After sell-out seasons of Back Home (2006) and The Last Highway (2008), Australian theatre company Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) returns to Sydney Festival with their newest creation, The Fence, opening on January 14.

The story takes place in the family home of Mel and Joy in Sydney’s western suburbs. It investigates the resilience and wisdom of five middle-aged Australians, four of whom grew up in care as part of the Stolen Generations and Forgotten Australians. Unfolding every night in a purpose-built house, The Fence is an explosive tale of love, belonging and dispossession.

In developing The Fence, UTP Artistic Director Alicia Talbot (Back Home, The Last Highway) spent weeks working with 25 indigenous and non-indigenous Australian men and women who have similar experiences to the characters. Alicia, renowned for her collaborative and discussion-driven approach, acknowledges the collaborators as experts and together they have engaged in open dialogue to develop the script, which Alicia refers to as “fictionalised reality”. The result is a raw, poetic and realistic portrait of contemporary life.

“The work has been created from, but is not about, the collaborators’ real life experiences. It is essentially an artistic enquiry about five people who have experienced healing and trauma, discovering their wisdom. We have then set it over one night, collapsed into a 90-minute moment-in-time."

Meeting Point: Parramatta Riverside Theatre*
Meeting time: 8.30pm
*Audience walks to site (it is an easy 10-minute walk)
For disability access, please call Urban Theatre Projects on (02) 9707 2111
Preview: Wed 13 January
Performances: Mon-Sat 14-16, 18-23, 25-30 January
Duration: 80-minute show, plus 10-minute walk to and from site