The Australian bush. A timeless world! Three children stumble upon a run-down orphanage. As they play ‘dress-ups’ with the tattered, disused clothing strewn before them, they are transformed, crossing the threshold into a spirit world of the abandoned orphanage. The children become residents of the institution. Under the heartless gaze of governess, Miss Emily Greenant, the changelings try to make sense of daily rituals but are haunted by the lingering voices from times past. To comfort each other, they tell stories and in the telling release the spirits of the orphanage’s trapped, forsaken children, one story at a time.

Evocative and poetic, Children of the Black Skirt is a beautifully crafted theatre experience that has enthralled audiences across the country since it was first performed twenty years ago. Stylistically, Children of the Black Skirt is a gothic fairytale and in the classic tradition of Australian Gothic Theatre, it recounts the dislocation of the Australian psyche, its unresolved tensions with its landscape, its bush panic and the stories of its lost children — abandoned, forgotten, stolen.

Written by one of Australia’s leading playwrights, Angela Betzien (Hoods, The Dark Room, The Hanging, ABC’s Total Control Seasons 1 & 2 ), Children of the Black Skirt weaves real stories into a powerful theatrical world that is at once poignant and deeply engaging.

Directed by Helen Strube
Featuring Lisa Hickey as The Black Skirt
Images by Naz Mulla