Children Of The Sea.

2021 Co-produced by Encounter and Performing Lines WA. Co-commissioned and presented by Perth Festival.

Follow four unaccompanied children as they embark on a perilous journey. Drifting on Indo-Australian waters towards an uncertain future they confront memories of the lives they have left behind.

The culmination of a two-year research project, Children of the Sea is Jay Emmanuel’s emotional theatrical piece that shares the journey of young survivors who came to Australia by boat. Inspired by true stories, this work brings together a stellar team of five extraordinary young performers onstage with a vocal ensemble led by Green Room Award-winning singer-songwriter, composer, performer and choir-leader, Kavisha Mazzella.

 I’ve seldom been more moved than I was last night at the opening of one of the Festival’s superb productions Children of the Sea. It was beautifully conceived and brilliantly moves between the reality of life on a refugee boat and the past lives of those who have found themselves in this situation through our connection and understanding of the characters.

— The Honourable Kim Beazley AC Governor of Western Australia

The UN Refugee Agency reports 70.8 million people were forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution at the end of 2018 — 52% of those were children.

Responding to one of the most pressing issues facing humanity, the play asks: How do children deal with fate and tragedy? What do children do to survive in the face of adversity? What gives them hope? How does loss and displacement morph childhood?

The production was highlighted in Perth Festival’s 2021 Impact Report for speaking to "concepts of cultural connection and inclusion, identifying links between ‘where we live’ and the diversity of stories we tell about ourselves”.

To view the failings of the adult world through the eyes of a child is the central conceit of this wonderful new work.

— Iain Grandage Artistic Director, Perth Festival