DAVID Williams’ latest work, Quiet Faith, challenges the representation of Australian Christianity in media and politics and invites audiences to see and understand a much more complicated picture.
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From hours of interviews with every day Christian Australians, Quiet Faith allows audiences to experience their perspective on: religion, belonging, loyalties and community and sets the stage for insightful conversation.
Quiet Faith will be at the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre from Wednesday to Friday, June 13-15 with an 11am matinée on Thursday and 7.30pm performances every evening. It is presented within the BMEC annual season.
This 65-minute verbatim production has been generated from hours of interviews with 20 Australian Christians and questions them on their outlook of how religion and politics should be balanced. Audience members are seated amounts performers in a formation reminiscent to that of the congregation of a round church and sound design incorporates hymns and prayer; creating an immersive experience.
Reviewing the production, Katherine Gales (ArtsHub) states: “Instantly the performance is a conversation and we, the audience, are one half of it. We asked the question and we are getting the answer delivered directly to us.
“It’s like sitting inside a documentary and the effect is striking. And of course the audience reactions are now part of the experience. The scene is not just the performer but also the person smiling or laughing along with them, or the person sitting behind who unconsciously crosses their arms and frowns in disagreement.”
Director David Williams, a leading Australian theatre artist whose productions open spaces for public conversation about political and social issues, has created this conversation between performers.
It’s this conversation that unpacks the complex disassociation between the conservatism of Christianity in media and politics; and the many Australians whose faith is a motivator for activism, social justice and progression.
Williams does this though verbatim theatre a style of production were theatre-makers use real people’s words exclusively and allows them to explore events and themes through the words of people at the heart of them.
Every audience member will come away from Quiet Faith with their own response based on their own relationship with religious institutions.
Contact BMEC Box Office for tickets and for more information. Phone 6333 6161.
