June
by Patrick McCarthy
After spending a year in silence, June invites an audience into her world. At times charming, at others shimmering with rage, she arrives fully formed but alters at will. A gentle and challenging play about moving through the world and finding a voice that fits who you have become.
Written by Patrick McCarthy
Directed by Emily Tomlins
Performed by Caroline Lee
Dramaturgy (text) by Morgan Rose
Designed by Zoe Rouse
Lighting Design by Lisa Mibus
Sound Design by Jess Keeffe
Stage Management by Rosemary Osmond
Movement Consultant Devika Bilimoria
Duration 70 minutes
“A joy to hear, and amounts to a deeply moving meditation… Caroline Lee is masterful as June.”
★★★★ Arts Hub
“A delicate sense of comedy is key to what becomes an intimate and lightly meta-theatrical reflection on voice and voicelessness… an intricate solo performance, tackling a complex internal landscape, and some desolating themes, with humour and poignancy.”
The Age
Photos by Deryk McAlpin
Curated responses to June
We view the work we make as an exchange with the audience, the start of a conversation that we hope to continue after the house lights come up. As coverage of the arts has diminished in Australia in recent years, we are interested in exploring new ways of promoting critical discourse and analysis of the works on our stages. With this intent, we have invited two playwrights we greatly admire, Emilie Collyer and Bridget Mackey, to respond to June. These are not “reviews” in a conventional sense, but rather critical writing aimed at helping us and our audience reflect more deeply on the experience of seeing June, and exploring what it meant to the writers as practising artists themselves. These pieces are best read after having seen the production. We hope they provoke further response within you, and encourage you to continue the conversation online.
Previous seasons
Theatre Works, Melbourne
26 July – 5 August 2023
June was developed with the support of the City of Melbourne and 45 Downstairs, and presented with the generous funding support of the Besen Foundation.
