Created by Stanmore resident Duncan Ragg and Jessica Marshall, ‘Liberty St’ is the first Australian isolation series to be shot with a full crew under strict lockdown conditions.
Featuring incredible Inner West theatre talent, including Marrickville’s Harry Greenwood and Steve Rodgers, Earlwood’s Sara West who also directed, and Petersham’s Charles Wu and Contessa Treffone, ‘Liberty St’ spans eight, seven-minute, personal, tender and hilarious stories, taking place over a 24-hour period during the haunting depths of lockdown.
With directors comprising Dulwich Hill’s Jeremy Brull, Enmore’s Luke Marsden, Erskineville’s Lucy Gaffy and Annandale’s Isabella Andronos, it was written during the height of Covid-19 fears when writer Ragg was notified his apartment was scheduled to be demolished – the doomed apartment complex on Liberty St became the perfect symbol for these strangest of times.
“In the absence of meaningful government assistance for the Arts, this work gave hope in what felt like the darkest of times for our livelihoods and dreams,” Ragg said.
“This is a love letter to ourselves, our artistic community and each other – to say that from the dark of night, there will always be an uplifting dawn.”
Wu said: “Working on this project has given us a chance to turn the restlessness and dreaming of isolation into something that speaks directly to the now and always, finding big stories in the smallest places.”
The series has been released today, Wednesday, August 19, through thecorinthianfoodstore.com (a Sydney-based collective formed in 2012 and dedicated to creating new work about the experience of living in Australia today).