THE GREAT FIRE
Christmas eve, 2016.
Heat, cicadas, the early-morning warble of a magpie, the rustle of drooping eucalypt leaves. It's the hottest December day on record, and Patrick and Judith's far-flung family are returning home to the house they built on a communally-owned property nearly forty years ago.
Judith and Patrick have come a long way from where they started, and their children, struggling to reconcile their counterculture upbringing with the more hard-edged present, are adrift. When Judith and Patrick contemplate a return to their roots, the implications for their children will put them on a collision course.
And for Judith and her youngest son Tom, coming home skirts around the edge of an abyss - the narrow path along its edge might save them, or they might tumble in.
The Great Fire is a play about family, about holding your course, about what will survive of the fading triumph of Australian social democracy.
WORLD PREMIERE
Belvoir St Theatre
2 April - 8 May 2016
Written by Kit Brookman
Directed by Eamon Flack
Set design: Michael Hankin
Costume design: Jennifer Irwin
Lighting design: Damien Cooper
Composition and sound design: Steve Francis
with Sarah Armanious, Peter Carroll, Lynette Curran, Eden Falk, Sandy Gore, Shelly Lauman, Marcus McKenzie, Geoff Morrell, Yalin Ozucelik, Genevieve Picot.
REVIEWS
All photographs by Brett Boardman
"This is a very funny work... Playwright Kit Brookman steps up to the Belvoir main stage here and confidently delivers a meaty exploration of the social, political and cultural changes wrought in Australia over the past 50 years... love never escapes this clan, even as their collective future is visibly breaking down."
- Steve Dow, Limelight Magazine
"★★★★
The Great Fire is a vibrant reflection of middle-class confusion, disillusionment, sparkling with wit and energy. The domestic drama is held together by the director (Belvoir AD Eamon Flack) and the acting talents of the impressive cast, who imbue these characters with an honesty and depth of feeling that never feels overly sentimental, the dialogue feeling decidedly real, alive. A must-see."
- Hannah Story, The Music
*follow links to full reviews.