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Paris, 1871. A revolt seizes control of a global city. In its final days, working class women - from seamstresses to teachers to sex workers- take up arms, desperate to defend the freedoms they have fought for and won. And then it is over, in a sea of blood. In Divine Chaos of Starry Things, award-winning journalist Paul Mason explores the agony of the defeat and exile of the Parisian women revolutionaries deported to the remote Pacific island of New Caledonia, their depression and isolation upon arrival and loss of hope as dreams of escape fade and a new reality descends. Tension simmers amongst the island's indigenous people as resentment and rebellion hang in the air. Based on the memoirs of 19th century feminist icon and revolutionary Louise Michel, this piece of theatre looks at what happens when downtrodden people experience the transformative power of mass action, only to be defeated. In our current world increasingly scarred by torture, mass incarceration, censorship and razor wire, the play looks at key questions surrounding oppression and resistance; what makes people refuse to surrender in the face of repression and how do people survive once the exhilaration of revolt is over?

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Author: Paul Mason