AustLit

'Mordecai, a novelist dealing with a bad review, returns to her family’s Brisbane home for the first time in decades following the death of her father. The home conjures echoes from her distant past: the muggy summers, the smell of rotting mangoes, and the perpetual arguments between her Romani mother and father.

'When she discovers her old journal – an innocent tapestry of ideas, drawings, and imaginings – Mordecai is drawn back to 1961 and a long-abandoned investigation into her parent’s unhappiness. Pushed along by her childhood friend Splinter, Mordecai sets out to uncover the long dormant secrets that cursed her family and led to her leaving home at fifteen.

'Spanning from young love to aging cynicism, Magpie is a coming-of-age story that will thrill and delight like lemonade ice-blocks and a swim on a hot day.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Amy and her brother Andy live in a small regional Queensland town caring for their sick mother. Amy escapes her mundane life through fantasies about her idol – Olivia Newton-John. However Andy is desperate to move on and enjoy the future he has planned for himself.

'This play with music moves between scenes of fantasy and reality to depict Amy’s hopes and fears and her feelings of loneliness, guilt, and denial. Olivia Newton-John’s own life story contextualises Amy’s and eventually becomes her source of inspiration and hope.

'Hopelessly Devoted is the latest work by Queensland playwright Elise Greig. Using humour and the popular hits of Olivia Newton-John, the play addresses serious issues of personal and familial responsibilities; growing up; fame and identity; and the powerful role of music and art in our lives. The conflict between Amy and Andy dramatically depicts a transitional time in life – when we must let go of the past and the people we know to embrace an uncertain future. ' (Production summary)