Why are there so few female theatre directors? Playwrights? Conductors? Why do women in the performing arts become invisible at 40? Can understanding the past help us move towards a fairer future?

Ellen Terry, Shakespeare and Suffrage in New Zealand and Australia is a new book by ANU academic, Kate Flaherty.  It tells the neglected story of one famous performer’s last great adventure. Flaherty’s play extends this inquiry by imagining conversations between the international super-stars Ellen Terry and Nellie Melba during the time they spent together on Melba’s rural property in Victoria when the Great War halted both of their careers at the zenith.

Through a professional reading of the new play Singing The Blackbird, followed by an expert panel discussion drawing together creative and scholarly expertise, this event will tackle the historic and current under-representation of older woman artists in acting, writing, composing and directing in the performing arts.

Singing The Blackbird

Playwright: Kate Flaherty
Actors: Octavia Barron-Martin, Bernadette Ryan

Panel Discussion

Moderated by Caroline Stacey OAM, Artistic Director/CEO of The Street Theatre
Katrina Waters, Mezzo-Soprano and ANU PhD Candidate
Damien Ryan, Managing Director and Artistic Director of Sport for Jove Theatre
Bernadette Ryan, Actor, Costume and Production Designer, Education Artist and founding member of Sport for Jove Theatre Company

Wellspring: Enquiry and Exchange

Bringing campus to the community, Wellspring is an exciting series of immersive events that explores new depths of cultural enquiry and exchange. A collaboration between The Street Theatre and the ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, Wellspring invites Canberra’s curious to experience the inexhaustible source of human creativity and communication.

Get ready for big bold ideas inviting curiosity and conversation.