Griffin Theatre’s new Artistic Director Declan Greene, joins Stages to talk about his adaptation of Kenneth Cook’s Wake in Fright!

Tightly buttoned young school teacher John Grant is well-read, but an outback misadventure strands
him – cashless and jobless – in the harsh and remote Aussie outpost of Bundanyabba. He makes
new ‘mates’ who are quick with a drink, but with every skol a dark violence lurches forward. Are these
blokes fair-dinkum, or is there something more sinister at the heart of this little Aussie mining town?

Fresh from a sold-out Melbourne Malthouse season, Greene ingeniously conjures the nightmarish
world of Wake in Fright in a one-person show performed by the always-evocative Zahra Newman.
Brilliantly textured by a sonic assault from art-electronica band, friendships, and inventive staging by
lighting and projection designer Verity Hampson, Wake in Fright is a gripping dive into the boozy
entanglements of one of Australia’s greatest horror tales.

Interview with Roderick Chambers and Trisha Starrs.

Produced by Regina Botros