The Sapphires (play)
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The Sapphires is an Australian play written by Tony Briggs and directed by Wesley Enoch.[1] It is set in 1968 (a year after the referendum, which symbolically expanded the rights of Aboriginal people) and it tells the story of The Sapphires, a singing group of four Yorta Yorta women who tour Vietnam during the war.[2][3]
It was inspired by the true story of Briggs's mother, Laurel Robinson, and aunt, Lois Peeler, who toured Vietnam as singers.[4] The pair slept on the stage, as Robinson recalled: "It was so scary – one night a bomb went off, the bed fell down and the place shook."[5]
Though set at the time of increasing calls for Aboriginal rights, the play takes these issues seriously but in a way that does not detract from its fun and humour and adds to its entertainment value.[4]
The play debuted with the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2004 and continued at Sydney's Company B in 2005. The original cast included Deborah Mailman, Rachael Maza, Ursula Yovich and Lisa Flanagan.[6]
It was revived by Black Swan and Company B in 2010, with Christine Anu, Casey Donovan, Hollie Andrew and Kylie Farmer playing the lead roles.[6][7] The show ran at Daegu International Music Festival mid-2010 where Donovan won the award for Best Supporting Actress.[8] This company also toured to Adelaide and was a part of the Adelaide Festival. In 2011 The lead cast was Donovan, Lisa Maza, Ngaire Pigram and Megan Sarmardin.[9]
The show appeared at the Barbican Centre in London for two weeks in March 2011.[10][11] The four leading cast members were Donovan, Maza, Pigram and Sarmardin.[12] The rest of the cast was Aljin Abella, Jimi Bani, Markus Hamilton and Oliver Wenn.
Peter Farnan of Boom Crash Opera fame was the musical director for the show.[13]