Tarantino meets Deadwood in this full-throttle drama of our colonial past, written by the indomitable Leah Purcell. Henry Lawsons story of the Drovers Wife pits the stoic silhouette of a woman against the unforgiving Australian landscape, staring down a serpent -- its our frontier myth captured in a few pages. In Leahs new play the old story gets a very fresh rewrite. Once again the Drovers Wife is confronted by a threat in her yard in Australias high country, but now its a man. Hes bleeding, hes got secrets, and hes black. She knows theres a fugitive wanted for killing whites, and the district is thick with troopers, but somethings holding the Drovers Wife back from turning this fella in... A taut thriller of our pioneering past, "The Drovers Wife" is full of fury, power and has a black sting to the tail, reaching from our nations infancy into our complicated present. (7 male, 1 female)
Leah Purcell is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland. She is an actor, writer and director. Leah's awards include the 2014 Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright's Award, a 2013 AACTA Award for Best Female Actor in a TV Drama for Redfern Now, a Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play and Matilda Awards for Best Actress and Director for The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table, a Film Critics' Circle Award and an IF Award for Lantana, two Actor of the Year and one Singer of the Year Deadly Awards, the inaugural Bob Maza Fellowship, and the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship for her artistic endeavours, community philanthropy and cultural activism. Leah is a proud member of Actors Equity.
WINNER OF: Best Drama and the Victorian Prize for Literature, Victorian Premiers Literary Awards (2017). Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting and Book of the Year, NSW Premier's Literary Awards (2017).
Best New Australian Work, Sydney Theatre Awards (2016). Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwrights Award (2014)
