The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race
Written by Melanie Tait
Directed by Priscilla Jackman
This new Australian comedy, featuring a cast of five fabulous women, is a funny, honest and heart-warming story about upsetting the potato cart and standing up for your principles.
"A very Australian, effervescently entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny new play with serious things to say and a gentle way of saying them."
Appleton is a small country town being forced into the present with a recent influx of wealthy city slickers, treechangers and refugees. Simmering tensions come to a head when new GP Penny Anderson discovers that the famous Appleton Potato Race awards $1000 prize money to men, and a measly $200 to women. When Penny decides to take steps to restore gender parity and coax Appleton into the 21st century, little could she have anticipated the spiralling, hilarious culture war that would follow.
Inspired by real life events and featuring a cast of five fabulous women, THE APPLETON LADIES’ POTATO RACE is a funny, honest and heart-warming story about upsetting the potato cart and standing up for your principles.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
This is a comedy about our relationship to both history and change. Through the lens of five female characters living in rural Australia we look in on ourselves as a nation. It’s a funny play with a huge heart that is not afraid to pack a punch. It is about rejection and acceptance; seeing the world as it really is, warts and all, and at the same time,daring to ask if it can be something more. We’ve been dreaming big through our little play.
Priscilla Jackman
TOURING IN 2021
Riverside Theatre Parramatta, NSW | Land of the Darug people
5 – 8 May | BOOK NOW
Dubbo Regional Convention Centre, NSW | Land of the Tubba-Gah & Wiradjuri people
11 May | BOOK NOW
Glen Street Theatre Belrose, NSW | Land of the Gai-mariagal people
13 – 16 May | BOOK NOW
Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool, NSW | Land of the Gunditjmara people
22 May BOOK NOW
Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, NSW | Land of the Wiradjuri people
25 May | BOOK NOW
Orange Civic Centre, NSW | Land of the Wiradjuri people
27 May | BOOK NOW
Wagga Wagga Civic Centre, NSW | Land of the Wiradjuri people
29 May | BOOK NOW
Tamworth Entertainment Venue, NSW Land of the Gamilaraay people
1 June | BOOK NOW
Canberra Theatre Centre, ACT | Land of the Ngunnawal people
3 – 5 June | BOOK NOW
Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, NSW | Land of the Dharawal and Yuun people
8 – 9 June | BOOK NOW
Joan Sutherland PAC, Penrith, NSW | Land of the Darug people
11 – 12 June | BOOK NOW
Mackay Entertainment & Convention Centre, QLD | Land of the Yuiberra people
17 June | BOOK NOW
Riverway Arts Centre, QLD | Land of the Bindal people
19 June | BOOK NOW
Previous Tour
May - June 2021
CREDITS
Playwright Melanie Tait
Director and Dramaturg Priscilla Jackman
Assistant Director Felicity Nicol
Dramaturg Jane Fitzgerald
Set Designer Michael Scott-Mitchell
Costume Designer Genevieve Graham
Lighting Designer Karen Norris
Composer and Sound Designer Tegan Nicholls
Stage Manager Lauren Tulloh
Touring Production Manager Tim Burns
Cast Valerie Bader, Merridy Eastman, Sapidah Kian, Amber McMahon, Sharon Millerchip
If you are interested in touring get in contact!
Arts on Tour
02 8038 1880
touring@artsontour.com.au
Arts on Tour is based in Redfern NSW and we respectfully acknowledge the Gadigal people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the unceded land on which we work.
As we tour artists and productions across these vast lands, we pay our respect to all First Nations Elders, past, present and future.
We celebrate their continuing connection and contribution to culture, country and community, and thank all First Nations peoples for their wisdom in caring for the land, the sky, the rivers and the sea.