Revival! CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident)
Description
PACT, Intimate Spectacle and Alternative Facts present:
Revival! CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident)
26-28 March 2026
Revival! CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident) is a three-day public program of performances, talks, screenings and discussions that take as their starting point the celebrated 2004 performance work CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident) by version 1.0.
CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident) by version 1.0 was hailed by the Bulletin as “a startling, highly kinetic, blackly comic and deeply provocative work of theatre" and the Sydney Morning Herald as a “passionate, often humorous, and ultimately disturbing deconstruction of politicians at work”, CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident) explores the so-called ‘children overboard’ scandal, Australia’s cruelty towards refugees and the politicisation of the public service.
Revival! CMI will reopen public conversations around art and activism, specifically those debates surrounding the continuing hard-line ‘border protection’ strategies now enthusiastically adopted by both sides of Australian politics.
Timed to coincide with the 22nd anniversary of its Performance Space premiere, Revival! CMI will feature excerpts from the original performance, talks, panels, exhibitions, plus four original short creative responses to CMI from artists with asylum seeker backgrounds.
With different events across each of the three days, 26-28 March, you can book per day or a festival pass which gives you entry to all events.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body.
Program
- 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
DAY 1: “Well, it did happen” - THURSDAY 26 March
CMI returns! Welcome to Country led by Aunty Rhonda Introduction: ‘Where to Begin?’ by David Williams 2 channel video (2004): ‘Well, it did happen’ by Frank Dwyer (live) and Minna McClure (audio) Short Talk - ‘Children, Children Overboard, And Time’ by Bryoni Trezise CMI excerpt 1: ‘Fogs of War’ by CMI artists Short Talk - A Short Recess: CMI in context. ‘Several waves of Australian theatre about refugees and asylum policy’ by Caroline Wake In Conversation - ‘Why Revival?’ by Justine Shih Pearson and CMI Artists
- 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
DAY 2: “but we did not have the helicopter view” - FRIDAY 27 March
More performance excerpts! Politics! Weasel words! CMI’s inspirations, context and aftermath. CMI excerpt 2: “Evil people engaged in child abuse” by CMI artists A conversation in the form of an interruption: ‘Creating art with refugees and asylum seekers’ by Claudia Chidiac and Safdar Ahmed Short Talk - ‘Performing refugee stories’ by Paul Dwyer CMI excerpt 3: '“professionally and properly” by CMI artists
- 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
DAY 3: “outstanding matters yet to be settled” - SATURDAY 28 March
Thoughts on the future (and how we’ll get there). Introduction by Claudia Chidiac CMI response work 1 by Adeeb Razzouk with Amy Morris CMI response work 2 by Neda Taha CMI response work 3 by Omer Kay CMI video remix by Dam James CMI response work 4 by Mahdi Mohammadi, Kobra Sayyadi, Paul Dwyer (Dramaturg) and Frank Dwyer (Sound) In Conversation – ‘The future (and how we might get there)’ led by Alissar Chidiac featuring Adeeb Razzouk, Neda Taha, Mahdi Mohammadi and Omer Kay.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
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