VENUE: Yarra Edge Theatre, NMIT campus
SEASON: 15 September – 2 October, 2004

Written by Ben Ellis
Directed by John Britton
Performed by young people from across Melbourne

Faith, Hope and Surveillance brings together 27 performers in a future-present-day Melbourne dystopia, where technology overtakes time, and distrust takes over society. The darkly funny play shows how quickly new technology can become a remote control for your life and remove the need for face to face contact. At one moment a young woman sets up a webcam site to pay for her HECS fees, while in another an intelligent building automatically guides customers to their desired location.

“We survey/surveil borders, school attendances, retail workers, shoppers, kindergartens and babies’ cots. With mobile technology it is possible to ignore our immediate surroundings with even greater effectiveness. Our hope now lies not in what we watch, but in how we watch and with what quality of heart and level of fear.”
Ben Ellis

Surveillance is not just a matter of technology, of architecture, of policing but also of the soul or psyche. With this theme, Ben Ellis was commissioned to respond to the questions: what happens in a society that chooses surveillance as its sole means of communication; and what possibilities or symbols of hope emerge in such a society? The writer was also asked to particularly write for a large cast.