Type – Australian classic, Historic Fiction, Novel to Stage Adaptation,
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The Shiralee: A stellar ensemble captivates in a vastly designed production that’s sure to be an Australian classic
Shiralee: colloquial Australian term, referring to a swaggies’ burden – primarily a blanket roll and pack carried around their neck.
Seventy years on from its publishing, Kate Mulvany has adapted D’arcy Niland’s Australian classic novel for the stage as the final part in her trilogy of Australian novel-to-stage adaptations with Sydney Theatre Company. The Shiralee is set in 1930s rural Australia during a time when a third of the country’s population was unemployed and poverty was rife. Some took to the road, walking from station to station facing extreme weather and isolation in search of food and shelter and hopefully a small wage.
After finding his estranged wife in bed with another man and his 9-year-old daughter Buster nearby, sedated in a drugged and boozy haze, Macauley snatches her up and takes her on the road with him. He quickly realises he’s not equipped to look after a kid, and the onset of parental responsibility forces him to look inward and challenge his own demons – the ones that keep him so isolated.
Mulvany‘s Writing
The adaptation pushes out the walls of Macauley’s inner world and presents the story through his daughter’s eyes. Mulvany says, “I wanted to significantly shift the lens to instead see what Buster teaches her father in their time together.” Mac and Buster cross the highways and byways of NSW, passing through Grafton, Coonamble, Collarenebri and Sydney, meeting numerous characters along the way. The rest of the cast each play multiple characters; from shopkeepers to farmers, lovers, police officers, and bush poets.
Mulvany’s adaptation gives more agency to women, as well as depth, context and nuance to characters that likely wouldn’t have been written about so freely at the time – including a gay bush-poet, people of colour and a female swaggie. This shift in perspective doesn’t shy away from the violence or misogyny of Niland’s writing but uses the lens to explore its impact, as well as reflecting on what misogyny and identity looks like today, almost a century on.
A Captivating Production
Jeremy Allen’s set is rich yet sparce, concisely conveying the harshness and brutality, but also the beauty and magic of the Australian outback. Wooden floorboards create the dusty, red earth and barren open road, there are towering ghost gums that are rolled on and off the stage, a hand operated water pump and real campfires flip out from the floorboards, as well as a shopfront and pub setting. Whether grey and pouring with rain, moonlit under the stars, or soaked in sun-scorched light, the horizon doesn’t move which helps to keep the shifts in action and location seamless.
Trent Suidgeest’s lighting expertly embodies the Australian outback, as well as heightening the textural richness and harsh, unforgiving themes in the work and creating so much life in the darkness and shadows. Jessica Dunn’s sound design is deeply evocative – a soundscape filled with unsettling and unresolved cadences on out of tune piano paired with dissonant, jarring lower strings and thumping drum of heart beats. Throughout, Jessica Arthur’s direction leans into the funny and playful, balancing the relatively depressing storyline with heart, humility and humour.
A Stellar Ensemble
Josh McConville‘s Macauley is consistently engrossing – an intense and wounded, hot-tempered soul that pushes people away as a means of protecting himself from thinking or feeling too much; “there’s no crying on the road, so stop”. McConville embodies a rumbling of brute and anger which feels like it could erupt at any moment. His physicality, emotional range and depth make for a multifaceted and extremely moving performance.
Casting an adult in a child role is a risky move – it’s so easy to fall into a one-dimensional caricature that undermines how precocious, annoying, funny, observant, tiring and clever kids can be. In an epic STC debut, Ziggy Resnick portrays (almost) ten-year-old Buster with the utmost believability. Beautifully imbuing the genuine un-self-consciousness that only kids have, Resnick’s characterisation is tenacious and endearing, her love so pure it felt like it could heal the cracks in not just her dad’s heart but also in the community around her.
Much of the success of this production lies in the chemistry between McConville and Resnick which feels richly authentic and layered. His annoyance at her need for attention and constant chatter is palpable, and her ignorance to his discomfort around these never-before-experienced parental responsibilities is hilarious.
Kate Mulvany is brittle and fierce as Marge (Macauley’s wife). Her humanity still shines through and it becomes clear her hardened outer is a reflection of the difficult life she’s survived and her desperation to keep a roof over her head in Kings Cross. The cast is rounded out by Catherine Văn-Davies as Lily, Mac’s first love and Aaron Pederson as blind, indigenous storyteller Tommy who describes opals as below-ground rainbows. Lucia Mastrantone, Stephen Anderson and Paul Capsis bring comedy and depth to their many characters – the eight-strong cast form an extremely cohesive and stellar ensemble.
Is The Shiralee Worth Seeing in Sydney?
The creative elements of Sydney Theatre Company’s The Shiralee are woven together harmoniously and successfully. The creative team have crafted a cinematic, absorbing, powerful and heartfelt production that weaves a rich tapestry of 20th century Australian history. With writing and performances so multidimensional and vivid, it’s hard not to love even the most hot-tempered and severe characters. The Shiralee is an ode to single parenting and challenging family relationships, it’s an exploration of gender, identity and masculinity in our culture and sure to become a future Australian theatre classic.
Tickets and Practical Info for THE SHIRALEE in SYDNEY 🎟️
Playing in the Drama Theatre at Sydney Opera House until November 29, 2025
Approx. duration 2 hr 30 mins, including interval.
Content Strong language, mature themes including violence, description of miscarriage, alcohol and drug addiction, theatrical blood, theatrical haze and dust effects, herbal cigarettes, flashing light effects, complete blackout. Insert dates, times, ticket prices, cast & creatives etc.
Director Jessica Arthur
Designer Jeremy Allen
Lighting Designer Trent Suidgeest
Composer & Sound Designer Jessica Dunn
Assistant Director Guy Simon
Dramaturg Kip Williams
Cultural Advisor Matthew Doyle
Fight & Safety Director Tim Dashwood
Music Rehearsal Associate Victoria Falconer
Intimacy Coordinator Chloë Dallimore
Voice & Text Director Charmian Gradwell
With
Stephen Anderson
Paul Capsis
Lucia Mastrantone
Josh McConville
Kate Mulvany
Aaron Pedersen
Ziggy Resnick
Catherine Văn-Davies
