Body Horror (2022)
What is a body? Something to be looked at? A source of pleasure? Something to be improved? Enhanced? Reassembled? Compressed? Something to be proud of? Something to be ranked?
Here is a woman. She is listening.
Body Horror is a work of physical theatre, created by Katie Cawthorne and Laura Lethlean with Bonnie Roberts and Mia Tuco at La Mama (Melbourne) during their 2022 Explorations Season. Images by Cameron Grant.
Pillow Fight (2022)
Sex. Power. Truth. Lies. What stories are seducing you?
A deep dive into the complexities of consent, Pillow Fight premiered to a sold out season at Melbourne International Fringe Festival in 2022 at Gasworks Arts Park, where the production won the 2022 Tour Ready Award.
In 2023, Pillow Fight will tour to New Zealand Fringe Festival in Wellington, Castlemaine State Festival in Victoria and the Glen Ira Storytellers Festival.
Pillow Fight was written by Laura Lethlean, directed by Katie Cawthorne, performed by Monique Warren and Cameron Grant. Set design by Katie Cawthorne and Laura Lethlean, set realisation by Lizz Lethlean. Sound design by Katie Cawthorne. Lighting design by Philip Lethlean.
Honey (2021)
“Because I lived through those seconds of the fall, I remained alive. Even as I met the ground.”
Created in collaboration with the National Theatre Drama School’s Third Year Ensemble, HONEY dares to take us back to our poetic and uninhibited roots.
HONEY was directed by Katie Cawthorne and written by Laura Lethlean, performed by Ethan Betts, Kenia Labarre, James William, Lily Johnson, Robin Kakolyris, Amber Louka, Kiara Nickson, Bonnie Roberts, Lily Thomson
ROPE BURN (2021)
Four men. They know the rules. But tonight is different. Tonight, they break them.
Rope Burn is a new piece of physical theatre that dives head-first into a world of private schoolboy chants and parliamentary sexual assaults. Exploring the potency of gender expectations, Rope Burn will ask its audience to observe the dangerous and constricting rules we live by.
Rope Burn
2021
The Three Graces (2019)
What is a woman’s relationship to legacy? What is a woman’s relationship to power? And when it comes down to it, does either ambition matter in a world that we are destroying?
The Three Graces was produced by The Anchor at Theatre Works.
Playwright: Laura Lethlean
Director: Katie Cawthorne
Set and Costume design: Tyler Hawkins
Composer and sound design: Grace Ferguson
Light design: Rachel Lee
Stage manager: Laura Barnes
Cast: Madeleine Nunn, Candace Miles, Anna Rodway
“The Three Graces is part comedy, part tragedy and entirely engaging”
Kate Rose, Herald Sun, May 28 2019
“Each part of The Three Graces comes together in glorious fashion, creating a sensational production. Led by an exceptional team, it’s a show not to be missed. I look forward to what the Anchor Theatre Company produces next.”
Irene Bell, Theatre Press, May 2019
“The Three Graces thrives when it authentically portrays women’s lived experiences, and how they are talked about and reflected upon...it reminded me of those leading feminist theatre-makers at an earlier stage of artistic development.”
Cameron Woodhead, The Age, May 29 2019
“Lethlean has her Graces muse: ‘What was before us?’ staring out at the audience as if upon them projected shadows flickered, like in Plato’s Cave. Shifting her performers into the present, giving them modern dilemmas of gender relations and environmental responsibility, she reinforces Plato’s point that humanity is more comfortable in ignorance, and averse to change even in the face of existential crisis.”
Anna Westbrook, Arts Hub, May 2019
Two Hearts (2018)
A play about waste, choice and intimacy.
A man and a woman meet. They’re nervous – the music is too loud – they make each other laugh – they miss the moment for their first kiss. But they make it work. They do, in their own faltering yet hopeful way, begin…
Two Hearts is an invitation to look back on our past loves. Short and bitter sweet, Two Hearts is for those of us who have lost love and want to find it again.
Playwright: Laura Lethlean
Director: Jessica Arthur
Set and Costume design: Maya Keys
Composer and sound design: Jess Dunn
Light design: Martin Kinanne
Stage manager: Kianah Marlena
Cast: Damon Manns, Eliza Scott, Phoebe Grainer
Two Hearts was produced by The Anchor (Katie Cawthorne, Jessica Arthur, Laura Lethlean) in association with KxT bAKEHOUSE at Kings Cross Theatre, October/November 2018
“There’s a lot to like here. Two Hearts feels comfortable and equipped to tackle one of the bigger obstacles a couple – particularly a straight couple – can face. “
- Cassie Tongue, Time Out Sydney
“Two Hearts is an engaging piece that offers an opportunity to listen to authentic voices.”
- Tim Garrett, Theatre People
“Lethlean excels in projecting people’s inner thoughts about their relationships with others onto the stage. Two Hearts offers poignant moments, particularly in its depiction of the start of the couple’s relationship where trepidation and fervent desire battle each other.”
- Jenna Schroder, Audrey Journal
“The strength of the night is the writing detail from scene to scene from Ms Lethlean – its preoccupations are indeed off-centre, quirky and refreshing”
- Kevin Jackson, The Blurb Magazine
“Playwright Laura Lethlean is a restive thinker with a keen ear for contradictions and obfuscations in language that speaks to the failures between communication, intention and experience.”
- Lisa Thatcher
FADING (2018)
The gates are wide open and the pressure is on…
Developed collaboratively with Katie Cawthorne and Canberra Youth Theatre’s Company Ensemble, this highly physical play uses lyrical language to respond to the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Playwright: Laura Lethlean
Director: Katie Cawthorne
Assistant Director: Stefanie Lekkas
Lighting Designer: Ethan Hamill
Sound Designer: Kimmo Vennonen
Scenic Artist: Kate Llewellyn
Theatre Tech: Lauchlan McEwen
Producer: Canberra Youth Theatre
Cast: Alex Castello, Jett Chudleigh, Jemma Collins, Aram Geleris, Taylor Geoffroy, Jamie Johnston, Yarno Rohling, Elektra Spencer
FADING was produced by Canberra Youth Theatre in September 2018 at the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre.
“Laura Lethlean has chosen a good subject to explore in theatrical terms. There is a poetic quality to her writing that gives the show a dream-like aspect while confronting the issues head-on.”
- Len Power, Canberra Critics Circle, 12 September 2018
WHERE THE BREATH IS KEPT (2017)
It's 1am and there's blood on the floor...
Set on Christmas Island, this dark comedy interrogates Australia's relationship with Asylum.
Playwright / Director: Laura Lethlean
Set Design: Ellen Stainstreet
Producer: Testing Grounds
Cast: Faran Martin, Liam McGuire, Yomal Rajasinghe
Where the Breath is Kept was read as a part of a development that took place in Testing Grounds in March 2017. Listen to the reading here.
"This is a beautiful play. It is fully realised. The characters are so strong and so real, each with their own desires and deep vulnerabilities. I was so moved, it is such a tragic story and sadly a very real portrayal of our world today."
- Leah Patterson, literary manager of Australian Theatre Company, Las Angeles.
THE SPACE BETWEEN THE FUEL AND THE FIRE (2016)
As Simeon claws his way up the cooperate ladder, he realises there are quicker, easier ways of making money. But to achieve excess success, he may have to sacrifice more than he is willing.
The Space Between the Fuel and the Fire was staged at NIDA's Studio Theatre in Winter 2016. This play was published by No Passport Press
Playwright: Laura Lethlean
Director: Con Costi
Producer: Liam Barwick
Designer (Set and Costume): Ellen Stanistreet
Sound Design: Katelyn Shaw
Light Design: Ben Brockman
DSM: Ray Pittman
Cast: Imogen Morgan, Laura Djanegara, Joseph Raggat, Ross Walker, Louie Seguier Capdevila
"THE SPACE BETWEEN THE FUEL AND THE FIRE introduces a major new voice in Australian theatre, Laura Lethlean. A comedy set in a shadowy world being eclipsed by corporate chaos, three young people try to find their way through the snares and traps being laid for them toward some sort of authenticity, or at least somewhere vaguely their own, while the world around them is shredded by greed and cynicism. Humorous, sad and edged with a gentle melancholy, THE SPACE BETWEEN THE FUEL AND THE FIRE is the lament of a betrayed generation still looking at the world with a bruised heart, and eyes full of hope"
- Dr Stephen Sewell.
HOW ARE YOU? (2015)
A tightly constructed three hander that takes a finely sharpened scalpel to expose the true feelings and thoughts that surface during the fraught experience of infatuation, sexual attraction, love and heart break.
Playwright: Laura Lethlean
Director: Jessica Arthur
Producer: Katie Cawthorne & The Anchor in collaboration with Aspen Island Theatre Company.
Designer (Set and Costume): Ara Nuri Steel
Sound Design: Russell Goldsmith
Cast: Julia Christensen, Richard Cotta Jr, Isha Menon
"Skilfully crafted exposés that shift and turn, avoiding the banal, the predictable and the cliché, while at the same time establishing relationships and interactions with an instantly recognisable truth.”
- Peter Wilkins, Canberra Critics Circle, 2015
How Are You? was produced in collaboration with Aspen Island Theatre Company for DESIGNcanberra in November 2015
LITTLE BITCH (2014)
We are all victims of our environment. But what happens when we choose to defy that environment? What happens when we are forced to comply?
Created by Laura Lethlean, Katie Cawthorne & Debra Thomas.
Cast included: Joseph Raggat, Ross Walker
Set, Costume & Props Designed by Isabel Hudson.
PLASTIC PACIFIC (2013)
Set on a swirling vortex of garbage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the real life inventors of plastic are forced to face their legacy before the island swallows them up.
Playwright / Director: Laura Lethlean
Designer (Set and Light): Philip Lethlean
Sound Design: Danny Cuovo
Puppet Design and Creation: Elizabeth Talbot and Malcolm Hansford
Cast: Michael Shanks, Ben Ridgewell, Mark Taylor, Malcolm Hansford, Elizabeth Talbot, Louie McNamara
“Conscious drama that boasts great stage and lighting design, puppetry and visual reveals.”
- Cameron Woodhead, the Age, 2013
Plastic Pacific was awarded the 2013 Get It On grant for the Newport Substation's Fringe season.