre makers, diving deeper into systems of language that conceal, censor and control– upturning old vessels of power to dig out a new way, to step into the unknown. ‘The Word’ wrestles with existing structures and hierarchies to reclaim and rewrite new future trajectories.
