For the entirety of last week, someone in the University of Sydney
administration thought it would be a great idea to give my degree a random week
off in the middle of semester as a mini “stuvac” before our exams the following
week. Cue a week of deactivating Facebook, vetoing all social events, locking
myself into the gilded prison-with-a-view of Fisher level 4 and studying
non-stop from 8am to 10pm with only one 30-minute break a day for lunch…
Oh yeah, that was everybody else in my degree, as the
week of my stuvac also happened to coincide with an epic line-up of USU events, and in
the classic method of rationalization that procrastinators do so well (if I go
to USU stuff, then I’m technically
working, and everybody knows on the hierarchy of stuvac priorities that work
> study > fun, right? Right??)
Anyway, I am so very glad that I decided
to turn my stuvac into a USUvac, because last week turned out to be one of the
best weeks of my year. Hooked already? Read on…
SUDS Performance of “The
Country”
After an hour of radio with Rhys on Monday night in the SURG studio, I decided to
kick on to the other side of the Holme Building to see the SUDS performance of
“The Country” at Studio B. My decision to see The Country was one of those
spontaneous “I’m going to say yes to this email” decisions that I made without
asking whether anyone else would be able to come with me or even finding out
what this play was about. However like many spontaneous decisions, this turned
out to be one of the best decisions I could have made, because The Country was
one of the most intimate and intense experiences I’ve ever had whilst watching
a performance. On one hand, Studio B is an incredible performance space, with
the audience almost spilling over onto the stage and the actors performing
literally meters in front of you. The play itself was brilliantly directed and
performed, with the pregnant pauses between the dialogue saying almost as much
as the words themselves and the screechy violins and dimming lanterns between
each scene fostering an atmosphere of tension and edginess that was impossible
not to get caught up in. This play was selected to be
part of the Festival of Australian Student Theatre in Brisbane, so massive
congratulations to all involved, especially director (and SUDS President) Brenden
Hooke! As someone with minimal play watching experience I know I will
definitely be attending more SUDS plays in the future, and with a seemingly
never-ending repertoire of plays being staged every few weeks at the Cellar
theatre, there are plenty of opportunities!
Interfaith Week Women’s
Panel: Can you be a Religious Feminist?
In what I decided to take to be a divine sign telling me not to
study, the USU’s second annual Interfaith Week also happened to coincide with
my study vacation. As holder of the USU Women’s Portfolio I was asked to
moderate the Interfaith Week women’s discussion panel on the topic “Can you be
a religious feminist?” Featuring a fascinating and formidable panel of speakers
including Eva Cox, Uniting Church Reverend Elenie Poulos, Muslim women’s rights activist Reeme
Allouche, Venerable Yeshe Chodron and Rabbi Allison Conyer, what ensued was a
fiery and thought provoking debate about the issues surrounding the role of
women ascribed by our contemporary society. To be honest I was ridiculously
nervous to be moderating such a panel, but by the end of the discussion I
simply felt honoured and humbled to be sharing a room with such intelligent,
passionate and articulate women. After such a great experience being a part of
that panel I am definitely looking to organize more panel discussions around
contentious issues affecting women in our society, so watch this space!
Queer Revue
First revue up for the week was my Thursday night viewing of Queer
Revue, “The Mister Sister Act”. Both brilliantly trashy and trashily brilliant,
I was subjected to way more man-butt than I’ve ever seen before, was scarred by
the image of my good friend and producer of my radio show Annie Wylie stuffing
her face full of cake dressed as Gina Rineheart, and in a strangely moving and
beautiful display of audience interaction, bellowed out with the entire Revue cast
and audience the chorus to “We are from Oxford Street”- the Queer Revue
rendition of the classic primary school nationalist theme, “We are Australian”.
Queer Revue directors Joseph Ist and Gayda Medessa I salute you, you put
together a ridiculously fun show, with a special shout out going to Michael
Koziol who managed to reincarnate himself every few scenes in a variety of
comical but slightly disturbing characters.
Interfaith Dinner
On Friday night, Interfaith Week concluded with a formal dinner to
celebrate what had been an immense week of awareness raising, thought-provoking
discussion and healthy debate.
Interfaith week directors Lawrence Muskitta and Louise Castle had been
working on this festival for months and months, and it was a testimony to all
that hard work and planning that the week ran as smoothly and successfully as
it did. The dinner itself was a beautiful and intimate affair, featuring short
speeches by various religious and non-religious students about how food plays a
part in their celebrations and traditions.
There was also an obscure performance by a magician whose main trick was
his ability to inhale 6 eggs into his mouth and then bizarrely exhale them out
again, which distressed me on several levels but everybody else seemed to
really enjoy it so what can you do! If anything, Interfaith Week has reminded
me that although I may not understand, believe or enjoy certain things in the same
way as my friends and peers (whether it be ways of perceiving and understanding
the world, religious beliefs or even enjoyment of magic tricks) what is
paramount is being able to respect their right to hold that belief, and being
thankful that in our society we are privileged enough to be able to hold those
beliefs openly and freely.
Science Revue
D-day for my final exam is in -2 days, so what to do on Saturday
night? Go to Science Revue of course! Directed by the combined veritable forces
of Adam Chalmers and Kay Pengelly, Sin(X) City was a cheerful and highly
enthusiastic 2 hour long romp that mixed a slick film noir vibe with the
unabashed and shameless fist-pump-the-air joy of Glee. The cast was obviously enamored with each other and the
entire production felt like a big party, especially the bizarrely perfect
ending to the first act. As someone who has zero marketable skills in the
singing/dancing/acting arenas, seeing these revues provides me with a deep
admiration (and in some cases a minor fan-crush) on all the people who perform
in reviews and who I can truly say are legitimate triple threats.
And that brings week of USU-vac to an end! I may not have learned
much about the subjects I was to be tested on the following week, but what I
did gain was a renewed enjoyment and appreciation of the rich and diverse
display of ideas, energy and talent that students at this university have-
whether it be in heading up a club or society; directing a revue, a play or a
festival; singing, dancing and acting skills; or even just being able to learn
from, share and discuss your opinions with others in a respectful and
intellectually stimulating environment- in my opinion, that’s what university
is all about. And I am just so stoked I happen to go to a university where
there are so many ways to engage with and appreciate all this talent that is
flying around… exam procrastination has never been so fun.
Till next time,
Hannah Morris
Board Director
