BIRDCAGE THURSDAYS

$5.40 – $15.00

Belongings pile up as ageing mother Helene, her high achieving daughter Katherine (who also becomes her pet cockatiel) and case manager negotiate their way to an important inspection.

Set to a rhythm of telephone calls, bird calls, lawn bowls and dance moves, it is a physical work as much as a narrative about the underlying trauma experienced by a woman who has accumulated too many things, placing her family in crisis.

Through a series of clashes, a steady stream of negotiation which sometimes calls to question the notion of consent, Katherine strives to get her reluctant mother across the line, to avoid potential homelessness.

‘Her script is wonderful, a well-paced and managed story as familiar as it felt original. This was not a play about hoarding, but a play about the characters, and we cared.’ Kerith Manderson-Galvin, Planet Arts

"Sandra Fiona Long tells an authentic story of overconsumption as a substitute for loneliness." Theatre People

"It's an empathic engagement with the lived reality of, and complex psychological dynamics behind, hoarding behaviour – one that offers a compassionate, deeply imagined view of a difficult human situation." Cameron Woodhead, The Age

'This is a really contained, beautiful, neat piece of writing' Across the Aisle

'Birdcage Thursdays is a work of now, not of yesterday" Samsara Dunston, What did she think?

APT