I don’t know quite why I have a blog if I’m always writing in it just that bit late. My adaptation of Pip Williams’ novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words is now playing in the Sydney Opera House (directed and steered by the sensational Jessica Arthur). After a beautiful opening night, at the very next performance, one of our lovely cast was down with Covid, and the lurgy proceeded to cut a swathe through the reaminder for a week after that, with understudies doing a stalwart job. We’re now back to full strength (barring accidents! Theatre Gods, I do hear you…) and hopefully the rest of the season through to December 16th can engage with audiences until the end. [The show is sold out in fact but there will be returns from time to time.]
Except that it isn’t the end. A few weeks ago, we confirmed a Melbourne season at the Victorian Arts Centre from February 17th (first preview) to 10th March. It, too, is booking briskly. We lose two of our original cast, which is so sad, but have exciting alternatives in the pipeline, which is so great.
Other work: I’m off to the Pitch Festival run by Screen Pod out of Screen Canberra next week (November 24th/25th). At the urging of one of my 7-ON peers, I’ve undertaken a quick dip into screenwriting and am – rather terrifyingly – pitching a screen project. It’s something I’ve been working on on and off for a couple of years now (research-heavy, but a great story – the more things change, the more they stay the same!). The project derives from one of the stories I came across when writing The Red Cross Letters, produced by the State Theatre of South Australia in 2016.