my sister feather

A tale of survival, love, and loss by one of Melbourne’s most exciting new playwrights, the voice in my hands presents my sister feather – a powerful new work by playwright Olivia Satchell at the La Mama Courthouse from 31 May 2018.

It’s been decades since sisters Egg and Tilly have seen each other. Now middle-aged, one is serving out time in prison and the other has been given special permission to visit her. She’s here to deliver a letter from their mother who abandoned them when they were little girls.

Their mother who disappeared during a game of Hide and Seek. Their mother who has just died. Shifting between a stark prison centre and the shared childhood of two women, my sister feather is a compelling investigation of trauma and sisterhood.

“This is the second play in a trilogy of work that I’m writing about the relationship between grief, memory, and the female body,” says Playwright and Director Olivia Satchell. “In each play we meet a pair of women who are alone together in a public space. I’m inspired by spaces whose temporary nature allow the possibility of transformation to those meetings.”

“With my sister feather I was inspired by the closeness that my Mother has with her sisters, as well as my relationship with my own sister. I wanted to imagine what it would take to separate us and what that sort of loss would feel like. The play considers many different forms of loss and how they converge around loving somebody, but no longer being able to care for them. It’s about choosing to love somebody when all obligation to do so has been stripped away from you.”

A theatre-maker, writer, and dramaturg trained at the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Sydney, Olivia Satchell also heads the voice in my hands (VIMH); a Melbourne-based independent theatre company producing original new work and providing ongoing development opportunities for new writing for performance within the local theatre community.

Shortlisted for both the 2017 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights’ Award and the 2018 Max Afford Playwrights’ Award, my sister feather stars Emily Tomlins as Egg and Belinda McClory as Tilly, alongside some of Melbourne’s most exciting theatre makers.

Writer/Director: Olivia Satchell Featuring: Emily Tomlins, Belinda McClory Dramaturg: Emma Valente Sound Designer: Tom Backhaus Lighting Designer: Jason Crick Set and Costume Designer: James Lew Assistant Director: Fiona Spitzkowsky Stage Manager/Operator: Julian Dibley-Hall Producer: Anna Kennedy