BURIED CITY
It’s easy to forget sometimes that a city’s real building blocks are humans. The origin of the word city is actually linked to the Latin civitatem: citizenship or community of citizens. A community that is often fractured by the rifts of real estate, the ghettos of privilege and access, the myriad vested interests.
Buried City attempts to excavate some of these deep-rooted concerns: to unearth the city as a space of resonance, growth, and above all, human beings. One night on a construction site, at which security guards, a local teenager, and a group of labourers gather, becomes a parable for the urbanscape at large.
Director Alicia Talbot from the Bankstown-based Urban Theatre Projects says of the project – the idea for which came to her while in residence in another harbour city on the cusp of change, Toronto – “It’s about how the city keeps shifting and changing and folding in on itself.” She continues, “But really it’s about people trying to connect and make sense of themselves in the world.”
Various community groups were invited to participate, such as the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the African Women Australia Inc and Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation. Talbot laughingly describes her approach, “Don’t hang up, I’ve got an idea I want to talk to you about!”
She describes an encounter with the the CFMEU president: “I’m paraphrasing here, but he basically said that the collective is more important than the individual. The work [Buried City] is not about championing anyone or any one idea. There are multiple ideas that are constantly in conflict, that disrupt and harmonise –at its best that’s what the work represents.”
Redfern-resident and singer-songwriter Perry Keyes, who has long anointed Sydney as his muse, steps onto the stage for his theatrical debut as a security guard.
“It’s a bit of an adventure – a voyage of discovery,” he admits. For the songs, which will be woven throughout the piece, Keyes says he has drawn on, “the environment the characters inhabit. It’s the inner city, its shipping culture – the kind of environment I am familiar with.”
But while for Sydneysiders some references will be obvious, Buried City could be transplanted to any space. “It’s really a reflection of the change to that is taking place in the inner city – and how it affects the people who have to deal with it every day, the workers that are at the coal face,” says Keyes.
“In the end, the message is positive,” Keyes continues. “Change is gonna happen anyway. Live with it the best you can.”
Jan 6-Feb 5, Belvoir St Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills, $42-62, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au
