Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Patricia Cornelius has been making theatre since the 1980s, but there are plenty of reasons why she’s nervous about her latest work. Truth is, she says, “the hardest thing I’ve ever done”.
It is essentially the story of Julian Assange, but told in such a way that five actors might be delivering his lines, some of them in unison, at any one time. There’s also the unnerving prospect that the man himself might turn up to see what this Malthouse production has made of his story. A mutual friend has made the WikiLeaks founder aware of the play, and though he has been keeping himself at a distance, Cornelius is alive to the possibility that he might be among the audience one night.
“I hope he comes,” she says. “It’d be hard. Imagine watching a play about you.
I might have to make a run for it.” Cornelius is one of Australia’s most lauded playwrights, with accolades including several Premier’s Literary Awards, Patrick White and Wal Cherry Awards, and a Green Room Lifetime Achievement Award. So you have to sit up and take notice when she describes Truth as her biggest challenge yet.
From left, Tomas Kantor, Susie Dee (seated), Emily Havea and Patricia Cornelius during rehearsals for Truth. Credit: Wayne Taylor “Stylistically I wasn’t interested in doing a naturalistic play, and in fact I’m shit at naturalism. I was thinking: how do I engage with all this material and .
