Cirrus@Austlit

'Join four mainland-born Torres Strait Islander women as they battle against the rising tide threatening their home, culture and identity. GURR ERA OP (“the face of the sea” in Meriam Mir) is a celebratory sharing of culture and a call to action in the face of climate devastation, interweaving hybrid Torres Strait Islander contemporary storytelling, movement and spoken word.

'What would you do if you could never go home? Is your culture bound by place or by self? What happens to your identity when the physical place that holds your ancestral foundations disappears?

'These are some of the questions the storytellers grapple with daily as they watch their motherland, family and communities suffer the onslaught of climate change. The Torres Strait Islands are currently on the front lines – but ultimately, your home is next.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Force Majeure brings theatre legends Paul Capsis, Olwen Fouéré and Pamela Rabe together with its new youth company for a truly epic new production. Presented at Sydney Festival and commissioned by Carriageworks, The Last Season features thirteen 9-14 year-olds from our youth company, which has been made possible through strategic funding from the NSW government. Using Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as a departure point for an intergenerational conversation exploring ageing, environmental destruction and speculative paths to human survival, The Last Season asks: How did we get here? What have we built? How can we continue?' (Production summary)

'Over the past few decades the word 'parenting' has crept insidiously, almost imperceptibly, into our vernacular bringing with it increasing anxiety around issues of raising children. Is the pressure to get it right overwhelming us? And what is "good parenting" anyway? Are children today given too much choice? Too few boundaries? Less chance to take risks? Are they protected from notions of failure? Sexualised too young?

Drawing inspiration from Christos Tsiolkas' best-selling novel The Slap, Force Majeure's Artistic Director Kate Champion and her company interviewed people of all ages and backgrounds to garner their views on the subject of parenting. In a familiar, yet disconcertingly Lynchian, Aussie backyard seven actors and dancers create a myriad of familiar characters from the verbatim text that they collected.' Source: www.sydneytheatre.com.au/ (Sighted 26/9/2011)