CREATIVE CUTS - A Maleny playwright’s play in Maleny!

Margery Forde has received several AWGIE Awards, the Trust Award for Excellence, the Playlab Award and the Centenary Medal for Services to Queensland Theatre. Margery, and her beloved late husband Michael’s commissions include La Boite, QPAT and the Queensland Music Festival. They won the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and received the Alan Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Margery to talk about her life and the writing of Snapshots from Home, which will be coming to the Maleny Playhouse in late April until early May.

Q The list of your writing achievements is very impressive. Have you also worked as an actor?

A I’ve appeared in many shows as an actor and singer. My first professional production was with the Queensland Theatre Company. It was also a Royal Command Performance. No pressure! I’m now touring in A Girl’s Guide to War, written by my daughter Katy and her partner Aleathea. 

Q Your husband Michael and yourself were very active in writing human interest stories. What drew you both to that?

A The first play I wrote from real life stories was Snapshots from Home. For me it was life changing. I just loved it. Since then, Mike and I continued to create theatre from real life stories, always being aware of the gift we were being given when people shared their stories with us.

Q When were you first approached to write Snapshots from Home? 

A In 1995 by QPAT’s Prime of Life Project, who commissioned me to write a theatre piece based on the wartime memories of men and women from Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. From 600 pages of interview transcripts, I chose stories to dramatise - honest, sad, heartbreaking and often hilariously funny stories of life on the home front in World War II.  

This play is close to my heart. I am thrilled that Maleny Players have included it in their season. (Painting of Margery Forde by Lara Cooper.)