ABOUT THE SHOW

From Sunshine Super Girl playwright Andrea James comes a new MTC NEXT STAGE Commission that delves deep into one of the first urban legends of colonial Australia. In a special development reading, audiences will be offered a unique opportunity to hear an exciting new Australian work in progress while gaining rare insight into a vital side of the playwriting process.

In 1840, a settler swore he found a bible printed in Edinburgh, a blue silk purse and a broken looking-glass in the remains of a Gunaikurnai camp near Ninety Mile Beach. But did he also really see the face of a 'pale woman' in a possum-skin cloak? Was there really a ‘white woman’ in Gunaikurnai country or were these unverified stories a cover for other activities – these are the questions Jacinta is trying to answer when she holes herself up in a country motel to put the finishing touches on her thesis. But can she solve a 150-year-old mystery in four days? And get justice for her people?

The Black Woman of Gippsland explores colonial Victorian ‘history’ through a vital First Nations’ lens. This presentation of James’s first draft will showcase a work of powerful personal importance for an acclaimed playwright, and offers audiences the opportunity to be part of the continuing development process – Saturday’s reading may even differ from the first as Andrea James takes on insights and observations from the initial public presentation to make subsequent textual adjustments.

The Black Woman of Gippsland was commissioned through MTC’s NEXT STAGE Writers’ Program with the support of our Playwrights Giving Circle Donors, The Ian Potter Foundation, Naomi Milgrom Foundation, The Myer Foundation, Malcolm Robertson Foundation and The University of Melbourne.

MTC's Summer Series is supported by Genovese