Hideto Ambiguous is touring with his one-man tragicomedy, The Unfolding of Benjamin’s Misery, the winner of Best Words and Ideas Award at Melbourne Fringe Festival 2019.

Partially based on Hideto’s own experience of exploitation as a migrant worker, this play reveals how globalization preys on popular progressive ideals such as cultural diversity, equal opportunity and celebration of art. With nothing but his characters and original poetry, music and dance onstage, Hideto examines potentials and limits of an individual everyday dissident in a collective fight for global transformation in this age of xenophobia.

In the show, Benjamin tells the story of the most hilarious and miserable night he spent as an undocumented migrant worker at a small venue. When the performer does not show, the sadistic venue manager forces him to entertain the crowd. Benjamin in deep despair has no idea how his encounter with the late-coming performer would unfold his misery, of the night and of his entire life. He also had no idea about that the impact of the experience would transform him into the person he is today. How could an impromptu performance change a person’s life so radically? Or not? It’s Benjamin’s job to tell us.

This show will resonate with people who daily struggle for cultural preservation and against cultural appropriation and fetishization. It’s a must see for all those fighting the irrational logic of globalization, to gain deeper understandings of it from the migrant perspective.

The show comes to Square Edge Community Arts Centre on the 6th and 7th of February, with a poetry workshop at Square Edge on the 4th.