Crushed by Melita Rowston

I interviewed Melita when she was part of the emerging writers program at Griffin Theatre in around 2005 or 6 with Tommy Murphy, Jonathan Gavin and Caleb Lewis. I decided to interview them all as part of a course I was doing at UNSW with John McCallum to show how emerging writers were being supported or weren’t.

I’ve just read her play, Crushed again tonight and while there’s not a lot of movement in the play and I wonder to myself how it would look on stage, I really love her dialogue. She’s so sharp and witty and has such a huge bank of 80s references it draws me back into the day of Smurfette earings, The Sullivans and jazz ballet.

But the heavier theme of stranger danger borne out of the 80s kidnappings; kids being taken from the safety of their beds and how that might have affected an 80s child’s view of the world.

I see she's been part of the Off The Shelf readings at Queen Street Studios. I’d like to see her writing on stage somewhere soon.