Meet Angus Cerini, one of Australia's greatest living playwrights, and learn all about the inspirations behind his latest triumph Into the Shimmering World
This play is about weather. Well, it’s not really. I mean it has weather in it. But that’s mostly just the weather doing what weather does. No. This play is about farming. Yes farming. And about people who farm. Farmers. Yes. It’s about that. Well sort of. But also not entirely.
This play is about love. And dreams. And feral pests. And family. And it’s about that way we look at ourselves. And how we feel about things. And about how we look and feel about other things. Other people. Ourselves. Our neighbours. This play is about them. And us. Which is community. Yes this play is about community. But it’s also about a man. And his wife. And his children. And his time. And his choices. It’s about the song in this man’s heart. This play is a song about – wait. It’s not a song, it’s a poem. No. Hang on. It’s a play. Okay, so it’s a rhythmic text-based performance that explores family, and rural Australia. With weather. And dreams. And make believe. But based on very real, and very Australian things. Yes. That’s what this is. A work of fiction that is my love letter to you all. Especially you. You know who you are.
As is usually the case, you can only arrive somewhere with the help of others. And 3 years ago, when Paige Rattray asked me what I was working on, I told her how I’d met an old bloke with a three-legged dog. And when I asked the old bloke what had happened to the dog, he said the dog had got between him and a bull. So that’s really what this play is about.
Paige and I kept having those discussions and without that shared energy we wouldn’t all be here now – so thank you Paige for being such an incredible collaborator. Ruth Little, Patricia Cornelius, Susie Dee, Nicci Wilks, Joey Rochford (and the boys) also gave invaluable input and along with the creatives and team at STC I am intensely grateful. To quote the grandson of that great Australian George Woolnough, time is a traveller. And how we ended up here, together in this theatre, via that 3-legged dog, is for me a little miracle. So thank you, and I hope you enjoy the show.