Exploring the idea of asylum
Image: ASYLUM hero image
By KYE ANSON
After the success of its short preview season in 2017, Ruth Fingret’s Asylum will return this May.
The play follows the story of Hajir (played by Eli Saad) a Lebanese man who is seeking asylum in Australia, and immigration officer, Craig (played by Chris Miller) who will determine Hajir’s future.
With this highly consequential decision at its core, Asylum is a perfect example of the micro representing the macro, of the lives of a handful of people being specimens of a much larger social whole.
“When disparate lives cross, they invariably affect each other. Asylum is a play about where people go when put under pressure: some flee – literally; some retreat into a rigid system to feel secure; some act out against authority; others fall prey to disintegration and mental illness. This story is about human nature and the choices we make,” said writer, Ruth Fingret.
Asylum is a specific story that resonates with universal emotion and psychology. Not everyone can relate to the literal experience of Hajir or Craig, but most people can relate to feeling, at some time, displaced, afraid, overwhelmed, torn, desperate, hopeful.
It is a powerful and influential work, riddled with political dilemmas, that will have even the strong-minded questioning their own sense of self.
Directed by Olga Tamara, Asylum stars Chris Miller, Eli Saad, Levi Kenway, Dianne Weller and Emma Burns with lighting design by Mehran Mortezai.
