First Seen 2017: White Tulips

White Tulips by Heidi Silberman                                       

An intimate tale of two  sisters, Connie and Alicia, battling over memory, responsibility, and truth as they deal with the death of their father and their mother’s worsening dementia.

THE PLAY

Truth or lie. Dad knocked down a wall without even touching it.

Connie and Alicia have lived, quite contentedly, on opposite sides of the continent for half their lives. The sudden death of their father and their mother’s worsening dementia, however, mean a week-long return to their childhood home in Canberra. Their enforced co-habitation brings out the best and worst of their teenage selves as they battle over memory, responsibility, truth and ultimately the question of forgiveness. Connie, as older sister, lays claim to being right all the time – from the correct way to play drinking games to what really happened the day of her piano recital – while Ali feels the need to make her mark by redecorating, saying whatever is on her mind and questioning Connie’s immutable knowledge. And all the while Mum writes on post-it notes and counts biscuits, changed from the mother in their memories and now with a destructive and desperate need to be heard.

Director: Jordan Best

Cast Includes:  Anna Riddel, Emma Strand

Dramaturg: Peter Matheson

THE PLAYWRIGHT

Heidi Silberman is a Canberra based writer, director, performer and educator. Her short plays have been staged in festivals in Canberra, Sydney and Wagga Wagga. Her work in progress, White Tulips, was selected for The Street Theatre’s script development program, The Hive, in 2015. She has written for anthologies including The Sound of Silence (awarded the 2012 ACT Writing and Publishing Award for Non-fiction) and In God’s Hands (shortlisted for the Caleb Award for Poetry 2013). Her writing has also appeared online at Web Child, Her Canberra and Parenting Express.

Heidi has created and directed numerous improvised shows including Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, BrideSQUAD and Impro ACT’s first show for children, Once Upon A …. . She co-created, performed in and directed the unscripted work The Home Front, the only improvised work to have been selected for The Hive program. The Home Front went on to receive 4 and 5 star reviews at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and high acclaim for its Canberra season as well as being performed regionally. She has been performing improvised and scripted theatre for over 10 years, including many performances at Improvention - the international festival of improvised theatre. Heidi teaches drama and improvisation at the Canberra Academy of Dramatic Art and Impro ACT. Heidi’s alter ego is Dr Peek-a-boo, a Clown Doctor with The Humour Foundation, and she is co-founder of local theatre company Chrysalis Theatre.

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