Horizon by Maxine Mellor
(2020 Season Cancelled. Production Postponed till 2021 (Dates TBA)
Lovers on the highway, chased down by their past.
Cole and Sky, a young couple, are driving in a classic car from the coast into the guts of the country. Cole’s father is on his deathbed and there are rumours Cole is set to inherit the earth after a life of aimlessness. They set out with unbridled enthusiasm for the road ahead; swept up in romantic dreaming and poetic ruminations amid the boundless plains. They knit new narratives for themselves; give themselves new names and identities in sync with their seemingly unanimous versions of utopia. Their newfound freedom is underscored by a long-forgotten mix tape buried deep in the glovebox, but out of the static following the final song, a pubescent voice cracks — a younger, angrier, more violent Cole and his teenage manifesto recorded to tape.
Equal parts Mad Max: Fury Road, Thelma and Louise, and the classic films of the Ozploitation era, Horizon keeps who we are in the rear view mirror, whilst asking what it is we can see in the warping heat-distorted bitumen ahead. With a smack of Wolf Creek, a slap of Wake in Fright, and a firm grip on the true stories of those lost to the isolation of the outback, Horizon is a high-octane journey that’s over the limit, over heating and tearing right into the heart of Australia.
More Information
SEASON DATES
Thu 14 May–Sat 23 May
PREVIEW DATE
Thu 14 May
OPENING NIGHT
Fri 15 May
VENUE
Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse
DURATION
90mins
AGES
Suitable for 16+.
Coarse language and adult themes including sexual consent.
STYLE/GENRE
Australian Gothic
DIRECTOR/DRAMATURG
Ian lawson
PLAYWRIGHT
Maxine Mellor
DESIGNER
Josh McIntosh
VIDEO DESIGNER
Nathan Sibthorpe
LX DESIGNER
David Walters
SOUND DESIGNER
Guy Webster
ACTORS
Ngoc Phan
Sam Foster
Maxine Mellor
Maxine Mellor is an award-winning playwright of over twenty works. Awards include the Queensland Theatre’s Young Playwright’s Award (2001, 2002, 2003); the QTC George Landen Dann Award (2004); and a Matilda Award for best new independent work for Performance (2005) for Magda’s Fascination with Wax Cats. In 2012 she won Inscription’s Edward Albee New York City Residency Scholarship, and the 2012/2013 Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. Maxine won the Max Afford Playwriting Award for 2014 for The Silver Alps, and in 2017, and received the Lord Mayor’s Young & Emerging Artists Fellowship to undertake professional development through Singapore, Iceland and the UK.
Maxine’s work has been showcased at the National Play Festival twice and throughout the USA as part of Inscription’s Playwriting and Screenwriting tour (2014). Recent productions include La Boite’s national tour of Maxine’s stage adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, Trollop at Queensland Theatre, The Wizard of Oz (in collaboration with The Danger Ensemble, Brisbane Festival and La Boite), and Anna Robi & The House of Dogs (Brisbane Festival’s Under the Radar). Her plays have been produced throughout Australia, and are published with Playlab and Australian Plays.
Maxine also regularly teaches and mentors emerging writers throughout schools and universities, including recently facilitating Playwriting Australia’s Lotus program for Asian Australian playwrights. She is a qualified drama and visual art teacher and often works with gifted and talented students delivering workshops in various creative fields.
For more information visit www.maxinemellor.com.
Acknowledgements
A Playlab Theatre production in partnership with Brisbane Powerhouse. This project is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.