Buried City

First presented in January 2012.

Late one night in the gutted façade of a building primed for redevelopment, a group of security workers, labourers, and a local teenager find themselves haunting the same territory.

This Buried City is not so muchthe changing face of urban modernity, more the repressed emotional landscape of people articulating their deepest hurts.

Daily Telegraph

Buried City is an ambitiouswork about ever-changing cities like Sydney – where waves of immigrants make new lives on old land. Director Alicia Talbot’s investigation of real-time action and filmic panorama with an emphasis on the emotionaljourneys of each of the characters continues in this special collaboration between Belvoir.

…Buried City is a true triumph not only of artistic experimentation with form, but a triumph of political and social significance to Australians – Alexander Buzo would be proud.

Augusta Supple

The work is punctuated by the poetic and lyrical songs of Perry Keyes and underscored with a live soundscape created by Paul Prestipino. It is a bleak work revealing fragmented lives and building a sense of accumulated sadness.

…a night of emotional turmoil and brutality, their connections becoming an allegory of a city and society that is redefining itself in the face of social and economic change….the acting is raw, and the focus on the drama of the mundane makes Buried City so authentic, and the individual stories of thecharacters so engaging.

Alternative Media Group

This work was first developed through a commission from Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada.

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Conceived and Directed 

Alicia Talbot

Writer

Raimondo Cortese

Co-devisors and performers

Valerie Berry, Perry Keyes, Russel Kiefel, Effie Nkrumah, Hazem Shammas and Meyne Wyatt

Set and Costume Designer 

Mirabelle Wouters

Singer-Songwriter 

Perry Keyes

Sound Designer and Composer 

Paul Prestipino

Lighting Designer

Neil Simpson with Sean Bacon

Movement Director 

Kathy Cogill

UTP Executive Producer 

Michelle Kotevski

Production Manager

Sharna Galvin

Production Consultant

Neil Fisher

Stage Manager

Frank Mainoo

Assistant Stage Manager

Gina Bianco

Community Liaison 

Annie Winter

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and their Retired Members Association, African Women Australia Inc and Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation, Les Tobler Contruction and Training Centre.

Australia Council for the Arts, Besen Foundation, City of Sydney, Arts NSW, Sydney Festival, Belvoir and Urban Theatre Projects

Special thanks to our set sponsor Pacific Group