These People

'The whole country needs its stomach stapled. Too many people. It's bursting with struggles and languages and obesity. That's what border protection is about. A national diet. We were unhappy ... maybe we still are, but thanks to border protection we are more confident. Smaller.'

So declares Mother in Ben Ellis's provocative play which explores Australia's border protection policies with inventive style

How do Australians deal with the cultural discomfort engendered by the country's treatment of refugees? In These People, the lives of a privileged nuclear family are juxtaposed against those of a family living behind the razor wire. And then there are the penguins...

Nominated for the 2004 Community Relations Commission Award at the 2004 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards

'... it's wonderful to see new Australian writing that is culturally relevant, theatrically imaginative and daring' ~ Stephen Dunne, Sydney Morning Herald