A raw and unsettling portrait of family, identity, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive, Light the Torch Productions in association with New Theatre presents A Lie of the Mind by noted American playwright Sam Shepard, this January.
A Lie of the Mind brings Shepard’s starkly poetic vision into sharp contemporary focus, revealing a landscape where love curdles into violence and memory itself becomes unreliable.
At the centre of the play are two families bound by the volatile marriage of Jake and Beth. What should be a point of connection instead exposes a profound disconnect – between families, within relationships, and inside each individual.
As the narrative fractures, so too do the characters’ senses of self, place, and belonging. Shepard’s America is vast and unforgiving, a terrain where emotional isolation mirrors physical distance, and where ‘home’ is an idea more than a destination.
A Lie of the Mind interrogates what it means to be a man in America, tracing how masculinity becomes entangled with nationalism, power, and violence. These inherited myths leave deep scars, particularly for women, who are burdened with carrying history and culture forward while too often absorbing the damage along the way.
Under Johann Walraven’s direction, Abaigh Curry, Amos Walker, Felicity Cribb, Finn Couzner, Indiana Jamie, Libby McAneney, Lily MacNevin, and Lisandro Garcia, will bring urgency and emotional clarity to Shepard’s uncompromising text.
A Lie of the Mind will emerge as a powerful meditation on disconnection – an exploration of how lies we inherit, and those we tell ourselves, can shape lives, families, and nations.
Director: Johann Walraven | Featuring: Abaigh Curry, Amos Walker, Felicity Cribb, Finn Couzner, Indiana Jamie, Libby McAneney, Lily MacNevin, Lisandro Garcia | Designer: Johann Walraven | Lighting Designer: Jay Murrin | Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley | Stage Manager/Operator: Ricci Costa
A Lie of the Mind
New Theatre, 542 King Street, Newtown
Season: 8 – 24 January 2026 (preview: 7 January)
Information and Bookings: www.newtheatre.org.au
Images: Light the Torch Productions presents A Lie of the Mind (supplied) | Director Johann Walraven with the Cast of A Lie of the Mind (supplied)