DAYLESFORD based producer and playwright Adam Fawcett is soaring to new heights as he puts the final touches on his first play.
Fawcett co-established not-for-profit independent theatre company Lab Kelpie six years ago. The company has produced a number of award winning plays across the nation and has taken some abroad.
And now he has taken on the role of writer. His first play, Become The One, was awarded a Playtime award for new queer writing through Gasworks, and will debut at the upcoming Melbourne Midsumma Festival.
“I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but it’s easier to start with producing work; learning how shows are put on and how they’re created, meeting with different creatives and seeing how the whole process works,” he said.
“To be at Midsumma is a dream come true - I really didn’t think when I put it in for a Playtime award that it would even get selected, let alone win, and that I would come back the next year to do a presentation.”
Become The One is a story about a secret relationship between an AFL player and an openly queer man, and explores all the challenges that ensue.
”Even though it surrounds the issue of football, that story of the first footballer to come out, it’s not really a play about football, for me, it’s a play about love and relationships and what it means to be truly brave,” he said.
“Everything I write has some kind of queer element or character in it. When I was growing up in Gippsland there was not a lot on TV for queer people, so it’s something that really interests me. I want to contribute to those kinds of stories by making them a real priority in my work.”
Fawcett champions Australian works through his company, Lab Kelpie, which he would like to re-locate to Daylesford to work with local creatives.
He said this would lessen the pressure, affording the opportunity to take more risks, make more mistakes without the pressure of so much competition and spend longer in the development period.
Become The One debuts on January 31 at Midsumma Festival.
