Who has power over you? And if you had the chance, what would you say to those people?
These burning questions are at the heart of a truly global show that knows no borders but has a specific Melbourne slant. Having played at Sydney's Riverside Theatres and Blacktown Arts Centre earlier this year, Truth to Power Café now comes to the Melbourne Fringe with digital shows from October 2 to 17.
The work showcases participants from Bunurong and Wurundjeri lands, who draw on their lived experiences as they respond to the show’s central question in their own unique way: “Who has power over you and what do you want to say to them?”
Part-theatrical performance, part-memoir, part-impassioned activism, it was created by Jeremy Goldstein, who grew up in Sydney. His late dad, Mick, was a member of the London-based ‘Hackney Gang’. That powerhouse force included playwright Harold Pinter and sole surviving member, actor and director Henry Woolf. Speaking truth to power was at the heart of everything they did, and they were fierce supporters of independent media doing exactly that.
“Truth to Power Café is conceived as a love letter to the memory of my father, Mick Goldstein, and his friends of 60 years Henry Woolf and Harold Pinter,” Goldstein says. “It’s a call to self-expression and an opportunity to name what might be unconscious or tough to acknowledge, whilst challenging ideas of who can take to the stage and have a voice in the process.”
You can watch Truth to Power Café for free during Melbourne Fringe but you will need to sign up for tickets.