Detention

Detention tells the compelling tale of two young people from disparate worlds finding each other amidst a figurative minefield.

Sima, a 14-year-old Hazara refugee, escapes with her family from a detention centre in Queensland. Their visa has been rejected, and they decide to fight to stay in Australia and get to Leeton in NSW where her uncle lives. Sima runs…and finds herself hiding in the boys’ toilet of the local high school.

On the same morning, Dan, a marginalised 13-year-old raised in a caravan park finds a dog, chained up and left to die. When he gets to school, his intention is to find water for the dog but the school goes into lockdown, and he worries the dog will die. He escapes the classroom and finds himself in the boys’ toilets.

Here, Sima and Dan meet and their shared quest for a sense of home and safety binds them together.

Led by Director Randa Sayed and told by an ensemble of five dynamic performers through movement and text, Detention is a poetic, sometimes funny, fast paced production that will leave young people on the edge of their seats.

Based on the novel by Tristan Bancks, this production explores the refugee experience, centring on themes of displacement, belonging, and shared humanity. Developed in collaboration with Hazara artists and young people, Detention seeks to ignite conversations, using theatre as a catalyst for truth-telling and change.

Commissioned by Monkey Baa, co-written by Callan Purcell and Kobra Sayyadi, directed by Randa Sayed - ‘Detention’ is an edge-of-your seat theatrical experience.

A Monkey Baa Theatre Company production
Detention
By Tristan Bancks
Adapted for the stage by Callan Purcell and Kobra Sayyadi

Dates
Duration 60 minutes, no interval
Ages Ages 10-13

Detention

Detention

Learning Pack

Creative Team

Acknowledgements

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