Live Music (Contemporary)Drama

CROSSING THE DIVIDE

Shock Therapy Arts
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About the work

The path may be difficult, but there has to be a willingness to find a way through, together.

A high school history class sets out on a three-day trek across the Great Dividing Range, learning about the expedition by Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson. As the group travel through the Blue Mountains, their guide Lionel draws their attention to what is often left out of the history books. They learn about some of the earliest interactions between Indigenous people and the colonial explorers, revealing some of this nation's difficult truths.

As the trip continues, Liam, a scholarship student from the Torres Strait, starts to feel uncomfortable, constantly having to declare or defend his experience as a First Nations person to his classmates. Tensions mount when Liam’s friend Max refuses to see how European settlement created anything but a positive pathway to progress for a newly forming nation. Tempers flare around the campfire and Liam becomes lost – in time and place - as he’s suddenly staring down the barrel of a shotgun held by an equally startled and confused Gregory Blaxland.

Crossing the Divide is an exciting new collaboration that fuses disciplines, cultures, and timelines, to deliver a dynamic and timely piece of Australian Theatre. 




Details

Live Music (Contemporary)

Drama

Young Adults

General

First Nations

Early Secondary12 - 15 years
Late Secondary16 - 17 years
Adult18+ years

From 2025



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Reviews

Shock Therapy Arts steps into the void opened by pain, trauma, misconceptions, disconnections and a lack of knowledge about First Nations history, lived experience and truth. Crossing the Divide is an opportunity for students to be entertained by high-quality theatre that also engages them with a range of perspectives about colonisation and First Nations Australian issues. The characters and perspectives are pitched perfectly for teenagers, while inviting deeper consideration of the impact of history and social attitudes. In Crossing the Divide, Shock Therapy Arts has created a relatable, honest and sometimes funny group of characters with whom young people can empathise and travel through time and story to see, learn and listen.

Matthew Flinders Anglican College
Audience Review
Acknowledgement of Country

We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

QTouring acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands, winds and water ways.

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