Performing the Twitter Novella at #perthfest

I’ve just returned from Albany and Denmark in WA’s south west where myself and Peter Clark read the amazing Twitter Novella as part of the Great Southern Festival.
We had premiered this work on Sunday at the Perth Writers Festival and we will repeat this in Toodyay in April.
What an experience!! the twists and turns of the plot and the tugs and pulls of the narrative made this an interesting performance challenge! If you’d like to read the whole thing, it’s posted here. writingWA will be posting a YouTube of our performance soon, too. I’ll link that when it’s live.

DSC_0040I also chaired a couple of sessions at the Perth Writers Festival – The Best of Times with Peter Walker, Emily Bitto and Caitlin Maling, and Natural Observations with Annamaria Weldon, Deb Fitzpatrick and Inga Simpson. Both times it was great to hear these authors speak about their wonderful work. And the photo above was taken when I was having the best time doing a little observing of nature myself 🙂

Now I’m moving on to a workshop for my play about the Western Underground Orchid. I’ve titled it several times (The Botany Play, The Orchae, etc.) but now I’m calling it Hidden. I’ll be working with director, Emily McLean, and some great actors in March. Thanks to support from Stages WA Playwrights Consortium this workshop will help me develop the script and make it rehearsal-ready – hopefully before I leave for California in May. Maybe one day soon Hidden will be produced! Yay!

Underground Orchid 2And this is a photo of the orchid (Rhizanthella gardneri) – a very rare and exceptional plant only found in WA.

Vale Carl Djerassi

It is with great sadness that I heard of the death on Friday 30th January of Carl Djerassi, aged 91.
I had the privilege of meeting him last year in Lincoln, England, and was inspired by the breadth of his knowledge and interests. During his life he contributed much to both science and art through his work and writing, and to society through his philanthropy.

His obituary is in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/us/carl-djerassi-dies-at-91-forever-altered-reproductive-practices-as-a-creator-of-the-pill.html?_r=1