Honour Bound

This world premiere about Terry Hicks and his son David, held in Guantanamo Bay for over 4 years, brings together two of Australia’s leading theatre visionaries, director Nigel Jamieson and acclaimed Australian Dance Theatre choreographer Garry Stewart.

Since 11 September 2001, Australia's engagement in the 'war on terror' has raised questions about the balance between the pursuit of our national security and our human rights. Honour Bound is an intensely passionate and confronting new work that explores these issues through an extraordinary combination of dance, film, theatre and aerial performance. It's a culturally and artistically ambitious work that focuses on the experiences of Terry Hicks and his son David - held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for four years without trial. It integrates Terry's personal testimony as a father and draws on letters, internal Pentagon papers and the accounts of former detainees.

Set within an eight-metre square cage, the performance and projections take place on the walls, ceiling and floor. A daring and provocative work, Honour Bound, which takes its title from the words written above the gates at Guantanamo Bay, is about some of the most important issues we face as a society: law and order, hatred and love, humanity, and human beings pushed beyond their limits.

Nigel Jamieson has been Artistic Director of some of the world's most enthralling large-scale productions creating spectacular moments such as 400 Cambodian monks chanting in Angkor Wat, the unforgettable Tin Symphony during the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the closing ceremony of the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games. Honour Bound develops and further extends techniques Jamieson began exploring in such previous productions as All of Me and Homelands for Legs on the Wall. With this work, he has sought to develop an intense physical and aerial language, integrating live performance with projected film and imagery to explore issues like family dynamics (All Of Me) and the experience of migrants and refugees, transposed on to a 100 metre vertical wall (Homelands).

Garry Stewart, Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre, is renowned for the intense physicality of his work and exploration of bodies pushed to their physical and emotional extremities. This makes him the perfect collaborator for Nigel Jamieson on Honour Bound.

Honour Bound has its world premiere at Sydney Opera House on August 2, 2006 and opens at the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne on 15 September.

Program Details: Honour Bound

Venue: The Playhouse

Dates: Previews 28 July - 30 July, 2006

Season: 1 August - 3 September, 2006

Times: Tues 6.30pm, Wed - Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm
Also Tues 22 Aug & Wed 30 Aug 12.30pm

Artists Talk: Sunday 6 August (post show)

Tickets: Previews $43
Season $53/$43

Bookings: 02) 9250 7777

sydneyoperahouse.com/adventures

Melbourne season: Malthouse Theatre
Dates: Preview 13 & 14 September
Season 15 September - 1 October

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