Acclaimed Australian theatre and screen writer Andrew Bovell will deliver this year’s Wal Cherry lecture, reflecting on the 2001 production ‘Holy Day’ and its themes and conversations at a different time in Australia’s cultural history, less than two decades ago.

Holy Day is set on the “white frontier” in the mid-nineteenth century and premiered at the Playhouse Theatre in Adelaide in 2001, under the direction of Rosalba Clemente.

This seminal work examined some of the tensions that shape the Australian psyche including violence perpetrated by men against women, the violence and legacy of colonisation and the misunderstanding of the landscape by the colonising culture. Almost twenty years later, how has the conversation around these national themes changed?

In his 2018 Wal Cherry Lecture, Andrew Bovell will ask how the play would change if he was to write it now, and even more crucially, whether such a play should be written – or whether the times demand a different story and different story tellers.

Places are limited for this annual lecture, which honours Flinders University foundation professor the late Wal Cherry, and is presented by The Flinders Drama Centre.

The 2018 Wal Cherry Lecture: Holy Day Revisited delivered by Andrew Bovell

Where:  Flinders Tavern, Flinders University Bedford Park campus

When:   Thursday, 27 September 2018, 5:00 – 7:00pm, includes refreshments and live music

RSVP:  Register via the Flinders University event page for this free event, places are limited.