AustLit

'A mother and father celebrate. They thought they would never be happy again but today the best thing imaginable has happened: Eliza has returned.

'Abducted from her bed as they slept, Eliza has been missing for nine long months. Months during which the couple's days were filled with grief and an ever-present absence. Now she is home and neither parent cares that the little girl's return is as mysterious as her disappearance.

'That is until they begin to notice that she has changed: her face is puffy from exposure, she is taller, bigger, never throws tantrums and, most troublingly of all, refuses to speak.

'Unable to sleep at night, the man sits up watching his daughter. As he gazes down on her peaceful body, a splinter of doubt lodges in his mind. Is the girl lying in the bed really Eliza? If not, who is this usurper? And what have they done with Eliza?

'Inspired by the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw, the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Snow Queen and real life stories of abducted children, this new work by Australian playwright Hilary Bell is an emotional thriller about all consuming obsession, grief, childhood and identity.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Co. website.