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Highway of Lost Hearts

$23.99

A woman. A dog. A campervan. And 4,500 kms of wide open road.

Mot wakes up one morning to find that her heart is missing from her chest. She can breathe; she has a pulse—but she feels… nothing.

So, she decides to go and look for it. With her Dog enlisted as co-pilot, Mot heads down the Highway of Lost Hearts: into the deepest core of the Australian outback—navigating red dirt landscapes, fire and flood, brittle dry-ness, vast salt lakes, age-old mountains and murky waters filled with lost souls.

An allegory for a country that’s lost its heart, Highway of Lost Hearts is half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart. It leaves you pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to, in order to find it again?

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  • 1 female identifying
  • Currency Press


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Mot

Female | 40s | 5 to 10 minutes
Starts on page 1

EXTRACT: I wake up one morning to find that my heart is missing from my chest. I can breathe, I have a pulse, but I feel… nothing. So. I decide to go and look for it. I pack up my van, hoick the dog up into the passenger seat, and head down the Highway of Lost Hearts. And as I reach the outskirts of this city, I realise that my heart has been missing for some time. Or if not missing, then at least… empty. At Katherine, I stop for provisions.


AUDIO: HIGHWAY OF LOST HEARTS

MICHAEL CATHCART, ABC RADIO NATIONAL, 21 AUGUST 2012

"Many of us have done the big road trip, maybe to move house from Perth to Broome; explore the coast from Brisbane to Cairns or just to escape the city for the bush. One of the works premiering at the Darwin Festival today takes us on a road trip through the heart of Australia. It's a one-woman show called Highway of Lost Hearts, written and performed by Northern Territory writer Mary Anne Butler."

REVIEW: HIGHWAY OF LOST HEARTS REVIEW - A ROAD TO REDEMPTION

ALANNA MACLEAN, CANBERRA TIMES, 27 AUGUST 2014

"Mary Anne Butler gives her own script a performance that works its way gently into an absorbing piece about loss and change, the importance of country and the power of a journey."

REVIEW: LAUGHTER AND REDEMPTION IN ROAD-TRIP PLAY

HELEN MUSA, CITY NEWS, 27 AUGUST 2014

"Though the title of the play, “Highway of Lost Hearts,” is daunting, Butler and her director, Lee Lewis, ensure that only seconds pass before you recognise that redemption is only a matter of time for someone who delights in the companionship of her ageing canine friend with such tenderness that we catch a glimpse of her heart even before she does."

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