This project explores the role of literature and performance as vehicles for activism in the context of Australia’s ongoing refugee crisis. Prompted by Kurdish-Afghan refugee Behrouz Boochani’s novel ‘No Friend but the Mountains’ (2018), written via SMS during his six years as an asylum seeker on Manus Island, this research sets out to interrogate the effectiveness of his creative turn. It also explores Boochani’s statements about theatre and performance as specific modes of activism relevant to asylum seeker situations, particularly as his novel was originally conceived as a play for performance. Using mixed methodologies and modes of dissemination, the study will offer new insights into refugee artists’ lived experiences, and the role of creative expression for activism in Australia and the Global South.

Rebecca Clode is the Ethel Tory Lecturer in Drama at the Australian National University. Her research focuses on playwriting practices and Australian theatre history, as seen in her recent monograph Australian Metatheatre on Page and Stage: an exploration of metatheatrical techniques (2021). Rebecca is a PhD graduate of the ANU and also holds an MA in Text and Performance Studies from King’s College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Prior to her academic career, she was a theatre practitioner, and she now maintains her practice locally, for example as dramaturg for playwriting development projects with Canberra’s Street Theatre.