25 – 28 Oct: 8pm
27 Oct: 4pm
28 Oct: 2pm
VENUE: Seymour Centre
Grace Under Pressure is a verbatim theatre project that examines the workplace and training cultures that are making young health professionals sick and putting patient lives at risk.
According to Beyond Blue’s 2013 ‘National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students’ report, rates of clinical depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation and suicidal behaviour among this population are twice the national average. Bullying, harassment and ‘teaching by humiliation’ are a common experience in hospitals, particularly for students and interns.
Acclaimed verbatim theatre makers David Williams and Paul Dwyer, in collaboration with the Sydney Arts and Health Collective, have developed Grace Under Pressure from interviews with interns, medical and nursing students, as well as senior allied health professionals and representatives from the specialist colleges and peak bodies.
Grace Under Pressure opens up a conversation about these often-taboo issues. It will be an important public exploration into an often toxic medical culture, as well as a compelling, confronting, hopeful and deeply moving work of theatre.
On 28th October the matinee performance will be followed by a post show talk.
Festival Commission and World Premiere.
Grace Under Pressure has been co-commissioned by The Big Anxiety and Seymour Centre, and developed with the support of the Department of Performance Studies, University of Sydney. This project for The Big Anxiety has been assisted by the Australian government through the Department of Communication and the Arts’ Catalyst—Australian Arts and Culture Fund.
Grace Under Pressure is presented with Seymour Centre as part of the Great Ideas Performance Series 2017.
David Williams
David Williams is a leading Australian theatre artist whose productions open spaces for public conversation about political and social issues. Through his work, David has demonstrated a unique blend of exceptional theatrical artistry, innovative artistic entrepreneurship and strong organisational leadership, most particularly demonstrated by his acclaimed 14 years as Artistic Director and later CEO of the theatre company version 1.0 (1998-2012). Recently the Curator of the Australian Theatre Forum 2015: Making It, he has worked over the past 20 years as a producer, director, dramaturg, and performer with companies across Australia. He currently presents work under the banner DW Projects.
Paul Dwyer
Paul Dwyer is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney. He has published widely on applied theatre, in particular the work of Augusto Boal, and is currently completing a monograph on discourse and performance in restorative justice conferencing. Paul is also a performance maker with extensive professional experience in documentary theatre, including THE BOUGAINVILLE PHOTOPLAY PROJECT, which toured throughout Australia and won a Melbourne Green Room Award, and BEAUTIFUL ONE DAY, a collaboration with Ilbijerri Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, version 1.0 and members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of Palm Island.