![Di Adams, left, Katrina Foster, Di Smith and Helen O'Connor in Wild Thing. Picture supplied Di Adams, left, Katrina Foster, Di Smith and Helen O'Connor in Wild Thing. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/MxhEgQKUJhZgHxwVaKiqcq/0e085879-0de7-4114-bd6d-bee8c84544b1.jpeg/r0_229_6067_3640_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
How far would you go for one of your friends?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
That question is central to Australian writer Suzanne Hawley's play Wild Thing, which is coming to the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre.
Di Smith, who's co-producing Wild Thing as well as playing one of the characters, said another reason Hawley wrote the play is that "she wanted to create four fabulous lead roles for four women over 55" - an underserved group in theatre.
The play is about four War Babies - Jackie (Smith), Elizabeth (Helen O'Connor), Frances (Katrina Foster) and Susan (Di Adams) - and their enduring friendship that started in high school in the 1950s. They had fun in Swinging London in the 1960s but then life happens and their paths go in very different directions.
They do, however, make an effort to catch up at least once a year.
Jackie is the "Wild Thing" of the title, a successful artist. For this year's catch-up, Jackie's friends come to her country house - conservative Catholic homemaker Susan, divorced marriage counsellor Frances and alcoholic writer of bodice-rippers Elizabeth.
Despite life changes and ups and downs over the years the bonds of friendship have remained intact.
But this time, it's going to be an experience unlike any they've had together.
Smith doesn't want to give away too much, saying only that it's about that time of life when people really need to be able to rely on the people around them.
"Who is it that you turn to in a time of crisis?"
But, Smith says, while that's the crux of the plot, the play is about other things, especially the lifelong friendship of the four main characters.
While much of the action takes place at the country house in the play's present, there are flashbacks to their teen years and the 1960s with the actors playing their younger selves. Philip D'Ambrosio plays Jackie's partner Marco and Lewis Fitz-Gerald plays "everyone else", Smith said.
The play has appeal to the characters' demographic - we'll stretch that to include Baby Boomers - and Smith says younger people who see it often come away with a new perspective on older women.
MUST READS:
"These are women of the 1960s," Smith says.
They took drugs back then and still do (marijuana, nothing too heavy) and talk frankly about personal matters such as sex with each other, as old friends who can relax in each other's company can and do.
But it's not all rosy. Having a shared past means the women are very aware of each other's faults and foibles and they all have their own opinions.
"They don't always agree, they're not always nice to each other."
The actors are friends in real life, Smith says, and this chemistry is reflected on stage.
"We wanted to work together."
- Wild Thing is on at the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre on Friday at 7.30pm and Saturday at 2pm and 7.30pm. Recommended for ages 18+. For tickets go to theq.net.au.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark canberratimes.com.au
- Download our app
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram