Description

Gwen is 90. She woke up this morning to discover that purgatory is sitting alone in a new house in a new subdivision on the edge of town, trying to work out if the remote in her hand operates the TV, the air-con or the fan-forced oven. But the kids are coming round and Father Ezekiel is on his way to bless the house, so the beginning of the end is looking up ...

Written for Company B, Gwen in Purgatory is Tommy Murphy's brilliant existential comedy about an African missionary in the wilderness of Australian suburbia. Gwen's brood of ordinary souls is battling along in a changing world and wringing out the last drops of their matriarch's faith. Between them they may just find their way to some sort of forgiveness.

Gwen in Purgatory was a winner of the 2010 Western Australian Premier's Books Awards, in the Script category.

Biography

Tommy Murphy

TOMMY MURPHY is a playwright and screenwriter. Murphy wrote and was an associate producer on the feature film Holding the Man (Goalpost Films) directed by Neil Armfield which premiered at the 2015 Sydney Film Festival. Murphy's long association with Tim Conigrave's memoir Holding the Man began with his 2006 stage adaptation for Griffin Theatre Company. This very successful production returned in 2007 to Griffin, then onto the Sydney Opera House, Company B Belvoir, Brisbane Powerhouse and Melbourne Theatre Company presentations. There have been separate productions on the West End (Trafalgar Studios), San Francisco, Auckland and Los Angeles. Murphy's adaptation won the NSW Premier's Literary Award and Australian Writers' Guild award for Best Play. Murphy's other screenwriting credits include writing for the award winning television series Devil's Playground (Matchbox Pictures/ Foxtel), Offspring, and Spirited (both for Southern Star Entertainment). Murphy's other stage works include: Peter Pan (Belvoir Street, including Broadway presentation at New Victory Theatre); Gwen in Purgatory (Belvoir Street and La Boite, directed by Neil Armfield); Saturn's Return (Sydney Theatre Company); Blood Wedding (Adaptation of Lorca's play for Royal and Derngate Northampton Theatre, UK); Strangers in Between (Griffin, Winner NSW Premier's Award); and Troy's House (ATYP). His new play Mark Colvin’s Kidney premiered at Belvoir Street in February, 2017. Murphy is currently developing plays for the Sydney Theatre Company, writing episodes of new dramas for Goalpost Pictures and Matchbox Pictures (both for Foxtel) and he has created a new television series for Goalpost Pictures and SBS.