New ‘spoken word’ festival in Sydney offers stories directly from creators

In Judaism, there is much to be said about spoken words. Let’s start at the beginning, the notion that the world itself was spoken into existence by God. Then there are the bad spoken words, “lashon hara”, “the evil tongue”, and the perils of gossip. Historically, especially in times of persecution, the Torah and its teachings were passed down by word of mouth, an oral history.

In more recent times, Holocaust survivors have recorded their testimonies through spoken interviews, their voices and words recorded for preservation. Words carry gravitas. An energy of their own making once uttered. They create a conversation even if the receiver holds their answers quietly within. Words spoken are a prayer, a poem, a calling into being.

This year, instead of the traditional festival celebrating the written word, Shalom Collective’s Sydney Jewish Writers Festival has created the Festival of the Spoken Word as its principal offering to the community. A call out for works centred on Jewish identity, history and experience across theatre, music, poetry, comedy, conversation and performance, generated 45 applications.

Some 16 of these works were approved for the month-long festival starting on August 2 on the north shore with the musical theatre performance One of a Kind. The performance is about a wealthy Egyptian Jewish family that is forced to leave behind the world it built over generations and begin again in Sydney. It will be followed on August 3 by the Australian Jewish Writers Awards, with the ceremony held in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Festival Director and Head of Program and Engagement, Hannah Saunders, says the idea for the spoken word festival transpired after Shalom received feedback that Jewish artists did not have sufficient opportunities to present new works.