Little Girls Alone
in the Woods
by Morgan Rose
Canberra Youth Theatre
Canberra Theatre Centre 2021
Director Luke Rogers
Set Designer Aislinn King
Costume Designer Helen Wojtas
Lighting Designer Antony Hateley
Soudn Designer Marlene Radice
Assistant Directors Claire Holland & Holly Johnson
Stage Manager Rhiley Winnett
Cast
Roisin August
Persephone Bates d’Arbela
William Best
Imogen Bigsby-Chamberlin
Jade Breen
Ella Buckley
Rashmi Carruthers
Jemima Charles-Jones
Ayane Gallagher
Amy McAlister
Claire McCormack
Katie Marshall
Finn Mehlstaubler
Emily O’Mahoney
Juniper Potter
Tara Saxena
Kayla Silcock
Disa Swifte
Lily Welling
Photography Sam Kennedy-Hine
Maybe if I was older. Maybe if I was larger. Or smaller, or prettier, or uglier, or gruffer. Maybe if I was something else I would feel like I existed.
In an ordinary town, something is amiss. It’s not the maths exam the teens are about to fail, or the overdue essay, or even global warming. It’s a low buzz of anxiety, a quiet terror in the middle of the night. Girls have been going missing. No one knows if they’ve been taken, or if, for some reason, they have ventured into the bush themselves…
The adults aren’t taking any chances. A high fence is being erected. All young women are now required to be registered with the authorities and wear a tracking device. They will be monitored and controlled; they will be safe. But this thought will not leave the girls alone: I am my own person; take me seriously.
Little Girls Alone in the Woods is an inventive adaptation of The Bacchae that puts a contemporary feminist lens on the Greek legend of Dionysus. It dares us to go into the woods and seek out what knowledge lies beyond the border of respectability and rules. What new worlds await us?
Little Girls Alone in the Woods was a Canberra Youth Theatre production.
"Bold and impressive... confident, authentic and at times profoundly moving... Rogers’ direction is methodical, eliciting excellent and thoroughly convincing performances from his ensemble cast, while ensuring that the pace and impact of the work keeps the audience on tenterhooks"
– Peter Wilkins, Canberra Critics Circle
"a polished, stripped back production, firmly and imaginatively directed"
– Bill Stephens, Australian Arts Review
"With this production, Canberra Youth Theatre continues to provide a fertile community for young theatre professionals to nurture their talent, with a feminist interpretation of The Bacchae that explores the timeless tension between freedom and security, and the frustrations of youth governed by feckless adults"
– John Lombard, City News
