2022 YOU KNOW WE BELONG TOGETHER Black Swan State Theatre Company Supported through the PLACE Programme Part of the UK/Australia Season 2021–22, a joint initiative of the British Council and AffairsDepartmentAustralian Government’sofForeignandTrade 24–27 August 7.30pm 27 August 2pm THE LYCEUM The performance lasts approximately 1 hour with no interval. Please ensure that all mobile phones and electronic devices are switched off or put on silent.
YOU KNOW WE BELONG TOGETHER CAST Lead Artist Julia Hales Performers Joshua LaurenMelissaMarkTinaPatrickBottCarterFieldingJunorJunorMarchbank CREATIVES Director Clare Watson Writers Julia Hales with Finn O’Branagáin and Clare Watson Set & Costume Designer Tyler Hill Lighting Designer Joe Paradise Lui Sound Designer & Composer Rachael Dease Video Designer Michael Carmody Movement Directors Laura Boynes with Ian Wilkes (UK) Dramaturg Deborah May Film Maker Lincoln MacKinnon Film Interviewee Hermione Merry Production Stage Manager Katie Moore Lighting Realiser Lucy Birkinshaw Head of Sound Tim Collins Company Manager Natalie Rowan (UK) Producers Julia Holt with Simone Flavelle Performer Supports Amy Hales, Ruth Bott, Sophia Humes Thorne, Stephenie Fielding, Graham Junor, Lynne Junor, Ivy Miller
Julia Hales has watched every single episode of Australian soap opera Home and Away since it first aired in 1988, but she’s never seen another person with Down syndrome in the cast. She dreams of landing a role in her favourite show and finding love. This live documentary is at once a universal story of love, loss and friendship, and a deeply personal exploration of the frustrations and aspirations of living with Down syndrome. Julia and a cast of six Western Australian actors will put their own lives on stage, mixing their experiences and personal day-to-day realities with monologues, video, scenes, dance and song. All juxtaposed on the setting of the famous diner at Summer Bay. Julia says ‘I want people to see us for who we are and what we do as part of the world.’
You Know We Belong Together sends heartfelt thanks to Wendy Martin, Julie McGauran, Ray Meagher, Seven Network, Marchbank and Fielding families, Back to Back Theatre, Simone Flavelle and My Place for their enthusiasm, expertise and generosity.
Originally produced by Perth Festival, Black Swan and DADAA. A Perth Festival Commission. Thanks to Mike Perjanik for his kind permission to use the Home and Away theme music and lyrics.
While this is a play about Down syndrome that calls with no uncertainty for inclusivity, understanding and better representation of disability on screen, it is also a completely universal story about love, about loss, about family and about friendships. You’re about to make some new friends. We’re glad you’re here because you know that we belong together. Enjoy the show. This play is dedicated to Carol Hales.
DownO’Branagáin.syndrome is a chromosomal condition that occurs at conception. It’s also called Trisomy 21. Typically, our chromosomes pair up – like a whole series of microscopic love stories. Trisomy 21 occurs when the Chromosome 21 pair is joined by a third to become a threesome. So, Julia and all of the wonderful artists that join her on stage – Lauren, Josh, Tina, Melissa, Mark and Pat – have one more Chromosome 21 than most of the audience. At a biological level, these artists have something extra. And Julia and her ensemble have certainly brought something extra to our process of creating this production – it has been one of the most invigorating and inspiring creative environments I’ve ever had the pleasure of working in.
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
You Know We Belong Together is a live documentary on stage presented by lead artist, Julia Hales. Julia and I were introduced in 2017 by Perth Festival artistic director Wendy Martin. It turns out that Wendy is quite the matchmaker; we hit it off instantly. Julia had already been researching and developing a work about finding love – some of her research interviews feature in You Know We Belong Together. In our first meeting, Julia told me about her years of acting experience with DADAA, her training at WAAPA, her love of Home and Away and her wish ‘to make a show to help remind non-disabled people that people with Down syndrome are complex and emotional people, like them. That they also have regular desires like love and acceptance’. She was about to commence work with co-writer Finn
© Clare Watson
© Finn O’Branagáin
Verbatim theatre normally takes place sometime after the fact of the action. It is often compiled with extensive research and interviews and then pieced together, thread by thread – the writer becoming part detective, part storyteller, part compelling barrister for the subjects. It’s then handed over to a director and actors to make it come alive – a representation of other people, another time – illuminating a case for the audience. Sometimes the subjects can be surprised by how they ‘sound’, their representation folded in amongst other storylines, facts and threads of interest creating a documentary of a self that they might not quite recognise. Some of the magic of You Know We Belong Together – sorry, the magic of Julia Hales – is that I have been able to do all this with her – researching and conversing and piecing it together, with Julia as both subject and performer. Having Julia as the lead artist has meant that at all times she’s in control of the documentation and presentation of her own story. Together with Clare Watson we’ve pressed forward with research lines of enquiry that interested us all, that strengthened Julia’s arguments. Together we’ve poured over our transcribed conversations, piecing together, thread by thread, illuminating a portrait of a remarkable woman, a celebration of a community, a case for the audience towards love and belonging. A documentary of a life still unfolding, dreams being lived, a person that the audience can recognise as someone in control of her own self and own story. Watching Clare and Julia shaping it on stage, seeing it come alive with a room of professional artists with and without Down syndrome. It’s been an honour to work with Clare and Julia in service of amplifying and articulating Julia’s story and passions and introducing audiences to her and the cast of magnificent people in the production and in the Down syndrome community.
WRITER’S NOTE
Julia Hales began developing as a performing artist and writer with DADAA in 1996 including dance, theatre and screen in her works. She is a dedicated performer who is focused on works referencing universal themes of identity, fame and love.
In 2021 Julia was accepted into Performing Lines’ Kolyang Hub to explore the development of a peer network through interviews with other disabled artists.
Julia began researching what love meant to other people with Down syndrome. The resulting short film led to her co-devised work, You Know We Belong Together which had a sold-out season as part of Perth Festival in 2018 and with Black Swan State Theatre Company in 2019.
JULIA HALES
In 2020, Julia became the first person with Down syndrome to host ABC’s Compass with THE UPSIDE through which she explored people's thoughts when they face a decision about having a baby with Down syndrome.
Julia is active in the Western Australian (WA) Down syndrome community, volunteering to work with babies and toddlers and regularly speaking at events focused on people with Down syndrome. She has worked across a variety of settings and has experienced accelerated professional development since participating in Australia Council’s SYNC Leadership program in 2015/16. During this period, she was cast as one of the traders in blackmarket, pvi’s performance work as part of PIAF Following2016.this,
Change X Change was in collaboration with Rachael Woodward and had a first workshop in November 2021.
Julia is currently developing a new project, The New Bachelorette with another awardwinning performer, Bron Batten, and in partnership with Performing Lines WA and My Place WA. She recently joined Sensorium Theatre in Perth, Western Australia as a storyteller and performer and has participated in the Perth Festival 2022 Connect program through Crit Club.
Julia also re-examined her own experience as she confronted parents' fears and celebrated the joys of living with Down syndrome.
BLACK SWAN STATE THEATRE COMPANY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Founded in 1991, Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia is a leader in creating connections that empower and uplift. From its home at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia, Perth, it aims to create brave and playful conversations about its audiences’ experience. The company has earned critical and popular acclaim for its productions and its highly distinctive reinterpretations of international theatre classics, all of which are infused with the culture of Western Australia.
The development and presentation of the original production was supported by The Australia Council, The Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. This tour is made possible by Black Swan's Future Fund.
Black Swan provides an annual programme of inclusive and accessible productions, commissions and learning experiences, both live and online, for the people of Perth and throughout the state of Western Australia. It is increasingly establishing an eloquent presence throughout Australia and internationally. Black Swan is supported by Principal Partner Fortescue Metals Group.
AT KING'S HALL 5TH TO 29TH AUGUST 2022
