The Great Fire

Many years ago, in the 1970s, in pursuit of a good life and a sustainable future, Judith and Patrick built a house in the Adelaide Hills. They raised the kids there. As time wore on, bit by bit, the family drifted both from the house and the dream it was born from. Now it's Christmas, the first great-grandchild is on the way and all three generations have gathered again. In the tinderbox heat of summer, Judith is at a crossroads: can the life they pursued in the first place come good again?

Warm, funny, deeply felt, The Great Fire is the work of a brilliant new writing talent, Kit Brookman. It's a play about family, politics and life, about large hopes, uncertainty and the fading triumph of Australian social democracy. In short, The Great Fire is a play about us.

The Great Fire was originally commissioned by Belvoir in association with Arts NSW through the Phillip Parsons Fellowship for Emerging Playwrights.

KIT BROOKMAN's recent work as writer includes: A Rabbit for Kim Jong-il, The Great Fire and Small and Tired. His play Close was shortlisted for the Griffin Award in 2010 and the Patrick White Award in 2011. Other recent work includes Nora (co-written for Belvoir); Heaven (La Mama); Night Maybe (Stuck Pigs Squealing). Kit trained as an actor at NIDA. He has appeared on stage in Twelfth Night, directed by Lee Lewis (Bell Shakespeare), A Midsummer Night's Dream (B-Sharp), DNA (Old Fitzroy), and on television in Micronation. Kit's recent directing work includes Is This Thing On? (with Zoe Coombs-Marr) which won Best Ensemble Cast at 2014 Theatre Awards; Small and Tired; and Heaven at La Mama.