Categories: Reviews

OzAsia Festival: Stories Then and Now

William Yang. Image supplied.

I love a good documentary. I love good theatre. Put the two together and you have a fantastic afternoon at the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Directors William Yang and Annette Shun Wah have assembled a group of performers with Asian heritage to tell us a story about their parents and grandparents as well as their own story. Each story is unique and many filled with humour and warmth. Many stories include tragedy, heartache and moments that are so unjust and incomprehensible that you cannot help but appreciate how fantastic it is to see these performers standing before us.

Each performer was eloquent, the script flowed with ease and the visual backdrop of archive photos and Nicholas Ng’s soundscape brought these stories to life. The stories were particularly diverse, touching on personal experiences from escapes from their countries of origin, arrivals in Australia, burlesque, gay marriage, many, many children and more. Each with a quirky spin and delivery that draws you in for more.

The time flew by and it felt like the audience got to know the five performers as you would a friend at a BBQ. More a spoken word presentation than anything else, this was a great part of the 2013 OzAsia Festival.

Hayley Horton

Hayley was an arts worker in South Australia for twelve years working freelance for small to medium clients as well as for companies such as the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, State Theatre Company SA, Urban Myth Theatre of Youth and the Australia Business Arts Foundation. As part of her freelance work, Hayley founded the ATG Curtain Call Awards (which is now an annual gala event), co-produced three 24 Hour Show charity fundraiser events, has judged for the Adelaide Fringe Festival and reviewed for Aussie Theatre and the Adelaide Theatre Guide. Hayley now runs a boutique events and arts management business, Footlight Events and in her spare time, is involved with Adelaide’s amateur theatre community as a producer, performer and director.