Acclaimed Launceston writer Cameron Hindrum has created his first full-length play inspired by change and hardship challenges faced by the Queenstown community.
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Set on Tasmania’s charismatic West Coast, I Am Lake is a coming of age story that homes in on the lives of three diverse characters.
Alice, mum and Nugget take on vastly different perspectives regarding what is happening to the town.
Alice focuses on the environment, mum’s concerned about job losses in the community and Nugget struggles with his inability to fit into the stereotype idea of a Queenstown man.
Memories of the Crotty Dam inundating the upper King River valley, consequently creating Lake Burbury inspired the play.
“That idea of a ‘fake lake’ is fascinating and it is obviously used to generate power which we need but in Tasmania there is always this tension between conservation and providing for essentials like power,” Hindrum said.
It’s wonderful to be able to premiere the play in the very landscape where the story is set.
- Jane Johnson
The play also references the Franklin Dam decision, where the Commonwealth government stopped the proposed construction of a large hydro-electric dam in South-West Tasmania.
Hindrum hopes the play shows audiences that everything changes. “The environment changes, sometimes we can change that and sometimes we can’t,” he said. “It explores that central notion of change and how it is inevitable and if we work with it rather than against it that is the best approach.”
I Am A Lake director Jane Johnson said the play is a wonderful vehicle for the ensemble of three actors; complex, passionate and heartbreakingly flawed characters; a world of unsettling and beautiful contrasts; and text that soars in equal parts raw naturalism and mythical poetry.
Set in Queenstown, the play will premiere at the Hunter Street Shed as part of the upcoming Unconformity Festival. “It’s wonderful to be able to premiere the play in the very landscape where the story is set,” Ms Johnson said.
Cast members Polly Grove, Travis Hennessy and Jane Taylor said they were excited to spend time in Queenstown prior to their performance.
“For us to be able to see the town before we actually perform is an amazing opportunity,” Taylor said.
I Am Lake will be performed in Launceston at the Old Lolly Factory, 330 Invermay Road, Mowbray from October 20 to 22 and 27 to 29.
“We always knew we wanted to explore a pop-up theatre venue,” Johnson said.
“It does put a bit more pressure on you to create magic in a space that is not conducive to it.”
