DV8's Newson discusses S.F. production
Mary Ellen Hunt, Special to The Chronicle
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Quote:
Founded in 1986 by Australian-born Lloyd Newson - who studied psychology in Melbourne before joining New Zealand Ballet - DV8 Physical Theatre's unnerving and often raw work blends movement with text - sometimes provocative and unafraid to dive headlong into touchy topics like racism and religious intolerance.
In "To Be Straight With You," which opens at Yerba Buena's Novellus Theater tonight, the company dives headlong into the issue of homophobia and violence against gay people in a confrontational work, both visceral and brainy.
Q: What inspired this piece?
A: In the early '90s, my partner and I went to a gay pride march just outside Brixton, which was largely an African Caribbean community. We were walking to this park, and I was holding my partner's hand and we got an incredible amount of abuse.
He, being nonwhite, was deeply shocked, maybe even more than I was. And the question we spoke about later was why is it that a minority who has experienced oppression and hatred, why would they give it out so readily to another minority?
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