Sebastian

A new play from local Illawarra playwright Stephen Goldrick, Sebastian is a tragi-comic fable based in Sydney in the 1970's, where garbologists sing Handel and where a daughter's silent imagination challenges the guillotine. Susan is a young teenager who can't talk. She is fascinated by her vision of French history, supported by her imaginary friend, Sebastian, a mime clown. Her father, Dave, works on the inner-Sydney garbage truck shift, during which he and his friend, Vic, rehearse for the 'People's Messiah'. Dave idolises his late wife, a second-rate club singer, and organises recitatives to entertain the angels looking after her. Meanwhile, childcare worker Margaret Velasquez believes Sebastian is the impediment to Susan's vocal recovery, doctors having successfully operated on Susan's larynx a year before. She tries to make Susan 'grow up'. Dr. Groth, a French psychologist, believes Susan is afraid to talk because of her father's expectations.