Refugee Stories Form Theme of Theatre Students’ Play

Refugee Stories Form Theme of Theatre Students’ Play

The current refugee crisis, as well as the history of refugee movements, forms the base theme of an original play production taking place in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts this month.

Devised by University of Waikato Theatre Studies’ students, Sea and Smoke is a physically bold production which tells the stories of children throughout time who have to journey away from their parents and their home to be safe. The production pulls from both the current crisis and other refugee stories, all the way back to the Kindertransport of World War II.

“We've been inspired by the hopefulness that children maintain in the most challenging circumstances, and are excited to share a world with our audiences that is at once cheeky, magical and deeply unsettling,” says Director, Dr Laura Haughey.

“It has been a pleasure to work with this talented group of performers. The process has been extremely collaborative, and we look forward to sharing the work this month,” she says.

Across 11 weeks, the group of 16 students taking the third year Theatre Studies course ‘Creating Theatre’, have worked to create this unique piece which deals with the hard and human topics of saying goodbye, finding safety, and losing home, and its chilling relevance to what is happening in the world today.

Student, Kelsie Morland reflects on the journey so far saying, “it's been a harrowing journey discovering the darkness of humanity, but also finding the light that brings us home.”

The students are required to devise the entire production from beginning to end, as well as perform acting and technical roles, as an assessed component of the course.

Sea and Smoke takes place October 14-16 at 7.30pm in the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. Tickets are $10 (cash sales only at the door). Seats are limited and bookings can be made through Hannah Wright at hwright@waikato.ac.nz.

ENDS

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