Most people would agree that the politics around Australia’s acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers are divisive.

Sure, our discourse is not quite as vitriolic as the jingoistic tone heard in the USA these days, or various European capitals trying to sidestep the plight of Syria, but we’re also not the most empathic of people. Often that’s because asylum seekers are couched in economic terms that render them abstract, which is why a performance such as Prize Fighteris so very timely.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that it’s also engaging and well-written. Playwright Future D. Fidel has crafted a highly acclaimed story of escaping a war-torn past and building a new life on far distant shores – and given Fidel spent eight years in a Tanzanian refugee camp after fleeing Congo before finally settling in Brisbane, the man knows what he’s talking about.

“People don’t have a choice,” Fidel explains. “They don’t choose to flee, it just happens. If war was to happen here in Brisbane – not that it will – but if it happened in Australia, we have the right to seek asylum somewhere else. That’s what happens to refugees. They didn’t ask for it, for their countries to have war. It’s a situation that they can’t control, and they have to flee for survival. But then, the places you go, you find they don’t like you, they don’t appreciate your presence. And the hardest thing is, you can’t go back. If you go back, you die. So it’s hard looking back. You just have to accept it, and live in whatever condition you’re given. There is no other choice. It is either death, or what you are given.”

Prize Fighter tells of a young Congolese boxer who has built a name for himself in the ring after escaping a harrowing upbringing as a child soldier. Though Fidel draws heavily on his own past, this is far from an autobiography, and the character Isa bears little resemblance to his maker. Yet the experiences that fuel Isa’s journey are those that Fidel knows first-hand, and that still haunt him today. Because of this, however, he is able to talk openly to other refugees, particularly the young and distressed, and help them find a voice in their adoptive home.

“I don’t follow a lot of storytellers as such. But I guess I’m always inspired by the storytelling since I was a child. I remember when the moon shines, everyone sits around and starts telling stories, and it’s really appealing sometimes to hear different stories. I think working with [other refugees] comes from the side of, not necessarily being an artist, but being a storyteller. I’m saying, because I lived the life that I’m telling, I’m OK to tell it. I’ve gone through the same thing, and maybe I am still going through post-traumatic stress, or still going through feeling depressed. If I’ve been through that and I’m doing OK, I can tell them that, ‘Hey, I know this has happened, but you’ll be OK.’ It’s better to tell them that. Saying it out loud is better than keeping it inside.

“I can tell it because I have experienced it, I have seen this face-to-face,” Fidel continues. “So that’s not an issue. I think I can write a piece as well that’s not related to the idea of refugees or these type of stories, but I like to write those, because those are the ones where countries don’t like refugees, or don’t like foreigners. These are the issues that people as refugees go through all the time. Even though I’m already an Australian citizen, I’m still falling into the category of being a refugee. I can’t deny it, it’s just the reality that we live in.”

Prize Fighter by Dylan Evans2_425

While Prize Fighter is the play that has launched Fidel’s name, it is by no means a flash in the pan. Fidel has seen two of his other pieces reach the stage in I Am Here and In My Steps, each thematically concerned with refugees, community and estrangement. All three productions have been received warmly, and already Prize Fighter is emerging as a Sydney Festival must-see.

As it stands, the play clocks in at just under an hour – your standard festival fare. It is exhilarating theatre, produced around live boxing, with kudos here to Pacharo Mzembe, who plays Isa – not only does he have to remember lines and mannerisms, but enact a real boxing match. But it is also unlikely to be the last time we’ll hear from Isa – already Fidel is contemplating the story on a much wider canvas.

“I don’t think I’ve told Isa’s full story, because at the end of the day you want it to be about an hour long, so it’s hard to tell the whole thing in just an hour. I think it at least needs a few hours. One of the things, if you’re still coming up and still emerging, you have to go according to certain rules. If you’re commissioned by a certain company, you can write whatever you want, but it has to be this long, it has to have this number of characters, things like that. But if it’s me saying I’m going to produce or invite people to produce, I can write whatever show! Whether that’s a five-hour show with a hundred actors onstage, you have that freedom,” he laughs.

[Prize Fighter photos by Dylan Evans]

Prize Fighter runsFriday January 6 – Sunday January 22 atBelvoir St Theatre,as part of Sydney Festival 2017.

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