Engages,
Aaron Billings, Bus Radio Casual Stain
Dates: Thursday 9 & 23 July and 17 September, 7pm
‘Casual Stain’ is a radio play based on my own experience working at a multi-national retail & homewares store as the Pandemic hit. The story follows Bailey, a 26 year old long term casual at the store as they navigate panicked customers, elusive management, hyper surveillance and job insecurity. Can Brodie get on a part time contract to secure future work? Can she protect her friend who she recently helped get a job? What will become of her band and artist collective if she is forced to go back on Job Seeker? All these questions will be answered. ‘Casual Stain’ is a comedy, but all of the conversations are directly lifted from real conversations I have had with customers and management. I hope other retail drones will relate to this.
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Aaron Billings is a textile and comic artist working out of Pink Ember studio in Coburg. His work has been exhibited through Blindside ARI, Tinning Street Presents and Trocadero Art Space, among others. He graduated with honours in Fine Art from Monash University in 2019 and he is currently the gallery manager and the studio manager at Pink Ember studio. His practice is concerned, among other things, with building stange and imaginative narratives that incorporate the banality of wage labour and the wonder of collective action.