Frances confronts the Governor’s family. Photo: Helen Drum.
Theatre / ”The Governor’s Family”, Canberra Repertory Society, at the Canberra Rep Theatre until July 17. Reviewed by
PHILLIP MACKENZIE.
Playwrights Conference in Canberra, followed in 1997 by a season at Belvoir Street.
Since then, the play seems to have faded into obscurity until Canberra Rep, directed by Tony Llewellyn-Jones, took it on last year – but, as a result of covid restrictions, held it over until now.
A gang-rape in 1886 Sydney ostensibly provides the historical basis of the play.
Public outrage ran high and most of the teenage culprits were hanged, while others received long prison sentences. The victim was subsequently taken into the Governor’s household; she later moved to New Zealand, where she died an early death.