Dear Scott—

If you live in Melbourne or are going to be there later this month, I’ve got a Melbourne reading of Dear Scott—

Thursday 21 May, 7:00 pm

fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Written by Noëlle Janaczewska

Dramaturgy & direction by Kathryn Millard

Read by: Georgina Naidu, myself, and fellow 7-ONer Ned Manning

Dear Scott—

A playwright’s more or less unrequited correspondence with the Minister/s for Immigration & Border Protection

I’d signed petitions and marched on demonstrations. With friends and colleagues there was a lot of talk—about mean spirits and narrow minds, about dirty political tricks to win votes. But it wasn’t enough. For all the anger I felt about Australia’s treatment of asylum-seekers, what had I, Noëlle Janaczewska, actually done? My outrage was aired in cafés and across dinner tables with people who shared it, and there it stayed. Because whenever I thought about the cruel and punitive way this country deals with refugees I felt hopeless—or helpless—or both. The issue seemed too big. The people who could change things had no heart to do so. But it wasn’t enough to sigh and splutter at each successive policy announcement. I needed to translate my anger into something tangible, challenge those responsible for sending asylum-seekers to offshore gulags.

Words would be my weapon of choice.

Christmas Day 2013. I wrote a letter to Scott Morrison, then Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. A paper, snail-mail missive, not an email likely to get ‘lost’ in his department’s spam filter. And every Wednesday for the next 6 months, I wrote to the Minister.

This is our correspondence …

The reading is free, runs for about an hour, and there will be a short Q & A afterwards.

More information: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/events/dear-scott—/

Booking: info@fortyfivedownstairs.com or 03 9662 9966