Utp, formerly known as Urban Theatre Projects, announces the world premiere of Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls – an exciting new work from four acclaimed Western Sydney writers, presented in Parramatta from 20 to 23 January for Sydney Festival. Created in partnership with Sweatshop and directed by S.Shakthidharan (Counting and Cracking, Belvoir), this is theatrical storytelling for the screen.

On the day that Donald Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, four hood-rats clash in a string of violence, substance abuse and sexual encounters. This is a vivid and compelling portrait of life growing up in Western Sydney.

Experienced as a multi-screen installation Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls is an oral storytelling experience from the heartland of multicultural Australia. The four-part monologue weaves together a portrait of young people of colour (POC) growing up in the Western suburbs of Sydney. Presented across four screens, live audiences will experience the work from the comfort of a socially-distanced chair while enjoying a complimentary Bánh mì.

Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls has been created by a team of extraordinary artists and technicians, all of whom are from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse background, infusing the work with depth and authenticity. The work resonates with an astute sense of place, connection and shared experiences of those traversing the tensions and challenges of mixed cultural mores and behaviours with empathy, humour and uncompromising clarity of truth.

Written by Winnie Dunn, Stephen Pham, Shirley Le and Omar Sakr, with script editing and dramaturgical support from acclaimed author Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls has been crafted for the screen by Helpmann Award winner S.Shakthidharan and performers Hazem Shammas, Emily Havea, Aileen Huynh and Henry Vo.

The writers stress their stories are as diverse as their lived experiences of western Sydney:

Writer Winnie Dunn: ‘My monologue speaks to the shame a lower-class mixed-race Tongan woman feels about her current circumstances. From the streets of Mt Druitt to Cabramatta, my monologue asks how much do women of colour need to give up to be seen as human in the era of Trump.’

Writer Shirley Le: ‘I have written about a second-generation Vietnamese-Australian woman who struggles to meet Australia’s expectations of the ‘model minority’ throughout her early twenties.’

Writer Omar Sakr: ‘With this story, I wanted to shine a light on the experience of a queer Arab Muslim man in Western Sydney, not torn between his faith and sexuality, but living with both.’

Writer Stephen Pham: ‘My monologue explores the paranoia and isolation that occurs in post-Trump, post-Brexit, post-Pacific Solution world, and how these present themselves through race, gender, and class in Western Sydney.’

Dr Jessica Olivieri, Utp Artistic Director says: ‘This is a work that unpicks stereotypes of Western Sydney.  Utp is delighted to be partnering with Sweatshop and the extraordinary team of artists to bring this experience to audiences during Sydney Festival.’

Director S.Shakthidharan, explains: ‘When I first read the Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls script, I recoiled. Not out of disgust or fear, but because of how sharp the reflection was; of who we are, and the loss of what we could be. I hadn’t heard these thoughts voiced out loud before. It was almost too much to take. Winnie, Shirley, Omar and Stephen, working with Mohammed, have written something almost from the subconscious; an unflinching portrayal of the forces in society that eat away at us and the deeply human ways we try to mitigate that loss.’

‘These four monologues are by turns hilarious and tragic, visceral and poetic. Layered and assembled onto the screen they provide audiences with something that, even in 2020, is still all too rare – an immersive, uncompromising portrayal of just another night in western Sydney. This is a piece for us. Self-hate exists. Hope exists too, but it can be so hard to find it. Sometimes you have to fight just to be yourself.’

Editor Michael Mohammed Ahmad, adds: ‘Growing up in Sydney over the last thirty years, it was not uncommon for me to see theatre productions which were one-hundred percent produced by white artists. Sex, Drugs & Pork Rolls is the realisation of a vision to unapologetically reflect the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of contemporary Australian society.

“When I conceived the idea, I had a very simple, but very radical, premise in mind: What would an Australian theatre production that was one-hundred percent produced – on every level of arts creation – by people of colour? The answer is everything Australian audiences deserve from the modern-day experience of attending the theatre: a work that is fresh, complex, unique, uncompromising, brave, hilarious, tragic, honest, and most importantly, an authentic portrait of who we are as a nation.’

DETAILS

PROJECT TEAM
Writers – Winnie Dunn, Stephen Pham, Shirley Le and Omar Sakr
Director – S.Shakthidharan
Editor – Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Cinematographer – Akil Ahamat
Actor – Hazem Shammas (performing in work by Omar Sakr)
Actor – Emily Havea (performing in work by Winnie Dunn)
Actor – Aileen Huynh (performing in work by Shirley Le)
Actor – Henry Vo (performing in work by Stephen Pham)

EVENT DETAILS
Date: Wednesday 20 January – Saturday 23 January 2021
Times: 7pm and 9pm
Duration: 60 minutes
Location: Riverside Theatres, Lennox Theatre
Cost: $30 full price, $25 concession
Information: https://utp.org.au
Bookings: https://utp.org.au

Featured image: left to right) Emily Hayes, Henry Vu, Aileen Huynh,Hazem Shammas. Pic Nancy Trieu