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The Sapphires is an Australian play written by Tony Briggs and directed by Wesley Enoch.^[1] It is set in 1968 (a year after the referendum, which symbolically expanded the rights of Aboriginal people) and it tells the story of The Sapphires, a singing group of four Yorta Yorta women who tour Vietnam during the war.^[2]^[3]

It was inspired by the true story of Briggs's mother, Laurel Robinson, and aunt, Lois Peeler, who toured Vietnam as singers.^[4] The pair slept on the stage, as Robinson recalled: "It was so scary – one night a bomb went off, the bed fell down and the place shook."^[5]

Though set at the time of increasing calls for Aboriginal rights, the play takes these issues seriously but in a way that does not detract from its fun and humour and adds to its entertainment value.^[4]

Productions

The play debuted with the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2004 and continued at Sydney's Company B in 2005. The original cast included Deborah Mailman, Rachael Maza, Ursula Yovich and Lisa Flanagan.^[6]

It was revived by Black Swan and Company B in 2010, with Christine Anu, Casey Donovan, Hollie Andrew and Kylie Farmer playing the lead roles.^[6]^[7] The show ran at Daegu International Music Festival mid-2010 where Donovan won the award for Best Supporting Actress.^[8] This company also toured to Adelaide and was a part of the Adelaide Festival. In 2011 The lead cast was Donovan, Lisa Maza, Ngaire Pigram and Megan Sarmardin.^[9]

The show appeared at the Barbican Centre in London for two weeks in March 2011.^[10]^[11] The four leading cast members were Donovan, Maza, Pigram and Sarmardin.^[12] The rest of the cast was Aljin Abella, Jimi Bani, Markus Hamilton and Oliver Wenn.

Peter Farnan of Boom Crash Opera fame was the musical director for the show.^[13]

Film version

Production of the movie version began in 2011. The leads have gone to Deborah Mailman (from the original production), Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell. Although Donovan received strong reviews in the 2010 production, and auditioned for the movie version, she was ultimately not chosen to star.^[11]

Awards

2005 Helpmann Award - Best Play
2005 Helpmann Award - Best New Australian Work^[14]

References

^ Thomson, Helen (19 November 2004), "Black sisters singing up a storm", The Age, archived from the original on 3 October 2009, retrieved 4 December 2008
^ Doyle, Brendan (9 February 2005), "Black sisters singing up a storm", Green Left Weekly, no. 614, archived from the original on 3 August 2012, retrieved 4 December 2008
^ Hallett, Bryce (11 January 2005), "The Sapphires, Company B", The Sydney Morning Herald, archived from the original on 3 November 2012, retrieved 4 December 2008
^ ^a ^b Usher, Robin (15 November 2004), "Sparkle, in any colour", The Age, archived from the original on 30 March 2015, retrieved 4 December 2008
^ Dow, Steve (23 May 2010), "Shining through", The Sydney Morning Herald, archived from the original on 16 February 2011, retrieved 25 May 2010
^ ^a ^b Boland, Michaela (19 January 2010), "Second life for acclaimed show", The Australian
^ Blake, Jason (29 May 2010), "Sass, soul and old-school panache in musical gem", The Sydney Morning Herald, archived from the original on 3 June 2010, retrieved 17 June 2010
^ "Big win for Casey", The Cairns Post, 7 July 2010
^ Williams, Jacqueline (10 February 2011), "Gem of a story behind sparkling musical", The Canberra Times
^ Donoughue, Paul (30 October 2011), "Women bring their message", Sunday Mail
^ ^a ^b "Casey Donovan's omission from a film version of show The Sapphires", The Daily Telegraph, 30 July 2011
^ Gardner, Lyn (8 March 2011), "Review: Theatre: A sleek shambles as Aboriginal Supremes rock the troops: The Sapphires Barbican, London 2/5", The Guardian
^ "Sparkle, in any colour". The Age. 15 November 2004. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ "Opera outshines cast of stars at Helpmann Awards". ABC. 9 August 2005. Archived from the original on 28 October 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2012.