TRACY
Two girls. A crime. A cyclone

By Sarah Cathcart and Nicola Fearn
with stories by Yanyuwa woman Hilda Muir
Story consultant Samantha Chalmers

Gulf Country in the 1920’s: There is a murder on Vanderlin Island, the witnesses are rounded up. Eight-year-old Hilda and three other girls are taken with them. They ride 500kms to Darwin where the girls are put into Kahlin Compound, the home for half-castes.

Devon UK in the 1970’s: the family manor house is locked up by bailiffs. The family sneak back in and live in secret in the servant’s quarters but are discovered. They flee to Australia on the ten-pound-passage arriving in Darwin in November 1974.

Two families from very different backgrounds come to call Darwin home. Then cyclone Tracy hits, devastating the city on Christmas eve 1974.

Tracy is based on the extraordinary family stories of Yanyuwa woman Samantha Chalmers, Nicola Fearn and survivors of Cyclone Tracy.

Through storytelling, movement, music, exquisite puppetry and mask, Tracy intertwines the lives of two very different women.

Dealing with displacement and re-placement, this is a rich and imaginative telling of personal stories with original music by Kim Baston, design by Louise McCarthy, dramaturgy by Hannie Rayson, puppet construction by Sophie Buttner and direction by Sarah Cathcart.

REVIEWS

"For those who were lucky enough to see it, I have no doubt you were touched by this thought provoking and very very powerful performance" Cairns Sun

"Nicola Fearn is brilliant!" Cairns Sun

"Samantha Chalmers! performance is simply riverting" Cairns Sun

"reminds us that even in the darkest moments there can be hope" Cairns Sun

"It is the human stories that give this intimate presentation it's power"

"Tracy is a very refined piece of theatre"

"the story behind the tragedy, will have resonances for Australians everywhere."

Director - Sarah Cathcart
Starring - Nicola Fearn & Samantha Chalmers
Designer - Louise McCarthy
Composer - Kim Baston
Dramaturge - Hannie Rayson
Puppet Maker - Sophie Buttner