'The most powerful thing that has been done on my story, and the most true to what I lived through.' - Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton
The court case captivated a nation. A mother accused of murdering her child, her claim - that the baby was taken by a dingo - denied and discredited by zealous police and a flawed legal system. The media circus, the rumours, the nation's prejudices laid bare. And in the eye of the storm: Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton.
Over three decades, from baby Azaria's death to the final coroner's report, the public's fascination with Lindy seldom waned. The National Library holds a collection of more than 20,000 letters to Lindy. From sympathy to abuse, from marriage proposals to death threats, the correspondence traverses the gamut of responses to Lindy's story.
Letters to Lindy draws on this correspondence and interviews with Lindy herself. It is an enthralling, revealing, and long overdue dialogue between Lindy and the nation; a portrait of the wisdom and resilience of a grieving mother.
This powerful work by award-winning playwright Alana Valentine (Ladies Day, Parramatta Girls) explores the public's relationship with one of Australia's most iconic figures.
ALANA VALENTINE is an acclaimed dramatist and librettist working in theatre, musical theatre, opera and film. Described by Time Out as ‘an essential Australian dramatist, who writes the marginalised and oft-persecuted fringes of Australia into our dramatic canon with long-denied dignity and grace’, Alana has three plays on the NSW HSC Syllabus – Parramatta Girls (Drama), Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah (English) and Cyberbile (Design). Her play Letters to Lindy, drawn from the 20,000 letters in the National Library of Australia has had hundreds of amateur and school productions. Alana is particularly distinguished in her skills as a co-collaborator having worked in libretto and musical theatre such as Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan (co-written with Christos Tsiolkas), Wudjang: Not the Past (co-written with Stephen Page) and Barbara and the Camp Dogs (co-written with Ursula Yovich) The latter won the 2019 Helpmann Award for Best Musical and Best Original Score, as well as numerous Green Room Awards. Her most recent plays are Nucleus, Wayside Bride, The Sugar House and arc for erth physical and visual theatre. Alana has chronicled her practice as a close work/verbatim theatre maker in Bowerbird: The Art of Making Theatre Drawn From Life. Her website is www.alanavalentine.com
| Cast Info | 2F, 2M |
| Genres | Australian History, Poetic, Verbatim / close work theatre, Surreal/magic realism, Drama |
| Themes | Political/Social themes, Gender diverse themes, Significant female roles |
| Audiences | Adult, Secondary: Years 7-9 |
| Extent | 72 |
| Edition | First |
| Size | 210 x 137mm |