Appleton Ladies Potato Race by Melanie Tait-Ensemble Theatre

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Director / Dramaturg Priscilla Jackman
Ensemble Theatre
Cast list: Sharon Millership, Valerie Bader Merridy Eastman, Sapidah Kian, Amber McMahon
Creative team: Michael Scott Mitchell (Designer), Karen Norris (Lighting Designer), Tegan Nicholls with Steve Francis (Composer & Sound Designer), Felicity Nicols (Assistant Director)

Crew: Simon Greer (Production Manager), Slade Blanch (Assistant Stage Manager), Nicole Robinson (Stage Manager)
Production & Workshop Photography: Phil Erbacher
Date: 22 March – 27 April 2019

About the project

Following a sell-out world premiere season at Ensemble Theatre in 2019 , Priscilla Jackman and the Appleton team remounted the production for a regional tour across NSW, ACT, Vic and Qld in 2021.

The Appleton Ladies Potato Race is a comedy about our relationship to both history and change. Through the lens of five female characters living in rural Australia we look in on ourselves as a nation. It’s a funny play with a huge heart that is not afraid to pack a punch. It is about rejection and acceptance; seeing the world as it really is, warts and all, and at the same time, daring to ask if it can be something more. We’ve been dreaming big through our little play.

In the 21st century, we, as Australians, are continually stepping-up to participate in global conversations, around privilege and gender parity – The Appleton Ladies Potato Race gently provokes conversation around owning and celebrating our past while continuing to question our relationship with generational and social/political change.

The Appleton Ladies Potato Race premiers at Ensemble Theatre in March 2019, to a sold out season. It is a play that will entertain, reflect who we are and also ask questions about who we are becoming as Australians. More than anything though, The Appleton Ladies Potato Race will be a cracking great night at the theatre!