Your plays Blue Italian and Nil By Sea are showing as a double bill at Leichhardt Town Hall. What links the two pieces?
Although they were written a long time apart, they are actually intended as companion pieces. They both deal with themes of exile and belonging, the journeys people take, either out of curiosity or desperation, and the question of what makes somewhere a home.
What is it that stands out to make each a separate play?
Nil By Sea was inspired by a news story about a refugee who stowed away to London in the wheel arch of a plane but fell out as it came down to land. The play looks at his motivations and the effect of his death on the community in the street where he landed. Blue Italian comes from a more personal space, drawing on my own migration story. They are stylistically different too, through their physicality and language.
You’ve not only written for theatre, but also for radio. How did you catch the writing bug?
I’ve always written – as a child I used to type up and paste together my own magazines – and I’ve always done theatre, so it was only a matter of time before I started writing plays.
Where else do you find your inspiration – from politics, culture or individuals in your life?
I get lots of ideas from current affairs and news, lots of anger from politics and lots of support from people around me.
How engaging do you find the Sydney theatre scene at the moment?
Very. The problem of affordable spaces is starting to be solved through pop-ups and innovative support such as Leichhardt Council’s Site & Sound season, which this show is part of. But there’s always room for more new Australian plays, of course!
Blue Italian/Nil By Seais on atLeichhardt Town Hall,Wednesday April 29 – Sunday May 17.
