posted on 2023-05-25, 11:44authored byLewis, Robert
The Photo was a major milestone for CentrStage as it was the first premiere written by an internationally renowned playwright, Stephen Sewell. This was CentrStage’s first Sewell production since the company’s inception back in 1990. What made The Photo compelling and extremely pertinent are the relevant themes that are significant in our day and age. Themes such as censorship, freedom of speech, cultural identity and the suppression and questioning of ‘the truth’ resonate throughout the play. Sewell relates the birth of this new work to the controversy that surrounded the 2008 Bill Henson artwork that contained images of naked children, and wrote The Photo as a response to the narrative that developed.