After 40 years of professional writing, Debra Oswald certainly has a few things to say to an audience, and she clearly enjoys saying them directly to them for the first time rather than mitigated through characters and fictional plotlines. From teen angst stories that formed the basis for her early play "Dags" to the challenge of writing for policemen who didn't swear ("Police Rescue") and rock band members who didn't do drugs or have sex ("Sweet and Sour"), to success and becoming one of Australia's most reviled character murderers on "Offspring", to those long patches of waiting when nobody seems to be interested in your writing and where the work is met too regularly with rejection, she certainly has a fair bit of story to tell, and in this production (directed by Lee Lewis with minimum fussing about), she takes an opportunity to share it, openly and lovingly.
This is a rare chance to spend time with a major Australian writer, one who's always written with heart and honesty, whether in her plays for young audiences ("Dags", "Stories in the Dark"), for adults ("Gary's House", "Mr Bailey's Minder") and she treats her own stories with similar power. She's honest about herself, her joys and her disappointments, and treats the audience as a trusted friend. It's a warm, friendly show that is a pleasure to watch.
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