Maureen: Harbinger of Death
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, House of Oz, UK, August 2023
Festival of Colour, Lake Wanaka Centre, NZ, March 2023
Adelaide Festival, Space Theatre, March 2023
Darwin Festival, Brown’s Mart Theatre, August 2022
Rising Festival Melbourne, Malthouse Theatre, June 2022
Sydney Festival, The Reginald Theatre, Seymour Centre, Jan 2021
Perth Fringe World, The Blue Room Theatre, Jan 2020
Image credit: Clare Hawley
A touching and real homage to older women, celebrating the indomitable voice, wisdom and unapologetic passions of dames who defy invisibility.
Framed by velvet, Jatz crackers and cigarettes, join Maureen in her bohemian living-room for a journey of exquisite storytelling brimming with acerbic life advice, spirited friends now gone and limitless imagination.
With minimal costume or props, writer and performer Jonny Hawkins transforms into Maureen before our eyes in a solo work that relishes the heroic, individual strength of female elders mostly dismissed by society.
Co-created with director Nell Ranney, and inspired by Hawkins’ real-life friend, a self-described ‘working class glamour queen’, Maureen: Harbinger of Death redefines our concepts of older women, honours the bounties of intergenerational relationships and pays tribute to kindness, individuality and dignity.
Writer and Performer Jonny Hawkins, Director and Co-creator Nell Ranney, Designer Isabel Hudson, Lighting Designer Nick Schlieper, Composer Steve Toulmin, Producer Jo Dyer.
“Magnificently flouting many of the "rules" of drama and narrative, this episodic one-hander was co-conceived and directed by Nell Ranney. On the basis of this effort she and Hawkins are a formidable double-act – one the major theatre companies should be begging to do anything that seems a good idea at the time.” ★★★★½ Sydney Morning Herald
“The real jewel of the festival is Jonny Hawkins and Nell Ranney’s Maureen: Harbinger of Death.” The Saturday Paper
“Such heartwarming depth and humanity it feels like a hug for the soul.” ★★★★½ Limelight Magazine
“Exquisitely crafted theatre” ★★★★★ Fringefeed