The Royal Experiment – The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)

About the show

The Cure That Took 300 Years

The answer was there all along. The world just refused to listen.

For centuries, women across cultures knew how to stop smallpox. But science, politics, and prejudice buried their knowledge for 300 years. Melanie Tait’s The Royal Experiment is a fast-paced, time-travelling comedy that unveils the absurdity of how medical breakthroughs are ignored, dismissed, or stolen.

With six actors playing 18 characters across multiple centuries, this NIDA-commissioned premiere blends biting satire with real history. Lee Lewis (Queensland Theatre, Griffin Theatre Company) directs this audacious new work, bringing an urgent and comedic lens to one of medicine’s most outrageous oversights.

The past ignored them. Now, it’s time to listen.

Lee Lewis AM is one of Australia’s leading stage directors and as Artistic Director has led Queensland Theatre, the state company based in Brisbane, Australia and Griffin Theatre Company, Australia’s new writing company in Sydney.

For Griffin Theatre Lee directed the world premiere of Prima Facie by Suzie Miller which sparked the beginning of a remarkable journey for the play around the world, to the West End and Broadway and now into film and novel, winning Tony, Drama Desk and Olivier Awards along the way.

Lee has directed for all of the major Australian theatre companies during her career. Highlights include The Bleeding Tree (Helpmann Award for Best Director) and its revivals, and David Williamson’s Rupert for Melbourne Theatre Company and its tour to Washington DC as part of the World Stages International Arts Festival and to Sydney’s Theatre Royal.

Lee was the first person to receive a Master of Fine Arts from NIDA in Directing. Her thesis was published by Currency Press as a Platform Paper under the title Cross-Racial Casting: Changing the Face of Australian Theatre.

– Lee Lewis

Melanie Tait is a playwright and screenwriter based in Sydney, Australia.

Her first play The Vegemite Tales won critical and popular acclaim, playing eight years in London, including two years on the West End at Leicester Square Theatre. The Observer called it “a great thing to witness: a real cultural comedy event.”

Her most recent play How to Plot A Hit in Two Days imagines the writers room on A Country Practice killing the beloved character Molly Jones. It premiered at Ensemble Theatre in August 2025. The Queen’s Nanny has just enjoyed a national tour after also premiering at Ensemble in August 2024.

The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race premiered at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney in March 2019 and toured nationally in 2021. The play has been programmed right around Australia and New Zealand including at the State Theatre Company of South Australia, Queensland Theatre and The Court Theatre in Christchurch.

Melanie also adapted the play into a feature film The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race, which premiered on Paramount+ and Channel 10 in 2023.

Melanie’s play A Broadcast Coup, opened in January 2023 at Ensemble Theatre as part of Sydney Festival. A Model Murder opens in Sydney Festival in January 2025.

Mudlark Theatre produced rehearsed readings of Blue Cow Theatre’s commissioned On This Island, Now across Tasmania in July 2025.

She also has two other plays under commission at NIDA and the Melbourne Theatre Company. The Royal Experiment will premiere at NIDA in October 2025.

Melanie has television series in development with Easy Tiger and BBC Studios.

To be confirmed.