''The Drover’s Wife'' is a play by
Leah Purcell
Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's ''Somewhere in the Darkness'', which led to role ...
, loosely based on the classic
short story of the same name by
Henry Lawson
Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial perio ...
published in 1892.
Synopsis
The title character, Molly Johnson, is a heavily pregnant woman living in a remote homestead in the
Snowy Mountains, whose husband spends long periods away as a
drover. She encounters Yadaka, an Aboriginal man on the run from colonial authorities. Over a few days, a series of events occur which change their lives forever.
Productions
The play premiered at the
Belvoir St Theatre
Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Since 2016 and its artistic director is Eamon Flack.
The theatre contains a 330-seat Upstairs Theatre and a 80-seat ...
in Sydney from 17 September to 16 October 2016, directed by
Leticia Càceres and produced by
Belvoir. The cast included Purcell in the title role,
Mark Coles Smith
Mark Coles Smith (born 1989) is an Indigenous Australian actor originally from Broome in Western Australia. He is known for his roles in '' Last Cab to Darwin'' (2015), '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (2018) and '' Occupation: Rainfall'' (2020), a ...
, Tony Cogin, Benedict Hardie, and Will McDonald.
Critical reception
The play and the original production were widely acclaimed.
Awards
''The Drover's Wife'' has received multiple awards, including the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting and the overall Book of the Year at the
NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and the
Prize for Drama and the overall Victorian Prize for Literature at the
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of contemporary creative writing and Australia's publishing industry. As of 2013, it is reportedly Australia's richest literary p ...
. The play was named Best New Australian Work, and the Belvoir production Best Mainstage Production, at the
Sydney Theatre Awards in January 2017. It received the national
Helpmann Award for Best Play
The Helpmann Award for Best Play is a theatre award, presented by Live Performance Australia (LPA) at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2001. The award is for a production of a play, which may be a new work or a revival of an existing work. This ...
and
Best New Australian Work in July 2017. At the
AWGIE Awards
The AWGIE Awards is an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Australian Writers' Guild, for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The awards began in 1967.
The awards are judged by over 50 writers, most of whom are previou ...
in August 2017, ''The Drover's Wife'' received the
Major Award across all writing for performance genres, the
Stage award and the David Williamson Prize for excellence in writing for Australian theatre.
Film adaptation
The play was adapted into a
2021 film, also written and directed by Purcell.
See also
*
Leah Purcell#The Drover's Wife
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drover's Wife, The
Australian plays
2016 plays
Indigenous Australian theatre