17 - 26 may 2024
Presented by St Martins at abbotsford convent
Who is in control?
“When things went to shit, I hid into myself, into my own mountains and rivers. Before and now and after. I fought battles with gangs, with history. I’m still listening out for my gut, my soul, my magic.”
The clock is ticking. The Word is at risk. Two rival groups hide in a disused place, an abandoned archive. They hash out clues to a feud fuelled by fragments from the past. Reaching across the Before, Now and After, the group fights, dreams and grapples with scattered pieces of truth and memory to save The Word.
St Martins’ most artistically ambitious work to date brings together an ensemble of eleven young, diverse performers with a cohort of established practitioners.
Inside the imposing architecture of Abbotsford Convent The Word reaches across epochs, emerging out of an organic process of young people digging for light inside recent dark years via creative endeavour and artistic expression. The Word wrestles with systems of power to reclaim and rewrite new future trajectories.
When /
Friday 17 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Saturday 18 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Sunday 19 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Thursday 23 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Friday 24 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Saturday 25 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Sunday 26 May, 7.30 – 8.45pm
Location / Magdalen Laundry, Abbotsford Convent
1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford
Accessibility / This performance is wheelchair accessible.
Auslan interpreted performances & Tactile Tour/ Thursday 23 May
Join us on Saturday 25 for a Q&A with the cast!
This performance is suitable for audiences of all ages but may be best appreciated by ages 8+.
Mild coarse language present.
Cast and Creatives
Performers /
Frankie Lee Willcox
Grace Annan
Harris Tate Elliott
Harriet Turner-Browne
Jackson Reid
Kleopatra Dukas
Noray Hosny
Oscar Munro
Spike Angwin
Sunday Bickford
Vito van Hout
Directing Intern/ Clea Carney
Writing Intern/ Spike Angwin
Stage Management Intern/ Alice Coffey
Script/ Michele Lee, Michael Carmody, Nadja Kostich and The Word cast
Director/ Nadja Kostich
Composer and Sound Designer/ Allara Briggs Pattison
Choreographic Artist/ Bridget Fiske
Video Designer/ Michael Carmody
Set and Costume Designer/ Matilda Woodroofe
Lighting Designer/ Richard Vabre
Assistant Director/ Alice Qin
Producer/ Lara Week
Production Manager/ Kofi Isaacs
Stage Manager/ Steph Young
Sound and Technical Consultant/ Justin Gardam
Photographer and Graphic Designer/ Jason Cheetham
The Word erupts from the seam between inner (personal) and outer (political) words and worlds, where young people have been quietly waiting behind masks, walls, and doonas.
We acknowledge the barriers to the arts that exist for many young people because of disability, cultural difference or social disadvantage and we offer scholarships and programs to overcome these barriers.
