Constance Drinkwater and The Final Days of Somerset

It is 1899 and only the resolve of Lady Constance Drinkwater has kept the Far North Queensland settlement of Somerset from crumbling. Beset by storms, ill-luck and a mysterious disease that has killed all but two of Constance's children, it is the arrival of strangers - anthropologist Professor Cornelius Crabbe and his companion, Mr Hop Lee - that sets in motion the final catastrophic days of Somerset.

Stephen Carleton's award-winning play is a post-colonial melodrama, hilarious and sad in equal measure, and a proud addition to the growing genre of Australian gothic.

APT