Description

A celebrated federal judge.

His son, a born-again Christian.

His daughter, a Border Force officer.

Her partner, the captain of a Border Force ship.

His other daughter, a left-wing activist.

His wife, who has worked all her life to keep the family together.

Saba, an asylum seeker on the run from Nauru.

On the eve of his birthday, is it too much to expect his wife and three children celebrate with him?

For 50 years, David Williamson has shown us the best and worst of ourselves. In this blackly comic drama situated squarely on the fault lines that divide Australia, David is at his angry best: furious that his generation has retired from defending the socially compassionate values on which they claim to have built this country. The play asks us to choose freedom over reputation, empathy over franking credits; to abandon a deeply flawed system for the sake of humanity.

Biography

David Williamson

DAVID WILLIAMSON is Australia’s best known and most widely performed playwright. Some of his 55 produced plays over the last 50 years include The Coming of the Stork, The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City, Money & Friends, Dead White Males, The Jack Manning Trilogy, Up for Grabs, Soulmates, Nothing Personal, When Dad Married Fury, Rupert, Cruise Control, Dream Home, Odd Man Out, Sorting Out Rachel, Nearer the Gods, The Big Time, Family Values, Crunch Time, The Great Divide, The Puzzle and Aria. His plays (also in translation) have been performed internationally, including in London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. David has adapted many of his plays into feature films to great acclaim and his original feature screenplays include Gallipoli, Phar Lap, The Year of Living Dangerously, Balibo (as co-writer) and On the Beach (adapted for television). David’s many awards include 12 Australian Writers’ Guild Awards, 5 Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Screenplay and, in 1996, the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. David has received four honorary doctorates and been made an Officer of the Order of Australia, as well as having been named one of Australia’s Living National Treasures.