Australian Theatre for Young People presents

BATTLEGROUNDS

DEVISED BY ATYP YOUNG ARTISTS’ PROGRAM

“I would like to give you a message. Please do your best to tell the world what is happening to us, the children. So that other children don’t have to pass through this violence.”
A 15-year-old girl who escaped from the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda

In over twenty countries around the world, children are direct participants in war. Denied a childhood and often subjected to horrific violence, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 children are serving as soldiers for both rebel groups and government forces in current armed conflicts. These young combatants participate in all aspects of contemporary warfare. They wield AK-47s and M-16s on the front lines of combat, serve as human mine detectors, participate in suicide missions, carry supplies, and act as spies, messengers or lookouts.

“I was too afraid to look, so I put my face in the ground and shot my gun up at the sky. I was afraid their bullets would hit my head. I fired two magazines, about forty founds. I was afraid that if I didn’t fire the section leader would punish me.”
Khin Maung Than, recruited by Burma’s national army at age eleven.

DIRECTOR
Lee Lewis

SET & COSTUME DESIGNER
Tobhiya Stone Feller

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Verity Hampson

COMPOSER
Steve Francis

PRODUCTION MANAGER
Sophie Berry

FIGHTING DIRECTOR
Kyle Rowling

IMAGE
Brett Boardman

WITH
Natasha Bassett
Dylan Carter
William Cook
Bendeguz Devenyi- Botos
Anastasia Dounas
Sarah Elsmore
David Friedman
Harriet Hall
Laura Hopkinson
Julia Raines
Patrick Richards
Alexandra Rigby
Adam Roberts
Stefan Smoleniec
Cooper Torrens
Cassie Wright