Sydney Theatre Company, Force Majeure and Sydney Festival present
Never Did Me Any Harm
Devised By Force Majeure

Our first show of 2012 is the result of a bountiful collaboration with our friends at physical theatre company Force Majeure.

Over the past few decades the word ‘parenting’ has crept insidiously, almost imperceptibly, into our vernacular bringing with it increasing anxiety around issues of raising children. Is the pressure to get it right overwhelming us? And what is ‘good parenting’ anyway? Are children today given too much choice? Too few boundaries? Less chance to take risks? Are they protected from notions of failure? Sexualised too young?

Drawing inspiration from Christos Tsiolkas’ best-selling novel The Slap, Force Majeure’s Artistic Director Kate Champion and her company interviewed people of all ages and backgrounds to garner their views on the subject of parenting. In a familiar, yet disconcertingly Lynchian, Aussie backyard seven actors and dancers create a myriad of familiar characters from the verbatim text that they collected.

Director and choreographer Kate Champion (Not in a Million Years, The Age I’m In) is known for making work that transforms the familiar and domestic into the poetic. We’re thrilled to have joined forces with her award-winning company to present Never Did Me Any Harm in collaboration with long-term partner of both companies, Sydney Festival.

1 hour, no interval
Wharf 1 Theatre

Want to know more? Hear from behind the scenes on the Never Did Me Any Harm blog.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, and by the Australian Government’s Major Festivals Initiative, managed by the Australia Council in association with the Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Melbourne International Arts Festival. Force Majeure is assisted by the Australia Government through the Australia Council and Arts NSW.