Gulls at The Guild Theatre

At The Guild Theatre, Rockdale from 17 May – 9 June, 2024

“Dan, who was driving, walked away. I died. My body regained consciousness. My brain did not.”

Gulls by Robert Hewett won The Green Room award for Best Play and was nominated for the Premiers Literary Award.

Set at seaside Portarlington, VIC, several generations ago, the play centres around Bill Clements. Bill is severely brain damaged from a car accident in his youth. His sister Frances has ‘inherited’ him and rescued him from institutionalised care. Together they begin a new life by the sea– visited by Dan, the driver of the car when Bill sustained his injury. Molly, a widowed neighbour quickly offers to help ‘mind’ Bill while Frances is at work.

Bill cannot verbalise to those around him, but can freely speak to the audience where he shares his humorous observations, memories and magical wonder of seagulls who fly freely around him, soaring over sea and land.

“Now, to see these creatures fly. They were like some magical god descending from the heavens”

Gulls has been performed extensively in Australia and overseas to great acclaim. It’s beautifully crafted insight into the mind of a person dealing with intellectual disability and the impact on those around him, at a time before community-based services and carer support, makes it an Australian theatrical landmark.

Content: Suicide and adult themes.

GULLS

By Robert Hewett

Directed by Susan Stapleton

The Guild Theatre, Walz Street, Rockdale, NSW

17 May – 9 June 2024

CAST

Lyn Lee - Molly Dwyer

Donna Randall - Frances Clements

Mark Stokes – Bill Clements

Brett Van Heekeren - Dan

For tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1172692?

Website: https://www.guildtheatre.com.au/