BIN LADEN : THE ONE MAN SHOW  opens tomorrow night at the Seymour Centre. I spoke to Sam Redway, the British performer and co-writer of the show which he has written with Tyrell Jones, who is also the director of the piece.

I asked Sam, what can audiences expect from the performance? Sam said, “the audience can expect to be surprised. Tyrell and I make theatre that is confrontational and political in nature. We aim to make theatre that gets people talking and thinking about long after the show has finished.

“We encourage very difficult conversations. Every night we come out after the show has ended, take our seats and are joined by a select panel, and lead a discussion about the play with members of the audience who have stayed on.”

We talked about the Christchurch massacre which hangs like a large shadow over the play. Sam said, “It often happens when we are performing the show that there has been some major incident somewhere in the world. It gives the play an even sharper focus. It was interesting that after the Christchurch massacre, Islamic phobic attacks went up by 500% in England.”

Sam reflected on what has happened in Great Britain. “Don’t forget in Great Britain we were very used to terrorism with the IRA. Things only changed with the IRA when they were listened to, and were given a voice and people listened to what they had to say, and had respect and empathy for their situation. It is only when this happened that the IRA ceased their terrorist attacks.”

“This is why with our show we want to get people thinking and talking about issues. The roots of terrorism often lie with people who have not been listened to and whose opinions have been treated with disdain.”

BIN LADEN : THE ONE MAN SHOW looks like it will be a stimulating night at the theatre.

Our conversation ended with Sam saying that with his working partner Tyrell he has already started work on their next show, the subject being toxic masculinity.

BIN LADEN : THE ONE MAN SHOW  is playing the Reginald Theatre, the Seymour Centre between Wednesday 4th to Saturday 7thy May, 2019. Performances are nightly at 7.30pm. Performance time 60 minutes with the debate scheduled afterwards

http://www.seymourcentre.com.au