AFTER a popular run last year, Women of Their Word will stage a comeback at Redland Museum in March.
Written and directed by Jan Nary, the show is a celebration of Australian women who captured their times and their experiences through poetry, presented as a series of vignettes blending narrative, verse and music.
Audiences will be treated to two changes to the original production.
Sharon Vassallo will step into the role of Dorothy Hewett, while Ray Noonan will play the role of her interviewer.
Born in the West Australian wheat belt, Hewett's written work reflects her challenge to the social, political and sexual mores of the day.
Penny Everingham will bring to life the newly-written role of Dame Mary Gilmore, a country school teacher who rose to national prominence and acclaim through her poetry, prose and social activism.
She campaigned for a better deal for the disadvantaged, attempted the establishment of a socialist community with the Utopians in Paraguay, spoke out against war, but supported Australia's war effort, was courted by Henry Lawson, fought for a better deal for Indigenous Australians, was made a dame of the British Empire and was accorded a state funeral.
Debbie Spearritt will recreate her memorable role as Judith Wright.
Though born to wealth and privilege, Wright became an ardent fighter for the environment and the rights of Aboriginal people, using her verse as a tool for change.
Suffragist and educator Maybanke Anderson, played by Christine Venner-Westaway, was the mother of seven children and set up the first free kindergarten in Australia.
She saw poetry and song as natural tools for education, which was her great passion.
Leona Kyling lives again through Ann-Marie Anderson, recently biographised by Mick Bright.
A Redlands identity who turned her hand to real estate, a jam-making business, a travelling fashion and millinery business, sculpture, the establishment of the Redlands' first aged care facility, charity fundraising and poetry, Kyling was a respected pillar of the local community.
Her poems reflect her engagement with the world and the quiet joy she found in nature.
The tales in Women of Their Word are bound together by the music of Donna Cameron.
Shows will take place on Friday, March 26 and Saturday, March 27 at 7pm, and Sunday, March 28 at 2.30pm.
