Telling Australian stories in the musical form is just about the pinnacle of the kind of art I want to make. So when Australian director Grace Taylor and I both agreed that The Hatpin – an Australian musical written by James Millar and Peter Rutherford 15 years ago – needed a revival, we were off on an adventure.

Fast forward about a year, and we’ve just produced a first workshop for The Hatpin (London Revival), which involved working with James and Peter to distill the show down to a cast of seven female-identifying performers in an 80-minute chamber musical. The presentation at the Royal Academy of Music in July was a jubilant day, and we’re busy working on feedback and fundraising for a second workshop to lead into production in the UK, before bringing the show home to Australia.

What I think is especially important about the show – beyond building pathways for Australian work and artists in the UK (and in reverse) – is the story. The Hatpin (revival) tells the true story of five single mothers in newly federated Australia whose battle in a criminal court led to the country’s first fostering laws; it is the shoulders of these women that we stand on as we raise our children in Australia today. It’s a story worth remembering, and a modern Australia worth celebrating.

More to come very soon!