The darkness of a western Sydney highway. A 24-hour service station, neon lights flashing. Six strangers who navigate danger every night. But what do they risk and what are the codes of belief that sustain them?

The Last Highway is a brutal yet beautiful homage to all those caught between day and night, the visible and invisible, where the main character is the road and the road is freedom.

As part of the 2006 Sydney Festival, Sydney's Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) took audiences on a wild night out with their refreshing and gutsy take on mateship with the smash hit Back Home. The Last Highway promises to be another provocative journey into the heart of Sydney's south-western suburbs.

Set in an isolated service station, The Last Highway is a gritty and hypnotic new performance work that exposes the fragilities and fearlessness of six late night workers. As the night unfolds, we witness the resilience of people often forced to navigate danger on a daily basis, the risks they take and the beliefs that keep them going.

The project was initially inspired by the increased presence of sex workers on western Sydney highways and the ensuing moral panic from local political leaders and residents. Consequently, the workers were moved to a less visible area of greater isolation and personal risk.

Through its intercultural cast, The Last Highway explores some of the cultural stereotypes associated with late-night work - a South Asian service station worker, a Lebanese kebab van operater and a Greek taxi driver.

What do people risk in negotiating their daily lives, and what are their guiding philosophies that get them through?

Urban Theatre Projects
Urban Theatre Projects (UTP) creates distinctive new theatre works based on a process of dialogue between contemporary theatre practice and diverse communities. Stories and images of contemporary life are created in collaboration with teams of artists from diverse art-form practices and diverse cultural backgrounds.

Over the past decade UTP has become increasingly renowned for creating new performance works generated by multi-skilled teams of artists working in residence in specific sites. These performances are developed through ongoing consultation and, consequently, have a strong connection to specific places and issues critical to the people who interact with those sites.

UTP creates work over three stages of research, development and production, often spanning two or more years. The company typically presents two new works each year, while also seeding projects in development, and providing professional development opportunities for emerging and established artists.

Urban Theatre Projects was founded in 1981, originally under the name Death Defying Theatre. Over the last 10 years the company has made over 30 new works, including major seasons as part of Adelaide Festival 2002 and Sydney Festival 2006. In 2002, UTP was awarded the Sidney Myer Award in recognition of the company's outstanding contribution to Australian theatre.
Contact:
Simon Wellington
PO Box 707
NSW 1885
Tel +61 2 9707 2111
Fax +61 2 970 72166
Mob 0413 606 473
simon@urbantheatre.com.au
www.urbantheatre.com.au