Publisher's synopsis
Leah Purcell, a proud Goa, Gunggari, Wakka Wakka Murri woman, is a multi-award-winning author, playwright, screenwriter, actor, director and producer.
The Drover’s Wife was first a play written by and starring Purcell, which premiered at Belvoir St Theatre in late 2016 and swept the board during the 2017 awards season, winning the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award for Playwriting and Book of the Year, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama and the Victorian Prize for Literature, the Australian Writers’ Guild Award for Best Stage Work, Major Work and the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, the Helpmann Award for Best Play and Best New Australian Work, and the Sydney–UNESCO City of Film Award.
In 2019 Leah adapted her play to the novel form in the fictional The Drover’s Wife (and we can expect a sequel).
The feature film adaptation of The Drover’s Wife, written, directed and starring Leah Purcell, is slated for a 2021 release.
LEAH PURCELL is a proud Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman from Queensland. She is an actor, writer and director. Her directing credits for Belvoir include Radiance (in which she also starred), Brothers Wreckand Don’t Take Your Love to Town (which she also co-adapted and starred in). Her other theatre credits as an actor include The Dark Room, Stuff Happens, Parramatta Girls, The Marriage of Figaro and Box the Pony (which she also co-wrote) (Belvoir); King Lear (Bell Shakespeare);Blood Wedding (Sydney Theatre Company); The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table (Griffin Theatre Company/HotHouse Theatre); and Beasty Girl: The Secret Life of Errol Flynn (Melbourne International Arts Festival). Leah co-directed this year’s acclaimed ABC series Cleverman and has just completed directing a new 7 Network/Screentime series called The Secret Daughter. She is also known for her writing and directing acrossRedfern Now Series 1 and 2, the children’s TV series My Place, and the award-winning short films She.Say and Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun. Her film and TV credits as an actor include Janet King, Black Comedy, Mary: The Making of a Princess, House of Hancock, Love Child, Last Cab to Darwin, The Darkside, My Mistress, Jindabyne, Lantana, The Proposition, Redfern Now, My Place, Love My Way, Starter Wife andPolice Rescue. She is also a best-selling author for her anthology Black Chicks Talking, which was turned into an IF Award-winning documentary. Leah’s other awards include the 2014 Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright’s Award, a 2013 AACTA Award for Best Female Actor in a TV Drama for Redfern Now, a Helpmann Award for Best Female Actor in a Play and Matilda Awards for Best Actress and Director for The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table, a Film Critics’ Circle Award and an IF Award for Lantana, two Actor of the Year and one Singer of the Year Deadly Awards, the inaugural Bob Maza Fellowship, and the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship for her artistic endeavours, community philanthropy and cultural activism. Leah is a proud member of Actors Equity.
