Tale of girl murdered at a party unleashes deepest fears
TIME is running out to see a stunning local adaptation of A Property of the Clan by Nick Enright, currently showing at Grafton's Criterion Theatre.
A Property of the Clan takes place in a large Australian industrial city in the present day, between October one year and winter of the next.
The play explores the events surrounding a large party at which a young girl is tragically murdered.
It explores the emotional and social effects the unexpected death of a peer has on young people - the hardship experienced by those close to the girl and how they cope with the feelings of fear and uncertainty that her murder left them with.
It also examines the impact the act itself has on those responsible for her death.
Director and producer of the upcoming show Justen Petch recently returned to his home town of Grafton after studying theatre at university.
He said part of the reason for organising the show was to create work for himself in the industry while raising money for a Sydney-based share-profit theatre venture he and a number of other young theatre students had envisioned.
However with the play he said he also wanted to share his love for theatre and the skills he'd learned at uni with budding young actors in the Clarence Valley.
"When I was younger, before I left for uni I felt that Grafton had very little to offer in the way of thought-provoking performance art, so my goal here was to create something for the young adults of the area to be involved in," Justen said.
"For this show I have used an entirely local cast and crew, mostly high school students from both Grafton and South Grafton High, in the hopes that I could teach them something about an art form that they care about and potentially wish to make a career in."
