In Development

Fire

This project is another stage in the reclamation and exploration of the work of Millicent Armstrong, a significant cultural asset from our region, work we’ve been undertaking over the past seven years.

Fire, set on a property in Western NSW in the 1920s, explores social justice issues, classism in rural Australia, the Soldier Settler story, with strong writing for both female and male characters.

Have we discovered a great Australian classic?

Background

On Sunday 29 October 2023, as part of Gunning Arts Festival, Music Theatre Projects presented a reading of Millicent Armstrong’s long form play, Fire.

The work was written in 1923, and published in serialised form in May 1923 in The Daily Telegraph.

We presented our reading at Gunning Court House for an invitation-only audience of interested parties – stakeholders and colleagues in the arts industry, politicians and policy makers, media, and a significant group of Armstrong’s family. People travelled from Dubbo, Sydney, Albury, Canberra, Yass, Goulburn and Queanbeyan to join locals in the audience.

The work elicited tears from our audience, and, though it needs some dramaturgical work, it is a gem.

Then in April 2024, thanks to donors to our Australian Cultural Fund campaign, we undertook a first step on this dramaturgical process, hosted and supported by The Street, Canberra. Artists with whom Dianna Nixon consulted during that process were:

Jenny Bell (Breadalbane-based farmer and visual artist)

Martin Thomas (production designer, who has relocated to the ACT after spending the last 7 years in the design team at Glyndebourne Opera)

Stephen Carlton (multi award-winning Queensland playwright and academic whose works have been extensively performed)

Maria Shevtsova (professor of theatre and author, her books include the acclaimed Rediscovering Stanislavsky, editor of Cambridge University’s New Theatre Quarterly for the past nearly 3 decades)

Linda Chen (emerging artist who works across theatre and film, who looked at this work from the perspective of its potential on screen)

Then we presented a 2nd reading at a private event in the old woolshed on the property where Millicent was living when she wrote Fire.

We presented a public reading of Fire at Collector Memorial Hall on Sunday 21st July, 2024, as part of a fundraiser to help bring in some resources to continue Music Theatre Projects’ work on Millicent Armstrong’s legacy.

https://citynews.com.au/2024/fire-fundraiser-hopes-to-put-armstrong-back-on-stage/

https://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/8689633/collector-hall-to-host-tribute-to-wwi-nurse-and-playwright/

Project Status

We want to conduct a research process, gathering more biographical information, including reading the available archival material and conducting interviews with those who knew Millicent. Following that work, we want to undertake a writing room process to develop the script in readiness for a mainstage production which we’d ideally develop and premiere at The Street in Canberra, the home of contemporary theatre practice in our region.

Alongside all this work, we will explore its potential for screen, building on initial conversations Dianna had with screen producers during her 6 months on the Screen Canberra Screen Pod program in 2023.

Collaborators

The first reading was given by actors Caroline Simone O’Brien, Christopher Samuel Carroll, Craig Alexander, Zsuzsi Soboslay and Dianna Nixon, as part of Gunning Arts Festival 2023, with financial backing from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, Veolia Mulwaree Trust and Acciona.

The same actors gave the 2nd reading, this time supported by donors to our Australian Cultural Fund campaign. For the reading at Collector Memorial Hall, a ticketed event, also supported by an online auction, Brendan Kelly joined us, subbing in for Craig Alexander.

We are running an online auction to help fundraise for this work. All but one of the items have sold, but we still have a beautiful painting donated by Margarita Georgiadis to go to its new home. Details here:

https://www.myminiauction.com/create

Work-In-Progress

Fundraising for: