Central Coast’s leading youth arts body, Jopuka Productions, is bringing award-winning playwright Alana Valentine’s work, Letters to Lindy, to the Red Tree Theatre at the end of March.
Letters to Lindy explores the court case that captivated a nation.
A mother accused of murdering her child, her claim – that the baby was taken by a dingo – denied and discredited by police and the 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.
What resulted is a stage show that presents a dialogue between Lindy and the nation.
Directed by Jopuka Productions’ Joshua Maxwell, one of Australia’s leading youth theatre makers, Lindy marks the company’s first production of the 2022 season.
Starring Danielle Brame Whiting as Lindy Chamberlin-Creighton, Danielle is an established actress who just finished her Master’s in Applied Theatre and serves as the deputy artistic director.
The cast features eight established and emerging performers, who play more than 100 characters.
Jopuka Productions was established specifically to provide performing arts training and development to a wide array of emerging artists, aged 12-26, from all across the Coast.
Jopuka provides a safe and peer-driven space for emerging artists to hone their craft and forge their own pathways into the arts industry.
It presents unique and innovative seasons, filled to the brim with new works, Australian classics, and Fringe favourites.
Jopuka has staged more than 30 acclaimed productions, including a range of new and established works.
It has commissioned 11 new Australian works from emerging writers and theatre-makers across Australia.
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton said the show was “the most powerful thing that has been done on my story, and the most true to what I lived through.”
Tickets are available via www.redtreetheatre.org.au.
The production runs for a limited season from March 25 to April 9 at Red Tree Theatre, Tuggerah.
Nicola Riches