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Smurf in Wanderland

Smurf in Wanderland

By David Williams
ISBN
9781760620516
Publisher
Currency Press
Publication Date
2 May 2017
Edition
CTS
Format
Paperback
Availability
Available
Categories
Plays
$25.99
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Description
David Williams - acclaimed documentary theatre maker, writer and football fanatic - is the 'smurf'.. For the uninitiated, 'smurf' is the nickname given to a Sydney Football Club fan. During the 2013-14 A League football season, Williams, a long-suffering Sydney FC fan, frequented Western Sydney Wanderers' games on their home turf in Parramatta. Kitted out in his Sydney FC sky-blue jersey, Williams-the-Smurf stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of red and black. His presence caused bewilderment and banter, but none of the hooliganism that's come to be associated with the game - he didn't need to fear for his life. Developed during Williams' 2015 residency, Smurf in Wanderland is one man's insightful and hilarious examination of football, tribalism, belonging and identity. It's also a passionate defence of the fan - what it means to be a fan, the demonisation of fans and the artificial wedge that has been created between Sydney and its western suburbs.
Biography
David Williams
David Williams

DAVID WILLIAMS (Writer & Director) is a Melbourne-based theatre artist who crafts evocative performances from found materials such as interviews, archives, and transcripts of public inquiries. His recent works include Quiet Faith, built from conversations with Christians about religion and public life, Grace Under Pressure (co-written with Paul Dwyer), based on interviews with doctors and nurses about hospital workplace cultures, and Smurf In Wanderland, about football fandom and geographic belonging. Grand Theft Theatre, his collaboration with Pony Cam, was awarded Best Theatre, 2022 Melbourne Fringe, and played at the 2024 Adelaide Festival. Sincere Apologies, his collaboration with Dan Koop & Jamie Lewis, based on an original concept by David Williams & Roslyn Oades, premiered in May 2025 and is touring globally. SMALLER, his latest solo work, will premiere in late 2026.

He holds a PhD from UNSW, was the Curator of ATF2015, a winner of the Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for Acting (1998), a graduate of the Australia Council’s Emerging Leaders Development Program (2011), and a member of the 2015 Griffin Studio. His works have won Helpmann, Green Room and Drovers’ Awards. He was the founder and artistic leader of the performance group version 1.0, and co-created and produced all the company’s work from 1998-2012, including CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident), The Wages Of Spin, This Kind Of Ruckus, The Disappearances Project, and The Bougainville Photoplay Project. Other work includes: researcher on Black Diggers (QTC & Sydney Festival), codirector on The Tender Age (ATYP), dramaturg/co-devisor on Beautiful One Day (Ilbijerri & Belvoir), co-director on In This Fairfield (PYT), and co-director/dramaturg on A Sri Lankan Tamil Asylum Seeker’s Story... (Merrigong Theatre Company).

David Williams's Other Books (2)
Book Data
Cast Info 1M
Genres Comedy
Themes Solo Performer, One-act play
Audiences Adult
Extent 94
Edition CTS
Size 137 x 210 mm
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