MKA: Kids Killing Kids

MKA: Theatre of New Writing
in association with Q Theatre Company
presents

Kids Killing Kids

by
Too Many Weapons

WINNER MELBOURNE FRINGE AWARD FOR
BEST EXPERIMENTAL PERFORMANCE 2013

A PLAY ABOUT PLAYS, AND THE PINOY PEOPLE

Kids Killing Kids is a documentary theatre work about violence, about theatre and about the Philippines. In 2011, Australian writers Sam Burns-Warr, David Finnigan, Georgie McAuley and Jordan Prosser traveled to Manila to adapt pulp Japanese novel Battle Royale for the stage for Filipino theatre company the Sipat Lawin Ensemble. The resulting performance, Battalia Royale, followed a cast of 40 through an abandoned school as a class of 15 year-old schoolchildren attempt to murder one another. The show opened to an audience of 250. On the second night there were 450, and by the third night the audience numbered more than 950. Within days, Battalia Royale had attracted a cult following, dedicated fans creating fan art and fan shows, and was receiving coverage on international press including Reuters, CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera.
But the backlash against the show was just as great as the fan response. Critics – including some of the performers themselves – condemned the show’s visceral celebration of violence, and members of the UN’s Subcommittee for the Victims of Torture sought to shut down the show for ‘merchandising brutality’. Sipat Lawin and the four Australian writers were accused of glamorising bloodshed in a country where war, conflict and torture is very much a part of recent history.In Kids Killing Kids, Sam, David, Georgie and Jordan seek to understand why it was that Battalia Royale triggered the response it did. Through interviews, stories and footage they examine the Philippines, the Pinoy people and the Battalia project and ask: what are the ethics of putting a work of hyper-violent teen-sploitation onstage? Was there any redeeming value to the Battalia project, or are we just getting our kicks watching kids destroy one another?

Watch the website for updates and in the meantime the crew recommend you read Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Reviews

“excellently deliberate”…”Kids Killing Kids comes together seamlessly.”
CONCRETE PLAYGROUND

“I came out of Kids Killing Kids raving. I LOVED it.”
SOMETIMES MELBOURNE

‘The production of Kids Killing Kids is slick: the writing is sharp…Is it a documentary? Is it theatre? Either way, MKA: Kids Killing Kids is going to leave any artist with a lot of questions about the complex roles we play in creating theatre and what boundaries we should and should not cross.’
THEATRE PRESS

Credits

KIDS KILLING KIDS has been written and created by

David Finnigan, Sam Burns-Warr, Georgie McAuley and Jordon Prosser

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Kids Killing Kids brings together Melbourne’s MKA: Theatre of New Writing and Manila’s Sipat Lawin Ensemble with the Q Theatre Company.

Who are THE SIPAT LAWIN ENSEMBLE

is an edge work, site-specific theatre company composed of young Theatre Arts Alumni from the Philippine High School for the Arts and their collaborators. Changing the landscape of theatre performances in the Philippines, Sipat Lawin engages in ensemble and collaborative work as the group aims to develop a contemporary community theatre experience shared among artists and audiences inside and/or outside the four walls of the theatre.

> facebook.com/sipatlawin.inc

DAVID FINNIGAN

is a writer, theatre-maker and festival producer based in Canberra, Australia. Since 2001, more than 30 of David’s full-length and one-act playscripts have been produced by professional and co-operative companies in Australia, the Philippines and the USA. In 2006 David completed a Writer’s Residency in Manila with Tanghalang Pilipino, and his playscripts have been nominated for the Max Afford National Playwrights Award, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, and his solo show Sun Drugs was nominated for Best Solo Show in the 2010 New Zealand Fringe Festival Awards.

> blind-dragonfly.com

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JORDAN PROSSER & SAM BURNS-WARR

are Melbourne-based writers, directors, filmmakers and performers, graduates of the Victorian College of the Arts and Swinburne Institute of Technology respectively. Their two-man show, The Landlords, was awarded Best Original Work and Best Ensemble Performance at the 2008 Canberra Area Theatre Awards, and was subsequently performed to critical acclaim at the Melbourne Fringe Festival. In 2011 and 2012, Jordan and Sam devised and performed pieces for the You Are Here Festival; the very sensibly-named Bringing Some Gum to a Knife-Fightand Going To Hell in This Handy Basket. Their short films have screened at festivals throughout Australia, England, the United States and France.

> jordanprosser.com

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GEORGIE McAULEY

is a performer, writer, theatre-maker and yoga instructor. In 2011 she completed her Bachelor of Performing Arts and is currently undertaking her Honours year, focussing on the role of narrative in live theatre. Most recently she has been seen in productions of Macbeth, directed by Daniel Schlusser, Rupture, produced and devised by Uncle Semolina and Friends, and Endangered Species, which received strong reviews at the 2011 Melbourne Fringe Festival.