Miller Performing Arts: Pull Back the Curtain 2021 – Recorded Performance

In last summer’s Pull Back the Curtain, a group of young people took inspiration from some of the greatest figures in 20th-century music, art and history and devised their own theatrical pieces. Led by professional writer and theatre maker Becky Baker, they explored a range of contemporary theatre practices and creative script writing techniques and took their work from conception to performance. Recordings of the five resulting works can be viewed below. Take a look and see the fantastic achievements of our talented participants!

Rebellion

Written and performed by Eamonn Barry, Emilia Oliver, Liana Tang Yan-tung, Nobel Chan and Shloka Vishweshwar, Rebellion is inspired by the struggles and achievements of Irish leading figure Michael Collins, British writer Agatha Christie, American novelist Langston Hughes, African-American civil rights activist Rosa Parks and American actor Marilyn Monroe. 

The Art of Loneliness

Written and performed by Wing Sum-chung, Maya Yeatman-Biggs, Theodora Mok and Tiffany Wong, the four-part piece The Art of Loneliness explores the experience of loneliness in the lives of four well-known figures: Taiwanese writer Jiang Xun, American singer Whitney Houston, Deaf, blind writer and political activist Hellen Keller and British mathematician Alan Turing. 

No, I Refuse

Written and performed by Ariana D’souza, Kiele Tang, Zoe Wong, Chantal Lai and Daniel Jones, No, I Refuse illustrates the difficulties encountered by American judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, American actor Judy Garland and Japanese writer Osamu Dazai. 

Hardships and Humanity

Written and performed by Carina Chatlani, Ema Poposka, Keira Elliott, Peony Sham and Steven Zhang, Hardships and Humanity explores the struggles faced by the young Jewish diarist Anne Frank, American illusionist Harry Houdini, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Japanese artist Yoko Ono.

The Passion in all of Us 

Written and performed by Felicity Low, Georgiana Watt, Leanne Nguyen and Tom Mowbray, The Passion in All of Us is a sequence of four pieces about the lives and work of American gay liberation activist Marsha P Johnson, British political activist and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, New Zealand motor racer Bruce McLaren and actress Audrey Hepburn. 

TAGS:
Performing Arts, Youth, Theatre