Human Activity is the final puzzle piece in the work that I began in Kamathipura 10 years ago. It’s been a glorious and challenging project, mostly rewarding: the young girls that live in the laneways of Asia’s oldest and largest red light district now have an arts program run by Clowns Without Borders and the Brett Lee Music Centre. Girls have traveled - on a plane! - to international children’s theatre festivals. We’ve supported a program to train women in hair salons, to provide them with an opportunity to change their lives. We’ve seen a night shelter established for the most vulnerable tots and toddlers from the local brothels. On the way we worked alongside, partnered with and were inspired by some titans of Indian theatre. We’ve established an arts exchange, hosting 4 Mumbai artists in Sydney and sending 4 from Sydney to Mumbai.
Sometimes the big wild ideas take off. Human Activity is a companion piece to Jatinga, a play inspired by the stories of the girls I met in Kamathipura, commissioned by bAKEHOUSE and written and developed by playwright Purva Naresh, Aarambh theatre and a team of actors at bAKEHOUSE. In 2017 we put India on a tiny stage in KX and played a sold out and acclaimed season.
In 2017 I wrote this about Jatinga: “It’s just a play. And it’s not going to change the world in any big way. But the work of building it, and the context of its development, and the stories it tells, has changed the world for a few girls”. Human Activity is an Australian response to the big ideas of Jatinga: that at the point where our lives intersect there is an opportunity for love and compassion: that a little play can say a big thing; that theatre and art can both reflect and transcend life; that new and different is good - in theatre, in life.
Katie’s play is a uniquely Australian response to that season. Determinedly Australian yet somehow touched by Indian playmaking, universal in its story and themes, it begins with the idea that our lives intersect and our experiences are shared. We’ve put together a cast that looks like no other you’ll see in Sydney this year, with 21 year olds working on their first production alongside veterans in their 70s. You may have seen some on stages for Belvoir, Riverside, Monkey Baa and KXT. There are those who have lived in Sydney their whole lives, others who have been here for only a few years. Most have traveled to rehearsals from the outer edges of Sydney, (and will be pleased when we transfer to Riverside theatres in October!)
It’s the final piece of a complex 10 year puzzle, driven by compassion, and generosity, and deep care for those who find themselves alone. It is a strange lovely hybrid thing: heavily influenced by the poetry and storytelling of its origins in Indian theatre making, written for and speaking to an Australian audience, locked deep in recent culture and events. Thank you for giving it your time.