A few months ago, Sue Edge, a lovely woman in Australia who is living with Parkinson’s, contacted me via Facebook and asked if her troupe of actors could perform my play adapted from my first novel Say That Again. She wanted to raise money for Parkinson’s nurses in Western Australia. Of course I said yes! Anything to raise money and awareness. I sent her the script and she began casting. She sent me a poster with the photos of the actors who were playing Benedict, Nell, Sidney and Thea on it and I was thrilled because her casting was perfect!
A few times she video called me to watch rehearsals which were going on at about 8pm their time and very early in the morning my time so I didn’t really look my best, but it was wonderful to hear words I’d written on my sofa in 2016 being performed the other side of the world in 2023!
There is one part where Nell, the heroine, asks Benedict, the hero living with Parkinson’s what he is fearful of. He replies, ‘I’m afraid of being diminished by it.’ It’s a very moving part in the play and I was crying watching the rehearsal even though I knew it was coming because I had written it! Sue was in tears too!
The play was performed twice at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, a beautufl modern building at 2.30pm and 7.30pm on 16th September. Sue very kindly video called me so I could watch the first 10 minutes but warned me not to speak because it would disturb the audience. Apparently it went down a storm and Sue and the actors did a Q and A on stage afterwards. Peter Shaw who played Benedict was asked was it hard learning all his lines with Parkinson’s? He hasn’t got it so I think he must have done a great job. Sue videoed the whole thing and it will be uploaded to You Tube soon.
I’d like to thank them all for the fantastic job they did, all their hard work and the time they put into raising money and awareness by taking on my play. Please see photos to take a look at the event.