"Kasama Kita is definitely something I never have seen before in the independent theatre scene or on the mainstage in Sydney right now. It’s such an ambitious work that really chronicles the history that Filipino nurses played in the ‘70s in terms of the health system," says filmmaker and actor from Sydney Vonne Patiag after watching the play "Kasama Kita".
He furthers the play "really tracks the trajectory of going from the past to the future. I was really amazed with where the play took the characters and I guessed really showed the way Australia really affect these migrants and these characters.”
In the two-hour play written by Filipino Australian playwright, Jordan Shea, it tells about about three student nurses - brother-and-sister Antero and Nancy and Cory - who come to Australia in 1974, forced by a political uprising that has compromised the safety of millions in the Philippines. The trio enrolled as student nurses at Balmain Hospital and soon enough they all start to embrace, reject and assimilate into Australia's sense of culture.
"It's not just a Filipino story, it's a Filipino-Australian story. Even though the story of Nancy and Antero and Cory aren't my story or my family's stories, it still felt so personal," points writer and filmmaker Miranda Aguilar adding "it made me more hopeful because this is a beautiful and relevant play especially in 2019 where all these conservatives are starting to come out again and worries about "illegals" and immigration."
The play showing until December 07 at Belvoir St Theatre in Surryhills, will take the audience 45 years back to 45 years to the present of how and why the three Filipino nurses migrated to Australia and the ups-and-downs in between their journey in a new country.
Filmmaker and actor Vonne Patiag Source: SBS Filipino
The 'Kasama Kita' actors with playwright Jordan Shea (wearing a hat) after the play's opening night Source: SBS Filipino
Writer and filmmaker Miranda Aguilar Source: SBS Filipino
