Blackrock (play)

"Blackrock" is a play by Australian playwright Nick Enright (1950-2003). It was inspired by the real-life rape and murder of schoolgirl Leigh Leigh in Stockton, near Newcastle, Australia on November 3, 1989.

It won the 1998 AWGIE Award (Australian Writers' Guild) for Best Play.

Origins

The play had its origin in 1992 as Enright's "A Property of the Clan", a theatre-in-education piece written for Freewheels Theatre in Education in Newcastle, NSW. Enright subsequently developed it at Sydney Theatre Company into "Blackrock". While the new play retained at least three of the main characters, the narrative and emphasis were reshaped for an audience outside of a specifically educational environment.

Synopsis

"Blackrock" was set in a fictional Australian beachside working-class suburb called Blackrock, where surfing was popular among youths like Jared. He had his first serious girlfriend, Rachel, who came from a much wealthier part of the city. One day Ricko, the local surfing legend, came back after an eleven-month odessey, and Jared gave him a 'welcome home' party at the local surf club. Unsupervised and with alcohol freely available, tragedy soon arrived - Jared witnessed a girl called Tracy being raped by three youths (Davo; Scott; and Toby, Rachel's brother), and murdered by Ricko with a rock. And Jared did nothing to stop the attacks.

Ricko and the community - would soon be scrutinized by news bulletins across the nation. The locals reacted differently: The surfers continued their lives as if nothing had happened. Cherie, who also happened to be Jared's cousin, resorted to violent behaviours; Rachel had to face the news that her brother Toby was one of the accused. Jared was torn between the need to reveal what he saw for the sake of justice, and the desire to protect Ricko, Toby and the other rapists in the name of 'mateship'. His silence eventually led to the breakdown of his relationships, not only with Rachel, but also with his mother Diane, who was recovering from breast cancer...

Production

"Blackrock" was premiered by Sydney Theatre Company in a production by David Berthold in 1995. The production starred Joel Edgerton, Simon Lyndon, Dan Wyllie, Angela Punch McGregor, Paul Bishop and Kym Wilson. It was revived by STC in 1996 and played at the Australian Theatre Festival in Canberra. It has since had more many productions throughout Australia. It is published by Currency Press.

The play was also developed as a movie, also called "Blackrock", starring Laurence Breuls, Linda Cropper & Simon Lyndon. The movie was premiered at Sundance Film Festival in the USA before being released across Australia in 1997. Nominated for 5 AFI Awards including Best Film, winner of Australian Writers' Guild Award (Feature Film - Adaptation) in 1997, and nominated for a number of others.