Zoey Louise Moonbeam Dawson

Hello friends,

Do you believe in the magic of theatre?

Coz we’ve got something to say about it.

Written by Zoey Dawson, CONVICTION is a rebellious, experimental comedy examining contemporary feminism and self-authorship. CONVICTION follows two convict women in 18th century Australia trying to disguise themselves as free settlers. It also follows a self-loathing experimental playwright in 21st Century Australia trying to disguise herself as a serious dramatist. By pioneering new models of storytelling, CONVICTION aims to recognise the extreme complexity of female identity in 2016 as well as developing new methods of empowerment for experiences trivialised by patriarchal notions of "drama". 

CONVICTION will premiere at Darebin Arts Speakeasy this July. 

(Promotional Photography by Sarah Walker)

// PROJECT HISTORY

The very first draft of CONVICTION was written during Zoey’s Master of Writing for Performance at VCA back in 2014. After the play's first public reading, as part of a VCA showcase, Declan Greene (director/dramaturg) and Romanie Harper (set and costume design) came onboard. So this means that between these three artists, CONVICTION has been in development for TWO YEARS. That’s ages, right?

(Adam Ibrahim, Ruby Hughes, Sonja Bishopp and Tom Halls in the first reading on CONVICTION at VCA, directed by Cathy Hunt)

Over this period, we've been developing this play completely off our own backs. We’ve been talking and rewriting and doing script developments with very generous actors in generously donated spaces and meeting with the creative team at the pub and so far no one has been paid a cent.

Because that’s what independent theatre is, for the most part. And it’s not the first time we’ve done it.

// CREATIVE TEAM - HISTORY

CONVICTION is a brand new play from the same team behind 2012’s THE UNSPOKEN WORD IS JOE (produced by MKA), which was developed in roughly the same time period and manner. Write, meet, talk, read, rewrite, edit, read, talk, beer. Why? Coz we love it. We really do.

THE UNSPOKEN WORD IS JOE showed the benefits of this long and committed development period. It won Zoey the 2012 Melbourne Festival Discovery Award and was nominated for a Sydney Theatre Award and three Greenroom awards, including Best Direction. And it enjoyed three sold-out Melbourne seasons and toured to Brisbane Festival and Sydney's Griffin Theatre.

(Nikki Shiels and Matt Hickey in "The Unspoken Word is Joe" (MKA) - Photo by Eugyeene Teh)

// THE PROJECT

CONVICTION bastardises the idea of the grand, truth-telling "ISSUES PLAY" in order to ask questions about the stories we tell and how we tell them. What is “good” art? Who gets to decide what stories are worthwhile? And who gets to decide which stories are definitely NOT worthwhile?

While CONVICTION builds on the ideas born from THE UNSPOKEN WORD IS JOE, it is a significant leap in ambition – both formally and technically. While JOE debuted in the wonderful intimacy of La Mama Theatre, CONVICTION is being performed at Northcote Town Hall in the Great Hall, which is roughly the size of a carpark. That’s just how big our ideas are, ya see. Carpark sized.

While we can develop a new play for no money and lots of favours, we need help to put it on the stage. Try as we might, we have not been able to secure enough funding to realise this production.

Any money you pledge to this campaign will go directly into putting this bold new play on the stage, and supporting our talented creative team: Zoey, Declan, and Romanie, as well as Amelia Lever-Davidson (lighting design), James Paul (sound design), Anastasia Ryan (producer), as well as our four brilliant cast members: Ruby Hughes, Caroline Lee, Dushan Philips, and Troy Reid.

We've been lucky enough to receive some amazing in-kind support (favours, loans, rehearsal space, etc) from the generous people at Malthouse Theatre, Arena Theatre and St Martin's Youth Arts Centre, as well as a commissioning fee from Darebin Arts. But we currently have 12 talented people working unpaid on this show, as well as a massive set to build. Did we mention the thing about the carpark?

By donating to our Pozible campaign you will help provide a small fee for our artists, as well as financing over a quarter of our design budget. 

Our complete budget looks a little something like this:

Funds raised by this campaign will be split between artist fees and materials, hires and labour for the production design:

In return for your donation we've got some pretty snazzy rewards, like these "inspirational" badges - each measuring 29mm and featuring a nihilistic and completely out-of-context quote from CONVICTION. 

CONVICTION is an experimental text that deconstructs traditional drama as an act of feminist rebellion. 

So, our foremost challenge is there in that descriptor: This play is an experiment. There’s no blueprint for how to make it. We’re trying our best to innovate: to wander off the beaten track, get lost, discover something worthwhile in the process. Every donation to this campaign helps support that risk.

Essential to the feminist message of the work, CONVICTION is a work of SCALE. Romanie, James, and Amelia have created an enormous and inspired production design that requires a high level of technical complexity in its execution. Making our target (or exceeding it!) will give us the budget for the materials and labour to properly realise their vision.

In a time of dangerous financial austerity within the Australian Arts sector, we risk entering a time of imaginative austerity as well. Experimental playwrights like Zoey find themselves in a precarious position with arts organisations who once nurtured experiemental artists struggling to stay afloat.

As a result, development and presentation opportunities for new work are drying up. Collaborations like these - rigorous theatrical conversations that thrive on time and risk - are in danger of dying from malnourishment. By supporting this campaign you're not only contributing to one production - you're helping to support an ongoing artistic collaboration and sustain our practice as working artists.