Temporal setting: 2007
Location notes:
Production notes indicate that the play takes place inside a beachside RSL club. The Cronulla RSL branch is located minutes from Cronulla Beach at 38 Gerrale St.
This Territory recounts and examines the Cronulla riots which occurred on December 11, 2005 in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla. The Cronulla riots were preceded by an event on December 5, where two surf lifesavers were assaulted at North Cronulla Beach by a group of Middle Eastern men. The assault was widely reported throughout the media and racial tensions were stoked, provoking a "backlash" through word-of-mouth and text messages. On Sunday December 11, 5,000 people gathered in North Cronulla to "reclaim" the beach from perceived racial threats and riots ensued, leading to more than twenty treated injuries and sixteen arrests by the day's end.
(http://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2010/december/1357604978/malcolm-knox/comment)
Quotes
“Production Notes: This Territory takes place inside a nightmarish beachside RSL club whose decor displays a Mesopotamian theme. It has a small stage. The interview area begins as a separate stage within the larger RSL. All action occurs here in these two "sets".”
(p. Manuscript)
“Synopsis: This Territory begins in the empty space of an RSL-like place, redolent of history, war and the Australia of an earlier era. It is peopled by 4 hosts, The Voices of Dust, who begin telling tales of ancient Mesopotamia, and the gods of Enki and Ereshkigal. Their telling is interrupted by the violent entrance of a large group of young people involved in a stylised battle. As these young people wait to be "called to account", the explore their surrounding, their state of detention and each other. ...'”
(p. Manuscript)
Gallery
 Allan Vella.JPG)
 Allan Vella.JPG)
 Allan Vella.JPG)
 Allan Vella.JPG)
