About the show
Zoey Dawson is writing a play, not just any play, a really good, really important play. Or so she hopes.
On the desperate shores of colonial Australia, a convict mother and her daughter disguise themselves as free settlers, determined for a fresh start. Yet the arrival of a sinister officer and a handsome convict boy sees their plans crumble before them…but as the day wears on and Zoey’s self-doubt grows, we are launched into the reality of her isolation.
A haunting exploration of identity, inheritance and endurance, this work asks what it takes to survive.
Emma Johns
Emma is an emerging queer Australian director and dramaturg who is passionate about new Australian work that highlights everyday stories in unique and playful ways.
While completing her Bachelor of Arts (Distinction) with a double major in Indigenous Studies and Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of New South Wales, she was active in student theatre across Sydney. Before beginning the course, she worked at The Scots College Senior School as the acting Master in Charge of Drama, directing highly successful productions that allowed her to foster a new generation of theatre makers.
Emma is inspired by theatre that refuses to follow conventions and seeks to push the art form.
How do you make a play? Who decides what stories are important? What is left when everything else is gone? Where do you go when everyone has given up on you? How do you learn to have conviction in yourself?
Through a ridiculous satirisation of a convict play, Zoey Dawson explores the human desire to escape yourself and the joy connected to finding your way back.
As emerging artists about to step into the great big wide world outside NIDA, this play reminds us to stay true to ourselves, the art we want to make, and when in doubt, laugh.
– Emma Johns
TBA
Subject to change in the development of the production.
The Company
CAST (in order of appearance)
Lilian: Madeleine Lewis
Mud: Jaga Yap
William: Dan Castle
Agatha: Bianca Marshall
Writer: Zoey Dawson
Director: Emma Johns
Set, Props & Costume Designer: Alex Camidge
Lighting Designer: Jonathan Ogilvie
Sound Designer: Guinevere Fisher*
Stage Manager: Lola Hunt
Production Manager: Archer Dametto*
Production Assistant: Billy Charlton*
Costume Supervisor: Karamea Gostt
Fight Choreographer: Troy Honeysett*
Voice Coach: Simon Masterton**
Construction Manager: Emile Stuart
Systems Manager & Environmental Sustainability Coordinator: Alexandria White
Key
*Guest Artist
** NIDA Staff