TOO Episode 138- Audio New Play Festival, James Reiser's SUGARBAG

Sugarbag is a one-person radio play centered around the story of a young adult farmer living in outback Queensland. Set in a future where a combination of tightened pressure on international agricultural trade, growing populations, and the monopolization of vast farming industries has led to overfarming and a lack of regard for the welfare of the country. 

Sugarbag is a journey that explores the white colonial farming psyche. A world where in order to survive one has to become thick-skinned, rigid, and emotionally defensive. But when, despite all that, the world around you is still falling to pieces, where do you go? What does it take to unravel 200+ years of compression?

Written and Performed by James Reiser

Featuring Mark Nannup as Jerry

Composer | Sound Designer |  Sound Engineer: Jack Burmeister

Dramaturg: Steven Gaultney

James Reiser is an Australian writer, performer, and visual artist. Having trained at the Victorian College of the Arts, James integrates spoken word and rhythm in his work. He plays with the textural and kinetic qualities in language to tell stories that otherwise become difficult to articulate. 

James makes his playwriting debut with Sugarbag after having written and performed Spoken word poetry to the extent of competing in the Queensland final of the Australian Poetry Slam competition.