Picnic at Hanging Rock

A haunting adaptation of a literary masterpiece exploring mystery and the unknown. A world premiere.

Perfect for audiences who love atmospheric, enigmatic theatre.

About the Ebook

'I know you're there… Miranda? Miranda!'

On a summer's day in 1900, three Australian schoolgirls on a picnic expedition to the remote Hanging Rock abscond from their group. They are last seen heading towards the beckoning Rock…

In Tom Wright's chilling adaptation of Joan Lindsay's classic novel, five performers struggle to solve the mystery of the missing girls and their teacher. Euphoria and terror reverberate throughout the community, as the potential for history to repeat itself becomes nightmarishly real.

This adaptation of Picnic at Hanging Rock was first co-produced by Malthouse Theatre and Black Swan State Theatre Company, Perth, and first performed at Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, in 2016. The play received its European premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, in 2017.

Why You'll Love This Ebook

• Atmospheric adaptation of beloved classic.
• Exploration of mystery and the inexplicable.
• Published by Nick Hern Books, leading contemporary theatre publisher.
• Theatre that haunts long after curtain call.

Reviews

An explosion of theatrical power as fierce as it is contemplative, and so original that no-one who sees it is likely to forget it… Wright's adaptation gives fierce attention to the novel’s sense of the sheer arrogance and inadequacy of imperial British culture, as it tried to "tame" a land so ancient, implacable, and strange. Yet it is brilliant, too, on the infinitely mutable energy of youth, the huge suppressed erotic power and pressure, in these young women, that feels as if it could literally move mountains, and tear its way through a gap in time' Scotsman

'Emotion, violence and meaning bubble up like magma… mythic in its scope and magical in its appearance... an evocative adaptation that finds horror not in nature, but in the civilising class' The Stage

'A potently poetic, enigmatic pschyco-drama… Tom Wright's adaptation of Joan Lindsay's novel [has] an authentic, snarling economy of polite and prim, petticoat savaged menace… as compelling, visceral and insistent as that wasp in your otherwise perfect picnic jam pot. Unmissable' The Edinburgh Reporter

'This retelling of the Joan Lindsay cult classic proves the book's theme remains relevant – and will terrify the pants off you' Guardian

About the Author

Joan Lindsay (1896–1984) was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and artist, best known for her 1967 novel, Picnic at Hanging Rock.

She was born Melbourne, Australia, where she went to school at Clyde Girls Grammar in East St Kilda. She knew and loved the Macedon district, the setting for Picnic at Hanging Rock, from early childhood. She studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, Melbourne, and, as well as her career as a novelist, exhibited watercolour and oil paintings throughout her lifetime.

Her other novels included Through Darkest Pondelayo and Time Without Clocks. Picnic at Hanging Rock was published in 1967 to critical acclaim, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1975, directed by Peter Weir. The book continues to be considered one of the most important Australian novels of all time.

In 1922 in London, Joan married Sir Daryl Lindsay. The Lindsays travelled together in Europe and the USA, Daryl with his paints and Joan with her typewriter. Sir Daryl died in 1976. Joan lived at their country home on the Mornington Peninsula, Mulberry Hill, Victoria, Australia. She died in December 1984.

Publication Details

Publisher: Nick Hern Books

Publication Date: 12 January 2017

Print Length: 80 pages (Ebook edition)

ISBN (Ebook): 9781780018492

Format: Ebook

Language: English

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