Don’t Take Your Love to Town
29 Nov 2012 - 6 Jan 2013
Downstairs Theatre
From the book by Ruby Langford Ginibi
Adapted by Eamon Flack & Leah Purcell Director Leah Purcell
Indigenous Theatre at Belvoir supported by The Balnaves Foundation
About
You can think of me as Ruby Wagtail Big Noise Anderson Rangi Ando Heifer Andy Langford.
Ruby Langford Ginibi’s Don’t Take Your Love to Town is one of Australia’s great and abiding books. Everything and nothing happens – from the small to the absolute, from the simple to the diabolical. Spanning most of the last century, from Coonabarabran to Surry Hills, it is the chronicle of a life. And Ruby’s is one hell of a life.
Leah Purcell performs in and directs this one-woman show which attempts something a little bit glorious: to relive Ruby’s big and soulful 70-something years in an evening. Don’t Take Your Love to Town is about a lot of things – love, childhood, struggle, humour, family, work – but most of all it is a homage to Black Australia’s extraordinary spirit of endurance.
Team
Adapted by Eamon Flack & Leah Purcell
Director Leah Purcell
Artist Lorna Munro
Lighting Designer Luiz Pampolha
Composer & Sound Designer Steve Francis
With
Leah Purcell
Nardi Simpson (musician)
David Trumpmanis (musician for six performances)
Image Gallery
Production photos by Brett Boardman
Rehearsal photos by Heidrun Lohr
Program
Reviews
“Earthily humorous, frequently moving.”
Jason Blake, Sydney Morning Herald
“Vivid, robust, exciting, candid and absolutely riveting… an extraordinary theatrical landmark.”
Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise
“The show is Purcell’s and it deserves to have a long life.”
John McCallum, The Australian
“A standout production of 2012.”
Emma Salkild, Alternative Media Group
