Production DetailsMagpieby Elise Greig

A Playlab, Metro Arts and E.G Production presented in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse.

Wednesday 29 May - Saturday 8 June 2019Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse Produced by Metro Arts, Playlab and E.G.

DIRECTOR/DRAMATURG Ian LawsonDESIGNER Josh McIntosh LIGHTING DESIGNER David Walters SOUND DESIGNER Guy WebsterFIGHT CHOREOGRAPHER Niki-J PriceCHOREOGRAPHER Neridah WatersSTAGE MANAGER Jenna WardASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Mikayla BishopMORDECAI Barb Lowing AGGY Kathryn Marquet MESHACK Julian CurtisSPLINTER Michael MandaliosFORTUNA Luisa Prosser

Metro Arts and Magpie are supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Metro Arts, Playlab and Magpie are supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the department of Environment and Science. Metro Arts is proudly supported by Brisbane City Council. Magpie is supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through MATCH Lab.

Writer’s NoteWhat you can’t say, owns you. What you hide, controls you. By reclaiming your story, filling in the gaps, the cycle of inherited trauma, and the constant triggering of shame associated with it, can be broken.

This was the starting point for Magpie, the issue of transgenerational emotional inheritance — what is passed emotionally from one generation to the next. So too was the role cultural heritage plays in this inheritance. What if the culture you belong to prides itself on secrecy and invisibility? This tapped into unanswered questions I had about my personal Romani ethnic heritage. It’s a fascinating but lesser-known culture that is often misunderstood and I was motivated to explore the culture in greater depth, beyond family folklore. I wondered, what would happen if a member of that culture held a secret that had never been shared. A secret that, at first, appears sinister, causing ongoing trauma, but is revealed to be heartbreakingly painful. How would this play out through the generations?

There are now more migrants on earth, proportionally and in aggregate, than at any other time in history and the Romani community has a high representation in these migrant populations. Within the context of Magpie, Romani is a metaphor for difference, other, the misunderstood minority, the overlooked untouchables, the pariah. So too are magpies, hence the title. In this play, Mordecai is our Magpie. She is an older female character at the centre of the story, dealing with emotional and cultural issues in vigorous and self-determined ways. At first she takes a position of judgement and criticism against her culture, but eventually finds a sense of understanding and belonging. Vaclav Havel believed the treatment of the Roma is a litmus test for democracy. I wondered what that litmus test might reveal to a contemporary Australia that is still wrestling with the key issue of cultural identity. As an expat, returning to the country of her youth, Mordecai is an outsider and is in a unique position to question, analyse and reflect on the Australia she left. As we watch Mordecai debate, investigate and grapple with the assumptions she has made about this place, her culture and her relationship to it, I hope we, the audience grapple with these issues too.

Magpie is a work that is part of my PhD and utilises yoga principles and philosophy as a framework for creative writing. The process was also unique for me because I was part of Alpha Processing and then the Beta Testing programs at Playlab, working in a supported and structured process throughout the development.

I invite you to reflect on transgenerational inheritance as you experience Magpie. What happens if we shake these secrets from the family tree? What happens if we don’t?

Elise Greig

Director’s NoteGrowing up in a dysfunctional family I have spent much of my adult life trying to understand and disempower the experiences I absorbed. Never feeling like I have had a place to call home or people I could turn to for affirmation, particularly family, this dislocation and isolation forged many of my behaviours, positive and negative (and in turn my identity). Defining yourself in opposition to what you have experienced is a great motivating force, but unless it is based on a nuanced understanding of what is being opposed then it is an identity founded on sand and bound to uncomfortably shift.In early 2016 Elise approached me with the idea that would become Magpie. A cycle of intergenerational trauma and the confronting truth that underpinned it, were at the heart of her pitch. Her central character, Mordecai immediately leapt off the page as a complex, flawed woman who was estranged from her past, including her cultural heritage and ripe for transformation — a perfect embodiment for a conversation about intergenerational trauma. As a migrant nation, the cultural lens of the work has broad resonances for many Australians who have struggled to fit in with the dominant Anglo-Australian culture (the bronzed Aussie if you will). The Romani culture has been infrequently explored on the Australian stage and as a second generation Romani-Australian, Elise has brought an understanding and an inquisitiveness about the culture that plays out through the dramatic action of the work as Mordecai reconnects with her Romani upbringing. Developed through Playlab’s Alpha Processing and Beta Testing Programs, Magpie utilises a unique combination of dramatic styles, including ‘coming-of-age’ tropes, elements of mystery and magic realism to energise and push the central character forward. It is a story that mixes present and past, memory and realtime to actively ask — How do our experiences define us? How do we define ourselves? How can we process trauma to break a cycle of shame and grief? Elise’s empathetic and insightful eye has crafted a work filled with provocation, reflection and humour, which will no doubt move and entertain an audience in a refreshing way. Producing theatre at a professional level is a wonderful if somewhat ambitious endeavour, given Playlab’s capacity. So, I would like to thank both Metro Arts and e.g. for their commitment to producing this in partnership, along with the artists who have contributed throughout Magpie’s development. Magpie has been a wonderful experience in building a work that can speak to a wide audience; yet represent an idiosyncratic and very specific aspect of Australia’s multi-cultural heritage. It has also been a reminder that with love, we will always prevail.

Ian LawsonPlaylab Artistic Director/CEO

AcknowledgementsA new work for theatre doesn’t happen in isolation so there are lots of people to thank. Firstly, a huge thanks to my family — Tony, Archie, Charlie and Finley. You helped me stay centred and focused with your good humour, love and nurture. You also helped me carve out time to bring Magpie to life. Thanks to Ian and Playlab for being as excited about this story as I was and for backing it from the beginning. Ian, your incisive feedback needs to be bottled! Thanks also to Jo Thomas and the team at Metro Arts for jumping on board to bring this work to life on stage and to Brisbane Powerhouse for helping us find a home. I’d also like to thank Sue Benner, former Artistic Director of Metro Arts, who programmed my first work as a playwright, The Romany Project, which was, in many ways, the stimulus for this work. Thanks also to Sean Mee who commissioned my next work, Creche and Burn, and set me on the playwriting path. Jeremy Hart from Bourne Hall Museum, I’m so glad you found my enthusiasm contagious and brought your beautiful nuanced translation to the work. It’s a delight to contribute to the maintenance of Romani culture and language through a theatrical work. To all the actors involved throughout the development of the work — Kate Foy, Thomas Larkin, Leonard O’Donahue and Louise Brehmer, thanks for your insight and feedback. To the cast of our premiere season — Barbara Lowing, Julian Curtis, Kathryn Marquet and Michael Mandalios, your skill, curiosity and commitment are invaluable. Thanks also to David Walters, Josh McIntosh, Guy Webster and Melissa Agnew; Linda Hassall and Michael Balfour from Griffith; the team at MatchLab, Arts Queensland and Australia Council for funding the work; Jim Soorley for your excellent endorsement; Tamborine Mountain College and Tamborine Mountain State High School students for helping me test the work; all our wonderful donors who have backed the work throughout; and Queensland Theatre for longlisting Magpie for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. It takes so many people to realise a new work and I’d be lost without you.Elise Greig

Production DonorsSpecial thanks goes to: Kate Wild Alicia Cush Stephen DavisKate Gould Susan Forsyth Tony ByrneGenevieve Trace Nell Sanderson Gayle MacgregorJo Greig Margi Brown Ash Nick Backstrom Froniga Greig Cienda McNamara Backyard Theatre CollectiveCatarina Hebbard Judy Gatwood Pauline PeelMaree Barton Jo Thomas Pip BoyceShaun Charles Tom Boyle Anna Houston Julie Bray Tricia Morosin

Ian Lawson — Director/DramaturgIan is a multi award-winning Queensland based Director and Dramaturg with a focus on new work. He is the Artistic Director/CEO of Playlab, an organisation dedicated to the development, production and publication of new Australian playwriting, where he recently directed the critically acclaimed Blue Bones and The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek. Ian was the Associate Director at La Boite (2002 - 2008), where he managed the Creative and Professional Development programs

and directed numerous productions including My Love Had a Black Speed Stripe, Urban Dingoes, Crèche & Burn, Last Drinks, The Narcissist, The Danger Age and the return season of The Narcissist for the Sydney Theatre Company. Ian also directed the critically acclaimed gothic contemporary performance piece The Pineapple Queen. Ian directed sell out seasons of Bastard Territory for Brown’s Mart and JUTE, and most recently as part of Queensland Theatre Company’s 2016 season, Hotel Beche de Mer for the Arts Centre Gold Coast and Hopelessly Devoted for Glen Street in Sydney. For the Queensland Music Festival Ian was the Associate Director and Designer on Bobcat Dancing and Bobcat Magic, and directed Radio Plays. Ian has also worked for many other organisations including: Brisbane Festival, PWA, UQ, Griffith University, Zen Zen Zo and Screen Queensland (The Writer’s Room as a director and script consultant, and the Low Budget Feature Initiative as a mentor).

Josh McIntosh — DesignerJosh is a multi-award winning Production Designer for theatre, opera, musical theatre, dance and festivals. His recent work includes design for Duck for QPAC & Out of the Box, Shake & Stir’s productions of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mister Fox and A Christmas Carol, Strut’n’Fret’s Deluxe Deluxe, and Queensland Ballet’s co-production with Queensland Music Festival of Little Green Road to Fairyland. Josh’s recent Australasian touring productions include Green Day’s American Idiot, Roald Dahl’s George’s

Marvellous Medicine, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and the arena productions of Grease and Hairspray. Recent festival design includes the Openair Cinemas in Australia & NZ, QPAC’s Out of The Box children’s theatre festival (2016 & 2018) and every two years since 2009 he has worked on Queensland Music Festival’s signature epic outdoor productions in many Queensland regional centres, featuring some of the biggest outdoor sets in the southern hemisphere.

David Walters — Lighting DesignFor the past 40 years David Walters has worked as a professional Lighting Designer in Iceland and Australia. In 1986 David returned to Australia to take up a position as Resident Lighting Designer with the Queensland Theatre Company. Since 1990, as a freelance designer, he has worked extensively throughout Australia and designed for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Handspan, Playbox, La Boite, Rock ‘n’ Roll

Circus, Nimrod, Company B, Expressions, Queensland Ballet, Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, The Powerhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, QUT, Zen Zen Zo, Dead Puppet Society, Topology, Insite Arts and Bell Shakespeare Company. His work has toured extensively both in Australia and overseas. Well known to Queensland audiences, David’s lighting has frequently been recognised in the Matilda awards and in 2018 he was honoured with an ABF Lifetime Achievement Award.

Guy Webster — Sound Design Guy Webster works across the mediums of theatre, dance, circus, sound art, installation and new media. During his early career as a dancer & choreographer Guy developed his practice as a composer and musician. His work has since featured in theatres, festivals and galleries throughout Australia, Japan, Europe, UK, USA and China and his live performances have shared the stage with the likes of Beth Orton, Ed Harcourt, Powderfinger, The Cruel Sea, Mad Professor and Sarah Blasko. Guy

has created music and sound for many theatre & dance works with Qld Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company, La Boite Theatre Company, Shake & Stir Theatre, The Brisbane Festival, Bleach Festival, Dance North, Backbone Youth Arts, State Library of Qld, Out of the Box Festival, Shock Therapy, Jute Theatre Co, Lisa O’Neill, Goat Track Theatre, Stella Electrika, Wilde Applause & Red Shoes. Guy is also a founding member of new media performance and installation group, The Transmute Collective.

NJ Price — Fight ChoreographerNJ has worked on quite a few shows this year as fight choreographer including Queensland Theatre’s Death of a Salesman, La Boite’s Single Asian Female, QUT’s Richard III, The Ladies, The Dark Room, Sons of The Prophet, BBG’s Richard III, Emmanuel College’s Romeo and Juliet and Savoyard’s Oklahoma!NJ is also an actor, coach, singer and muso and current Aussie champ in Veterans and Advanced female forms in the National All Styles Tournaments.

Neridah Waters — ChoreographerNeridah Waters is a choreographer, performer and theatre maker. She has toured her work across Australia and to Belgium, The Netherlands, Canada, England and the USA with Tarnished (La la Parlour), Common People Dance Project and boy girl wall. (the escapists.) Neridah has choreographed several large-scale community projects for Queensland Music Festival including — Boomtown in Gladstone, Under This Sky in Logan and The Power Within in the Isaac region and a large scale

dance project called Dance Like No-one is Watching for the Out Of The Box Festival. She has choreographed The Venetian Twins, The Cherry Orchard, Away, The Glass Menagerie and Show for Queensland Theatre, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Kitchen Diva at La Boite, Pygmalion for QUT, Brisbane Powerhouse, Blue Bones and Magpie for Playlab and independent works at Brisbane Powerhouse, Metro Arts, DeBase and various independent theatre companies in Brisbane. Neridah has performed in The Dance of Jeremiah, The Year Nick McGowan Came To Stay, Attack of the Attacking Attackers! and Johnno for La Boite, Sacre Bleu with Queensland Theatre, Tashi and Little Artist At Play with Imaginary Theatre, Railway Wonderland for NORPA. For Debase TC she performed in Lily Can’t Sleep, Hurry Up and Wait and The Squad for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This year she has been in development for a new show called Leotard with Metro Arts and running a large scale dance project across Brisbane called Common People Dance Eisteddfod.

Jenna Ward — Stage ManagerJenna has worked as a stage manager, production manager, and crew member for a diverse range of projects that range from tours in traditional theatres across South East Queensland, Submerged at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, Flying at the Roundabout Stage during Festival 2018, and Among Horses and High-Country Legends at the Australian Outback Spectacular. Jenna currently has the opportunity to work with a plethora of artists from a variety of ethnicities in her current position as Duty Technician at SunPAC.

Jenna is excited to jump on board the Magpie production.

Mikayla Bishop — Assistant Stage ManagerMikayla is a Brisbane-based stage manager and lighting technician with a a BFA of Technical Production from Queensland University of Technology. Mikayla has recently worked on the following productions: Assistant Stage Manager for Neon Tiger (La Boite Theatre Company), Assistant Stage Manager for Fame the Musical (Home Of The Arts), Lead Follow Spot Operator West Side Story (Handa Opera On the Sydney Harbor).

Barbara Lowing — MordecaiBarbara is the first Queensland graduate of The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Since her graduation, she has worked though-out Australia and internationally.She has performed with the JUTE Theatre Company, The Brisbane Powerhouse, Queensland Theatre Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company, The Hole in the Wall Theatre Company, The State Theatre Company of South Australia, Griffin Theatre Company, St John’s Cathedral,

Restaged Histories Project, La Boite, The Empire Theatre, The Queensland Arts Council, Dead Puppet Society, Shake and Stir Theatre Company, Balloo Creative, The Camarata, The Performers Independent Theatre Company and many Australian independent theatre companies whose work is inspiring and powerful.Barbara has contributed to the creation of over 50 new works for the Australian stage, many of which have gone on to be performed on the main stage. She has directed for The University of Southern Queensland and Expressions Dance Company and has been a tutor with The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA).Barbara is also a voice over artist for radio advertisements and award winning documentaries (Best Documentary — Montana International Documentary Film Festival — The Lost Years, The Disorderly Warriors, Of Dogs and Gods with Gulliver Media).In 2007 Barbara won a Theatre Critics Matilda Award for Best Actress and two MEAA/Equity awards for Best Actress and Best Ensemble Cast for Away, and a Goldie Award for Best Commercial Voice Over Artist, Queensland.In 2013, she was awarded the Gold Matilda award for her body of work. (The China Incident — QTC, Tequila Mockingbird — Shake and Stir Theatre Company, Motherland — Belloo Creative).Barbara was also awarded Outstanding Contribution by a Female Actress in The Groundling Awards for her body of work in 2013.Her Television credits include Mako Mermaids, Secrets and Lies, Medivac, Hero’s 2, Stringers.Barbara has been a proud Equity/MEAA member since 1987.

Kathryn Marquet — AggyKathryn is an actor and a playwright. Her theatre performances include A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Glass Menagerie, As You Like It, Ruben Guthrie and The White Earth (La Boite), Faustus (Bell Shakespeare/QT), The Crucible, Maxine Mellor’s Mystery Project, and 25 Down (Queensland Theatre), Bastard Territory (JUTE/Brown’s Mart), Prehistoric and After All This (Elbow Room), April’s Fool (Empire), Tender (… and Moor), Risk (Umber), and Brontë (ThreeSisters). Her film and television credits

include the feature film Don’t Tell (Tori Garrett), series’ Secrets & Lies (Hoodlum/Network Ten), and Sisters of War (ABC); and short film Postmortem Mary (Screen QLD), which went on to win the 2018 Prestigious Sitges International Film Festival, among others. Kathryn was engaged in the Emerging Artist program for QT in 2009. She won the 2009 Matilda Award for Best Emerging Artist, was nominated for the 2010 Matilda for Best Supporting Actress (The Crucible) and won Best Ensemble at the 2015 Melbourne Green Room Awards for Prehistoric. She is a graduate of the acting program at the University of Southern Queensland. Kathryn is also a playwright. Her published/produced works include: The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek (Playlab/La Boite), The Owl and the Pussycat (Little Match/Brisbane Festival/Comm Games), Furious Creatures (Finalist Qld Premier’s Drama Award), and Pale Blue Dot (La Boite). Kathryn was Playwright in Residence for Playlab in 2017 and La Boite in 2013.

Julian Curtis — MeshackJulian Curtis graduated from NIDA in 2009 with a BA in Fine Arts (Acting) and a post-graduate in writing from UTS . He has worked for many of Australia’s leading theatre companies, with appearances including La Boite’s The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek and The Glass Menagerie, Queensland Theatre Company’s 25 Down, Sydney Theatre Company’s Embers and Gallipoli, Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s La Dispute, Shakespeare’s R&J for Riverside Theatres, Wuthering Heights for Shake & Stir and True West

for Brisbane Powerhouse, for which he won the Matilda Award for Best Supporting Male Actor 2016. He has appeared on television in both Australia and the United States, highlights include the recurring role of Finn on Dance Academy and the lead role in Bryan Singer’s series Spooked. Additional credits include: East West 101, Rescue Special Ops, The Britishes, Legend of the Seeker, Adam Ruins Everything, Twister Warning and Acting Out. He has appeared in films Poster Boy, Wish Man, 48 Shades, The Middle and Captured; and past Screen QLD/NSW shorts For a Good Cause, Italian Fair, The Killing Room and A Burning Thing. He has also featured in content for various New Media companies including College Humor, Geek & Sundry and Rise TV; and video games Call of Duty and Final Fantasy. Julian won the Marten Bequest Award for Acting in 2012.As a writer, Julian has been produced twice by Screen Queensland: Power the Kid (w/ QPIX) and And the Winner Is — where he was flown with the creative team to Los Angeles for the Screamfest 2018 premiere.Tallest Poppies, a web series he co-wrote and acted in, was awarded a finalist at arguably the world’s most prestigious comedy festival, Just for Laughs Montreal in 2013. The play Legacy started life when on salary at University of Queensland before being accepted into the National Workshop via Playwriting Australia. It will be performed at La Boite HWY 2019.

Michael Mandalios — SplinterMichael is a Brisbane-based theatre artist; a graduate of the Bachelor of Musical Theatre from Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, having also trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. Since graduating, Michael has performed in the premiere of Don’t Call Me Ishmael: The Musical with Underground Broadway, Fair Play for Queensland Music Festival, and Antony & Cleopatra for 4MBS Radio. Michael is the creator of The Brisbane Sessions [Beyoncé, Michael

Jackson] with Underground Broadway, and a co-creator on There’s Something About Mary(s) with fellow graduate Cassie George. In April, he directed Genesis for A Very Theatre Company at Metro Arts.An avid supporter of original work, Michael is thrilled to be working with Playlab, Metro Arts and Brisbane Powerhouse on Magpie. He is a proud member of Actor’s Equity, and sits on the management committee for the Actors’ & Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund of QLD.

Luisa Prosser — FortunaLuisa is a graduate from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh (BA Acting 3 years) and The Birmingham Theatre School.Theatre work includes: A Little Night Music (Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra), After Julia (Queensland Music Festival), Splendour (Metro Arts), St Mary’s in Exile (Queensland Theatre), Comedy of Errors (4MBS Classic Arts), The Virtuous Burglar (Anywhere Theatre Festival), Machina (La Boite Indie), Therese Raquin (Zen Zen Zo)

Henry V (Shakespeare on Oxford), A Midsummer Night's Dream (4MBS Classic Arts/QPAC) L'heureux Strategeme and Showtime (National Theatre Studio, London) Habeas Corpus, Wild Honey, She Stoops to Conquer (Pitlochry Festival Theatre) As You Like It (Globe Theatre/William Poel Festival) The Winter's Tale, A Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night (Glasgow Repertory Company) Playing For Time (Salisbury Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford) Standing Wave (Tron Theatre, Glasgow) Such Is Nature (Dundee Repertory Theatre) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Byre Theatre, St Andrews)Television work includes: The End (Foxtel/ See Saw Films), Reef Break (Touchstone Prods), Tidelands (Netflix/Hoodlum) and Doctors (BBC) Film: Space/Time, Don’t Tell, This is Desmondo Ray, The Contents, Burns Point, Rarer Monsters, 18, Actors Apocalypse, Cough, Nostalgia and Inverse.Luisa is an accomplished voice over artist and radio broadcaster; Baby Animals (Netflix Series 1-4), 4MBS Classic FM/BBC/Classic FM UK.Awards: Leon Sinden Award for best supporting actress in Habeas Corpus, Matilda Award for best supporting actress in Therese Racquin and Laurence Olivier Bursary Award finalist.