COMMISSIONED BY MERRIGONG THEATRE COMPANY
I was 12 years old on 17 August 1980, when nine-week-old Azaria
Chamberlain went missing. I remember my Mum and Dad in the
kitchen arguing passionately about the ‘Lindy Chamberlain case’.
It was on Channel 10, 9, 7, 2… My mum fervently said “A mother
could never kill her baby.” Mum and Dad’s friends loved arguing
about the Chamberlain case. “Of course she did it. She’s never
cried... She’s in a cult so she must be guilty…”
WRITER Alana Valentine
DIRECTOR Darren Yap
DESIGNER James Browne
LIGHTING DESIGNER Toby Knyvett
CO-COMPOSERS / CO-SOUND DESIGNERS
And so my childhood memory of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton
was one of the reasons I was fascinated by the opportunity to
direct Alana’s play. As I began my research I was appalled by
how Lindy was discredited by both the police and a flawed
legal system. It was a terrible witch hunt. And it still happens
now if you are considered an outsider.
FIGHT DIRECTOR Scott Witt
PRODUCTION MANAGER Chantelle Cameron
STAGE MANAGER Sophie Fairweather
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Amber Jones
CAST Jeanette Cronin, Glenn Hazeldine, Phillip Hinton,
Lindy’s grief has spanned over 35 years, where she has never
been able to grieve for her baby daughter. I want audiences
to understand what Lindy was forced to endure and ask some
hard questions… not just questions about Lindy, but about
ourselves as a nation.
Max Lambert, Roger Lock
Jane Phegan
RUNNING TIME: Approx 2 hrs (Incl. Interval)
RECOMMENDED FOR: Ages 13+. Contains strong
language, adult themes and haze effects.
THANK YOU
Merrigong Theatre Company would like to thank the
following for their contribution to Letters to Lindy:
ATYP, Adam Booth, Lisa Callingham, John Cameron,
Belinda Dyer Vicki Gordon, Chris Gregory, Dominic
Gilchrist, Anthony Gooley, Anton Lock, Beth Mansfield,
Sharne McGee, Joanne McGeorge, Catherine Moore,
Pastor John Tompson and the Congregation of the
Seventh Day Adventist Church Wollongong, Bruce
Carmichael & Gill Hugonnet at Canberra Theatre Centre,
Tim Jones at Seymour Centre, Stephen Donnelly at
Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre and, most importantly,
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and Rick Creighton.
WRITER’S NOTE
I found a community in 199 boxes at the National
Library of Australia. That community is as diverse and
contradictory and inspiring and complex as any I have
ever tried to understand. I would like to acknowledge the
staff at the National Library of Australia who awarded me
a Harold White Fellowship in 2013 – Margy Burn, Robyn
Holmes, Catriona Anderson, Kylie Scroope and many
others, you are the esteemed custodians of this precious
bounty. Thanks also to all of the letter writers who have
given me permission to include their letters and poems
in my play, and also to those whom I have not managed
to find thirty years later (despite combing the electoral
rolls and the yellow pages). Please contact me through
Merrigong or the Harold White Fellows Room at the
National Library. I have used only letters written to Mrs
Chamberlain-Creighton, though the collection contains
many letters sent jointly to the Chamberlains and the rest
of the family. I acknowledge their continuing pain and loss,
which is largely outside the scope of this drama. Simon
Hinton, you are a visionary. Merrigong Theatre Company,
you are a beacon of Australian culture. Darren Yap, all the
creative team, all this profoundly gifted cast, you are the
heartbeat of this work. Rick Creighton thank you for your
patient diligence and Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton, Lindy,
thank you for trusting me with your words, your precious
collection and your generous wisdom.
Alana Valentine
Lastly, I want to thank Alana for asking me to direct her
beautiful play. Thank you Simon and Leland for commissioning
Letters to Lindy. Thank you to my incredible creative team:
James, Roger, Max and Toby for turning the play into a visceral
piece of theatre. Thank you to Chantelle and Sophie for never
giving up and going that extra mile for the team and the play.…
And lastly, thank you to my generous cast who have shaped
this play with their talent and wisdom: Jen, Jane, Glenn and
Phillip, you are such wonderful theatre makers.
Darren Yap
PRODUCER’S NOTE
Merrigong is committed to the development of new Australian
theatre. Letters to Lindy is the 17th new work that we have
commissioned and developed since we began producing
professional theatre locally in 2006, and the 14th we’ve gone on
to produce or co-produce for our audience.
In choosing works to commission, we are often focussed
on finding stories that have a particular connection to our
audience and region, but we’re also looking for works that
have a wider resonance, that speak to life in contemporary
Australia. Letters to Lindy, providing as it does a unique
window on Australian society, is such a work. It is the second
work by Alana Valentine to be commissioned by Merrigong
Theatre Company, following 2013’s Dead Man Brake, her
extraordinary exploration of human resilience in the aftermath
of the Waterfall train disaster. Alana’s renowned commitment to
research, and to the use of primary sources such as interviews,
legal transcripts and the like, means she is often referred to as a
proponent of verbatim or documentary theatre. But this can be
a misrepresentation of her body of work, which often, as it does
in Letters to Lindy, blends the verbatim words of her real-life
characters, with reconstructed and re-imagined scenes. She is
one of Australian theatre’s great truth-telling playwrights, not
concerned with a slavish adherence to the verbatim record, but
rather with striving to find the truthful and compelling voice of
her subjects - making great theatre first and foremost.
In Letters to Lindy, Alana draws not only on a unique archive of
correspondence, but also on numerous interviews with Lindy
Chamberlain-Creighton, who has been extremely generous with
her time in the theatre-making process, her grace and humour
ever-present. We are very grateful for Mrs ChamberlainCreighton’s involvement, her trust and encouragement. Alana’s
play certainly provides an insightful reflection on the nature
of Australian society, but ultimately stands as a portrait of
a woman, a mother, who has experienced perhaps the most
tragic of human occurrences – the loss of a child.
Simon Hinton (Artistic Director / CEO) &
Leland Kean (Artistic Development Manager)
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THE MERRIGONG TEAM
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR /
CEO
Simon Hinton
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
& DEVELOPMENT
Melinda Maillard
Assistant to the
Artistic Director / CEO
Bianca Cameron
Marketing Campaign
Specialist
Edie Watt
Artistic Development
Manager
Leland Kean
Marketing Campaign
Coordinator
Nadia Lester
Regional Outreach
Coordinator
Lillian Rodrigues-Pang
Marketing Content
Coordinator
Tracey Muir
Program Coordinator
Sarah Knight
Box Office Manager
Linda Hanbury
Education Coordinator
Drayton Morley
DIRECTOR OF
OPERATIONS
Trevor Ahearn
DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
& ADMINISTRATION
Judi Douglas
Finance Assistants
Jeannine Mulligan
Todd Roberts
Head of Lighting
Jasmine Rizk
Technical Coordinator
Taryn Brown
Facilities Coordinator
Phillipa Rigter
Facilities Assistant
Justin Simpson
Front of House
Coordinator
Jacqueline McCulloch
Venue Services
Administrator
Monique Davis
Venue Services
Assistant
Acacia Toomey
Food & Beverage
Manager
Allie Watchirs
Head of Staging
James Clarke
WCC©1419065 | Photo of Lindy Chamberlain by AP via AAP
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
To ensure patrons enjoy the performance, management asks you to note:
• Cameras, tape recorders and paging devices should not be used
inside the auditorium
• Switch off alarms and mobile phones prior to the performance
• A single cough measures approximately 65 decibels of sound. The use
of a handkerchief helps greatly to soften the sound.
The management reserves the right to refuse admission and evict
patrons, also to make any alterations to the cast which may be rendered
necessary by illness of other unavoidable causes. Patrons are advised
that the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre has an EMERGENCY EVACUATION
PROCEDURE, a FIRE ALARM system and EXIT passageways. In case of
an alert, patrons should remain calm, look for the closest GREEN EXIT
sign, listen to and comply with directions given by the trained in-house
attendants and move in an orderly fashion to the open spaces outside
the building. The Illawarra Performing Arts Centre is a company limited by
guarantee and supported by Wollongong City Council.
ILLAWARRA PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE | 4224 5999 | WWW.MERRIGONG.COM.AU
MERRIGONG GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGES THE ASSISTANCE OF THE FOLLOWING
FUNDING PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
ILLAWARRA PERFORMING
ARTS CENTRE
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Creative Team
Cast
Playwright
Alana Valentine
Lighting Designer
Toby Knyvett
PERFORMER
Jeanette Cronin
PERFORMER
Phillip Hinton
Alana Valentine’s previous work at Merrigong
Theatre Company is Dead Man Brake,
produced by the company in 2013,
and Head Full of Love, presented in 2015.
Toby is an award-winning lighting, interaction
and video designer who creates across multiple
disciplines including theatre, events and
contemporary art.
A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art
(NIDA) in 1986, Jeanette has worked extensively
in theatre, film and television. In 1996, she was
awarded the inaugural Mike Walsh Fellowship.
Phillip’s career spans over forty years, as an
actor, voice artist and vocalist both nationally
and internationally.
She is a widely acclaimed playwright whose
work for theatre engages with the authentic voices of Australian
communities. In 2016 Ladies Day was produced at Griffin Theatre
Company, One Billion Beats, co-written and co-directed with
Romaine Moreton was produced at Campbelltown Arts Centre, and
The Tree Widows which Alana wrote and directed, was produced
by the Tasmanian Theatre Company. Alana’s award-winning works
Parramatta Girls and Run Rabbit Run were produced at Belvoir and
Parramatta Girls was remounted at Riverside Theatre in 2014. The
Queensland Theatre Company production of Head Full of Love toured
to 23 venues nation wide, after a 2102 QTC production and a 2010
Darwin Festival debut, raising in excess of $60,000 from audience
donations to the Purple House kidney dialysis unit in Alice Springs.
In 2014 Alana won the BBC International Radio Competition and
an AWGIE Award for Community/Youth Theatre for Comin’ Home
Soon, in 2013 she won three AWGIE Awards including the Major
Award and the Inaugural David Williamson Award for Excellence
in Writing for the Australian Theatre for Grounded and In 2012 she
won the S.T.A.G.E International Award for Ear to the Edge of Time.
In October 2016 Venus Theatre Company in the USA will present
Soft Revolution: Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah, and in November 2106
the Street Theatre in Canberra will present Cold Light.
Alana’s plays are published by Currency Press and her website is
www.alanavalentine.com.
Director
Darren Yap
Darren stages musicals, concerts and large
scale events. He has directed in Cairo, Japan,
London, Korea, Holland, Singapore and Qatar.
In 2016, Darren has directed two premieres of
Alana Valentine plays; Ladies Day (Griffin Theatre
Company) and Letters to Lindy (Merrigong Theatre Company).
Other recent directing projects include the acclaimed production of
Miracle City, (Luckiest Productions and Hayes Theatre), A Murder Is
Announced (Louise Withers and Associates) and co-director of The
Serpent’s Table (Sydney Festival and Griffin Theatre).
As Associate Director he worked on King Kong (Global Creatures),
Miss Saigon (West End, Japan, Korea, Holland, Australia) and
Mamma Mia (10th Anniversary Australian tour). He directed The
City of Sydney Chinese New Year Parade for two years, Spongebob
Paradepants for Seaworld and was Segment Director of the Closing
Ceremony of The 15th Asian Games In Qatar. Darren has directed
several new works in Singapore, including the World Premiere
of Man Of Letters and The Admiral’s Odyssey. He was Assistant
Director on the Closing Ceremony of Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
and Resident Director of the original The Boy From Oz.
Designer
James Browne
James’ recent set and costume design work
includes Ladies Day (Griffin Theatre Company),
The Detective’s Handbook (Hayes Theatre),
Velvet starring Marcia Hines and Pete the
Sheep (Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People).
Set design credits include The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Michael Sieders)
and Mr Stink (CDP Productions) and costume design for circus show
Blanc de Blanc (Sydney Opera House) and Xanadu (Hayes Theatre).
James was associate designer on Graeme Murphy’s Aida for Opera
Australia and Stuart Maunder’s Shout! James has also designed for
events including the QPAC International Series 2016 Launch, Netflix
Australia Launch, Love Cooking Festival in London, Jamie Oliver’s
live stadium show and Rick Stein’s show in New Zealand. James also
designed the set and costumes for the PACHA Sydney at The IVY
Hotel (nominated, 2014 APDG Award) and ALT for the Beresford Hotel.
In January 2015 he created ‘Build The Music’, a
month long installation for the Sydney Opera House that turned lego
constructions into musical compositions. In 2014 he created the Echo
Tables, also for the Sydney Opera House, that allowed participants to
paint with light using their shadows.
Toby was the lighting designer for Merrigong Theatre Company
productions including Landscape with Monsters (co-produced with
Circa), The Man Who Dreamt the Stars, Dead Man Brake and Death in
Bowengabbie, as well the co-production with Chicago Shakespeare
Theater Funk it up About Nothin’.
Toby’s other design credits include the national and international tours
of Incredible Book Eating Boy (CDP), Redfern Talks Back (Sydney Opera
House presents), The Producers (So Popera), I Might Blow Up Someday
(Hissy Fit/Performance Space), The River Eats (Performance Space),
The Bugalugs Bum Thief (Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People),
Blood Pressure (Bodysnatchers theatre company), The Dapto Chaser
(Apocalypse Theatre Company) and Panacea Project (Griffin Theatre
Company and Google).
Toby won Best Lighting Design for an Independent Production at the 2014
Sydney Theatre Awards for All’s Well That Ends Well (Sport For Jove).
Co-Composer /
Co-Sound Designer
Max Lambert
Max is one of Australia’s most talented composers,
arrangers, musicians and musical directors.
Composing credits include work for the Sydney,
Melbourne and Queensland Theatre Companies,
Sydney Dance Company and The Australian Ballet.
Max has recorded albums with Kate Ceberano, Wendy Matthews, Grace
Knight, Vince Jones, Renee Geyer, Paul Kelly, Iva Davies and Icehouse. Max
was the pianist on the ABC’s Playschool from 1991 to 2000.
Max has been involved in films such as George Miller’s Happy Feet and
Gillian Armstrong’s The Last Days of Chez Nous. Notable musical theatre
credits have included David Atkins’ critically acclaimed production of
Hot Shoe Shuffle and Musical Supervision on the ARIA award winning
The Boy From Oz. In the realm of Dance, Max co-composed and
performed in Berlin (Sydney Dance Company) and co-wrote Tivoli for
The Australian Ballet.
Musical Directorship credits include the Opening and Closing
Ceremonies of The XXVII Olympiad, the Commonwealth Games held in
Manchester in 2002, and the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar in 2006. Max
was Musical Supervisor on the musicals Hairspray, Fame, King Kong Live
and for Strictly Ballroom – the Musical. The reprisal of Max’s musical
Miracle City (co-written with Nick Enright) was a runaway success at
The Hayes Theatre in 2014.
Co-Composer /
Co-Sound Designer
Roger Lock
Guitarist, producer and composer Roger Lock
studied guitar, composition and music technology
at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg. As a
concert guitarist he has played concerts in Austria,
Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Hungary and Taiwan before moving to
Vienna in 2007. He has been very active as a concert and recording
artist, producing albums with Dr. Opin, Yorgos Nousis, Laetitia Ribeiro,
and Troebinger, Eminence Symphony Orchestra, Emma Sholl, Jane
Rosenson, and his band project Roger Vs. The Man.
Since returning to Australia, Roger has taught at many tertiary
institutions and been active as a composer and sound designer.
Recent theatre appearances include, The House
On The Lake (Griffin Theatre Company), Queen Bette (The Old 505
for Mardi Gras 2015, with a return season in 2016), a one woman show
about the life of screen legend, Bette Davis, which Jeanette co-devised,
and Tell Me Again (Old 505 Theatre), a two-hander written by Jeanette.
Other career highlights include Dark Voyager (Ensemble Theatre), in
which she also played Bette Davis, Anna Robi and The House of Dogs
(The Old Fitzroy), The Boys, Quack and Bug (Griffin Theatre Company),
Reasonable Doubt (New York Fringe Festival and The Old Fitzroy), The
Taming of The Shrew (Bell Shakespeare), Parramatta Girls (Company B),
A Doll’s House (Sydney Theatre Company), Miss Julie and The Stronger
(State Theatre Company of South Australia) and Holding the Man
(Griffin Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Malthouse, Brisbane Powerhouse
and Belvoir).
Feature film credits include, Powder Train, Shock Room, The Boys, Terra
Nova, Blackrock and the romantic comedies Danny Deckchair and Thank
God He Met Lizzie. Jeanette has also appeared in numerous television
series, notably Janet King, Crownies, Rake, Peter Allen - Not the Boy
Next Door, and Foxtel’s gripping new political drama, Secret City.
In 1995, Jeanette received a Green Room Award nomination for her role
as Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (STC) and was nominated again
in 2004 for Most Outstanding Female Actor for Nightletters (STCSA).
In 2008 she received a Sydney Theatre Award Nomination for Best
Supporting Actress for Holding the Man. In 2015 Jeanette was nominated
for a Glug Award for her role in The House On The Lake.
PERFORMER
Glenn Hazeldine
Glenn graduated from NIDA in 1994.
His theatre work includes The Jack Manning Trilogy,
Act One, All My Sons, Sanctuary,
A Conversation, Birthrights, Rhinestone Rex and
Miss Monica, Happiness, Managing Carmen,
Tuesdays With Morrie, A View From The Bridge,
Ten Unknowns and The Ruby Sunrise (Ensemble Theatre); Disgraced,
Love & Information, After Dinner, Perplexed, Dead White Males, Two
Weeks With The Queen, Historia, Love For Love, Victory, Julius Caesar,
Elling, The Pig Iron People, Don’s Party (also MTC), Tot Mom and
Mongrels (Sydney Theatre Company); A Hoax and Porn.Cake (Griffin
Theatre Company); The Judas Kiss (Company B); Transparency
(Seymour Centre) and As You Like It (Bell Shakespeare).
Television and film work includes Anzac Girls, Redfern Now, The Moody’s,
The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting, All Saints, BlackJack,
Stingers, Water Rats, Backberner and the critically acclaimed feature
Last Train To Freo.
Prior to moving to Australia, Phillip
appeared on the UK stage with credits
including Macbeth, All’s Well that Ends Well (The Royal
Shakespeare Company), Caucasian Chalk Circle, The Alchemist,
Peer Gynt, Antony and Cleopatra (Chichester Theatre Festival),
She Loves Me, Company (on the West End) and The Connection
(Hampstead Theatre Club). His Australian theatre credits include
Dead Man Brake and Valley Song (Merrigong Theatre Company),
Othello (Melbourne Theatre Company), A Lesson from Aloes
(Elizabethan Theatre Trust) and The Road to Mecca (Queensland
Theatre Company).
Philip’s extensive TV credits include Young Doctors, Bellamy,
A Country Practice, Home Sweet Home, Learned Friends, Home
and Away, GP, The Boys from the Bush, Police Rescue; in the
UK: Softly, Softly, Z Cars, The Regiment, Colditz, The Brontes
of Haworth and The Protectors; and in the US Captain of the
Achille Lauro, The Three Stooges, Mission Impossible, Flipper and
Thornbirds - the Missing Years. His film credits include Caddie,
Manganinnie, and Captives of Care.
PERFORMER
Jane Phegan
Jane graduated from University of Sydney
and Theatre Nepean.
Recent theatre credits include Good People
(Ensemble Theatre), Beautiful One Day
(Belvoir/Ilbijerri/version1.0), Rupert (Daniel
Sparrow/MTC/Theatre Royal), Honchos Meeting in Cowra
(Rinkogun Theatre, Tokyo), Small Hard Things (TRS), New Electric
Ballroom (Griffin/Siren), Angels in America (Riverside) and As You
Like It (Siren).
From 2005-14, Jane devised and performed in all of version 1.0’s
major works including The Table of Knowledge (a co-production
with Merrigong Theatre Company), THIS KIND OF RUCKUS
(Helpmann Award, Best Physical/Visual Theatre) and Deeply
Offensive & Utterly Untrue (Drover Award, Best Touring Show).
Jane has toured many shows nationally and internationally,
voiced radio plays for ABC and Eastside and worked on several
new scripts with Playwriting Australia. For those who can tell no
tales (Dir: Jasmila Zbanic) premiered at the Toronto International
Film Festival in 2013 and last year Jane was awarded Best
Female Lead at the Sydney Indie Film Festival for Entailment
(Directed by Cam Smeal).
Jane is a proud member of Equity.
Glenn is a proud member of the Equity branch of the MEAA and sits on
the management committee of the Actors Benevolent Fund of NSW.
Join us in the IMB Theatre
Merrigong Artistic Development Manager Leland Kean
will be joined by playwright Alana Valentine, director
CANBERRA THEATRE
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foyer
for inspired, insightful
Darren Yap and actor Jeanette Cronin as they discuss the
Director Bruce Carmichael
conversation and questions
process of creating Letters to Lindy, and the challenges
CORPORATION
faced shaping a work around one of Australia’s most iconic
Chair Mr John Hindmarsh
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ADMINISTRATION
Board Members Mr. Raoul Craemer,
Phone 02 6243 5711 Fax 02 6243 5721
From Alana’s journey through the depths of the National
A conversation with playwright Alana Valentine, Ms Louise Douglas,
Ms Harriet
Elvinarchive,
(CEO), through Darren’s guiding of
Library
of Australia
admin@canberratheatrecentre.com.au
director Darren Yap and actor Jeanette Cronin Ms Virginia Haussegger
AM,
the work,
to Jeanette’s unique perspective playing Lindy,
canberratheatrecentre.com.au
will
give a unique and personal insight behind
Mr guest
Eugene
Kalenjuk
SATURDAY 6 AUGUST, 5PM Ms Robyn Hendry,each
the scenes and into their own relationship with Lindy
and
Justice
Richard
Refshauge.
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Chamberlain-Creighton.
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2700 Fax 02 6230 1098
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