Literary estate of Alex Buzo

pioneering Australian playwright and author

Alana Valentine on her new play

"I hope Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah will surprise audiences with its portrait of Afghani Muslim women, who are articulate, highly educated, deeply spiritual and enraged by the way Australian and global media paint them as oppressed, meek and silent. To be part of a project where Buzo's theme and concerns might be reignited through a new work...is genuinely exciting. In effect, it allows the 'conversation' to move into a third dimension: not just Buzo speaking anew to the 21st Century, but Buzo reflected and responded to through the voice of a contemporary playwright. It's a vision of Australian theatre as a historical continuum." (Read the full article in SAM, the University of Sydney's Alumni magazine, July 2009)