Bankstown Arts Centre in Sydney was the venue for the staging of Stories, a collection of five short plays, curated by Crossover Stories and the maiden venture of Taufeeq Ahmed Sheikh, producer of Crossover Stories, on 17th Feb 2023.
Taufeeq is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and a radio broadcaster. He has experience in stage and film direction. His vision is to bring the creative ambitions of emerging artists to life and into the mainstream Australian media and to create a safe space for storytellers to experiment and explore their craft through his production house, with an added focus on the South Asian community. His film for the Dowry Abuse Project, an initiative of the NSW Police, has received the coveted Rotary Club Media Award.
For Stories, Taufeeq teamed up with Avijit Sarkar, who is the writer of the five plays and the background music composer. The plays were directed by five directors and performed by 27 actors.
Avijit Sarkar is a Sydney based musician, composer, illustrator, cartoonist, writer, poet, puppeteer, philanthropist & a mathematician. He was awarded the Australia Day Award 2020 for his contributions to Arts and Culture. He has performed in over 1800 concerts in the last 45 years. His music institute in Sydney, Natraj Academy, has trained music professionals for over 17 years.
The five plays transported the South Asian community audience into realms in which conversations on issues would normally be dealt in hushed tones, behind closed doors; issues such as marital problems, infidelity, sexuality, religion, intolerance, racism etc.
Brothers in Arms directed by Jyotsana Sharma, is the story of two families—Hindu and Muslim—which appear to be in a harmonious relationship until the son and daughter from the two families fall in love and wish to marry. The families object to the relationship and the hypocrisy in religious tolerance is laid bare.
The Elevator Ride directed by Paul Kininmonth studies the reaction of a bunch of people, drawn from various ethnic backgrounds, taking a short ride up in an elevator and the racial slurs & rude behaviours exhibited by them.
The Final Moment, directed by Sam Cosentino, explores paedophilia and the devastating effects on its victims.
Retake directed by Akshat Gupta was about marital problems and infidelity, issues which are as old as the institution of marriage itself.
Uncomfortable Truth directed by Susan Jordan is the story of an Indian husband who comes home to his wife, declares that he is gay and that he wishes to leave her and live with his boyfriend. At that point, all hell broke loose. A few members in the audience objected to the play and wanted it stopped. An argument broke out amongst the audience, some in favour and others against the play which was dealing in the taboo subject of homosexuality. I wanted to chip in with my two cents worth before I realised that the audience members were actually actors and part of the cast, planted in the midst of the audience, for dramatic effect. Nice touch!
Said Avijit Sarkar, “These stories are an unadulterated telling of the political, religious and social dogmas prevalent in our society, yet with a humorous undertone.”
Taufeeq Sheikh added, “These stories do come with certain risks associated but a greater risk is to not tell them.”
Using the quote by César A Cruz, “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”
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Bankstown Arts Centre in #Sydney was the venue for the staging of #Stories, a collection of 5️⃣ short #plays, curated by Crossover Stories & the maiden venture of Taufeeq Ahmed Sheikh, producer of #CrossoverStories, on 17 February 2023. #TheIndianSunhttps://t.co/FaUkF8HnDM
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