Stories of Love and Hate

Overview

Stories of Love and Hate draws upon a fairly unpleasant event in Australia's recent past. The Cronulla Riots in 2005 saw a crowd of mostly white young men take to the streets with violent passion to reclaim the beach from those of Middle Eastern appearance. Instead of dismissing it as an unfortunate act of racism, director Roslyn Oades has attempted to understand what, but more importantly, why the riots occurred.

The play, developed by Sydney's Urban Theatre Projects, the Bankstown-based company renowned for presenting gritty stories of contemporary Australian life, weaves together personal stories about the often tenuous bonds that hold us together and how easily they can begin to fall apart. More importantly, it considers the idea that hate is a consequence of feeling the things we love most are under threat. The piece was created  through two years of research alongside those affected by the riots from Bankstown and the Sutherland Shire. Rather than reiterating media hype or erring on the side of judgment, the project attempts to grasp the issues from firsthand accounts, with just the right amount of humour to make you appreciate things without wringing your hands in a fit of communal cultural guilt.

Presented by the Sydney Theatre Company as part of it's education series, the play uses a technique they're dubbing 'Headphone Verbatim', where the actors wear headphones and recite their lines in accordance with a carefully edited audio script, channelling multiple characters, to recreate every cough, tic, stumble and inarticulation of authentic human communication.