David Williams - acclaimed documentary theatre maker, writer and football fanatic - is the 'Smurf'. For the uninitiated, 'Smurf' is the nickname given to a Sydney Football Club fan. During the 2013-14 A League football season, Williams, a long-suffering Sydney FC fan, frequented Western Sydney Wanderers' games on their home turf in Parramatta. Kitted out in his Sydney FC sky-blue jersey, Williams-the-Smurf stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of red and black. His presence caused bewilderment and banter, but none of the hooliganism that's come to be associated with the game - he didn't need to fear for his life. Developed during Williams' 2015 residency, Smurf in Wanderland is one man's insightful and hilarious examination of football, tribalism, belonging and identity. It's also a passionate defence of the fan - what it means to be a fan, the demonisation of fans and the artificial wedge that has been created between Sydney and its western suburbs.
Williams, David: - DAVID WILLIAMS is a leading Australian theatre artist whose productions open spaces for public conversation about political and social issues. David was the Curator of ATF 2015: MAKING IT, and has worked for 20 years as a director, writer, producer, dramaturg, and performer with companies across Australia including Ilbijerri, Griffin, Queensland Theatre, Merrigong Theatre Company, Vitalstatistix, Belvoir, Branch Nebula, Sidetrack Performance Group, Sydney Theatre Company, Urban Theatre Projects and pvi collective. He is a past winner of the Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship for Acting, a graduate of the Australia Council's Emerging Leaders Development Program, a member of the 2015 Griffin Studio, and his theatre works have won Helpmann, Green Room and Drovers Awards. David was the founder and artistic leader of the performance group version 1.0, and co-created and produced all of the company's work from 1998 until parting ways with the company in 2012. These works included: The Tender Age (with ATYP), The Disappearances Project, The Table of Knowledge (with Merrigong Theatre Company), The Bougainville Photoplay Project, THIS KIND OF RUCKUS, A Distressing Scenario, Deeply Offensive and Utterly Untrue, The Wages of Spin, CMI (A Certain Maritime Incident), From a Distance and The Second Last Supper. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales, an Honours degree in Theatre from UWS (Nepean), and is currently an Honorary Associate at the Department of Performance Studies, University of Sydney, a committee member of SAMAG, and the Producer/Programmer at the Seymour Centre. Under the banner DW Projects, David Williams creates theatre works of social relevance, aesthetic rigour and emotional impact from research, interviews, transcripts and public documents. Current and upcoming DW Projects include: Quiet Faith (national tour April-July 2018), Smurf in Wanderland (National Theatre of Parramatta & Griffin Theatre Company) and Grace Under Pressure (Seymour Centre & The Big Anxiety).
