Truth to Power Café

"Revolutionary theatre at its best and most direct" - The Guardian

“A priceless repository of living social history, wit, wisdom and defiance.”★★★★★ - Attitude Magazine, UK

“A stunning work of theatrical activism.”★★★★★ - The Queer Review, New York

From Adelaide to Zagreb and now at Theatre Works for its Melbourne premiere, Jeremy Goldstein’s Truth to Power Café is a profound theatrical reflection on loss, hope, and resistance.

This award-winning international performance event is told through memoir, image, film, poetry, music, and compassionate truth-telling in response to the question: ‘who has power over you and what do you want to say to them?’

Personal, professional, political - speaking truth to power is a non-violent means of conflict resolution, the origins of which lie in the anti-war movement. Is it to your parents, a sibling, politician, lover, landlord, neighbour, banker, boss, or simply your best friend? It’s time to tell them the truth before it’s too late.

Truth to Power Café is inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter and his inner Jewish circle “The Hackney Gang”, who included Jeremy’s late father, Mick Goldstein, and poet/actor Henry Woolf.

Created by Jeremy Goldstein with Henry Woolf

Directed by Jen Heyes

Download the Access Guide here

Participants

Wednesday 5 February:

• Mama Alto – jazz singer, cabaret artiste, and gender transcendent diva
• Jax Brown OAM – disability and LGBTQIA+ rights activist, writer, and educator
• Tara Burnett – public school teacher, unionist, renter and Green candidate for the Victorian seat of Cooper at this year’s federal If Tara wins, she will become the first trans MP in any Parliament in Australia
• Brenton Geyer – LGBTIQ+ community leader, HIV+ advocate, and former Chair and life member of the Midsumma Festival
• Justine Morris – occasional poet turned trauma monologist
• Andy Porter – writer, filmmaker and student
• Leisa Prowd – dancer, performance artist, and life model
• Tiger Salmon – founder of Wicked Woman, Australia’s first erotic zine for lesbians and trans folk

Thursday 6 February - please note: this session has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances

• Nawal Agan - TV and Event Host
• Maria Bololia – pioneering Greek Australian lesbian activist
• Maude Davey OAM – Melbourne Fringe Living Legend Award Winner 2022
• Chelle Destefano – award-winning multi-disciplinary Deaf woman artist
• Jack Gow – journalist ABCQueer
• Michael Olsen – award-winning playwright
• Sasja Sÿdek– co-founder of Trans Sister United and Queer Muslim Naarm
• Dr. Melinda Smith - artist, educator and mentor to young people with Cerebral Palsy