Issue Details: First known date: 2023... 2023 “Something Has to Change” An Examination of Prima Facie, Rape, and the Pursuit of Collective Wellbeing
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'In April 2022, I found myself in the Harold Pinter Theatre on the West End, waiting to watch Jodie Comer star as protagonist Tessa Ensler in Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie. Surprised that after two years of on-and-off-again lockdowns due to COVID-19, I had finally made it all the way overseas to see this Australian play on the British stage, I asked the person next to me if they were excited to see the show. She was a young, twenty-something woman who smiled and said, “I can’t wait to see Jodie Comer in the flesh”. I asked what she knew about the play, and she told me a friend had given her a ticket because she was a Jodie Comer fan and that she did not know anything about the play before coming tonight. I was apprehensive on her behalf, knowing she was about to see a profound performance of a woman processing her own rape on stage, without forewarning. I realised in this moment how far this play had come in a brief period, from its first small run at the Stables Theatre in Sydney to London’s West End, in spite of a global pandemic. After the play ended, I turned to ask my neighbour what she thought. She was crying. After several moments, she praised Comer’s performance, launching into her thoughts on how powerful this play was, how profound an impact it could have for discussions of sexual assault.' (Introduction)

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    y separately published work icon M/C Journal Wellbeing vol. 26 no. 4 2023 26792471 2023 periodical issue

    'Wellbeing is now officially acknowledged as a vital part of human societies, with the Australian government’s federal treasurer Jim Chalmers implementing a “wellbeing budget” in October 2022 that would seek to “measure what matters” and enable proactive strategies to enhance society (Wright). This could not be more welcome as we live through climate catastrophes – floods, hurricanes, and heat-waves leading to unprecedented burning, and experiences of burnout – from surviving cost-of-living, health, and housing crises, and grappling with advances in AI technologies amid escalating global uncertainty. And yet, when wellbeing is invoked without being matched, for example, by the progressive taxation of billionaires and corporations whose concentration of wealth is accelerating these crises, ever greater numbers will languish instead of flourishing.' (Vivian Gerrand and Megan Catherine Rose : Editorial introduction)

    2023
Last amended 5 Sep 2023 12:27:03
https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/2978 “Something Has to Change” An Examination of Prima Facie, Rape, and the Pursuit of Collective Wellbeingsmall AustLit logo M/C Journal
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