Samara Hersch is an Australian theatre maker who spent the last years sharing her time between her country of origin and Europe. She developed a unique and fascinating technique bringing conversation between strangers, not only as a methodology of work, but also as its subject.

In her productions, Hersch focuses on stories of marginalized communities and promotes dialogue on social and political issues between different generations. Her latest performance It's Going to Get Dark, which will premiere during SPRING, is an exploration of the possibilities of exchange and intimacy, especially between different age groups. On stage, intergenerational conversations take place between teenagers and seniors, who collectively reflect on how time shapes us and affects our future. Against a backdrop of shifting shadows and apparitions, the performers ask difficult questions about change, uncertainty and the approaching darkness.

It's Going to Get Dark is a prophecy, a promise and a prediction for a future that feels uncertain and overwhelming. Ultimately, the aim of the work is to cultivate curiosity, vulnerability, intimacy and resilience through coming together and listening. By exploring how darkness and theatre can expose alternative modes of interaction, Hersch invites us to rethink our relationship with the unknown and embrace new possibilities.

Samara Hersch is also part of the Topic Talk between provocation and invitation. 

Biography

Samara Hersch is an artist and theatre director whose practice explores the intersection of contemporary performance and community engagement. Her current research is an exploration into public acts of intimacy, proposing new artistic frames for non-professional performers and audiences to inhabit. Her recent body of work focuses on trans-generational dialogue with an enquiry into conversation as performance. These works include: Body of Knowledge, a work that invites teenagers to host conversations with adults regarding questions they have about the body and body politic, Sex and Death, an intimate encounter led by performers in their seventies and eighties and For the Time Being, a remote, inter-generational encounter created during the pandemic. Samara is currently an artist in residence at Theatre Rotterdam and is part of the EU Network; ACT; Art Climate Transition. She completed her Masters at DAS Theatre in Amsterdam (2019) and is based between the Netherlands and Naarm (Melbourne).

https://samarahersch.com/