Our History

No Strings Attached

8 – 24 Sep 1994

Bottom row: Margi Brown Ash, Karen Crone. Top row: , Sue Rider (director), Ingrid Mason, 1994
**Courtesy Sue Rider.**

Venue

La Boite Theatre, Brisbane

Producer

La Boite Theatre

Director

Sue Rider

Playwright

Hilary Beaton

Cast

Margi Brown Ash
Karen Crone
Ingrid Mason

Costume Designer

Christopher Smith

Set Designer

Christopher Smith

Lighting Designer

David Walters

No Strings Attached by Hilary Beaton

Sue Rider’s championing of new works by Queensland playwrights and new Australian plays became a feature of her artistic directorship and was unprecedented in the State’s cultural history. It gave the Company a market-enhancing profile that contributed substantially to its capacity to continue to move forward as a professional operation.

Her first foray into the development of new works was Hilary Beaton’s No Strings Attached. Published by Playlab Press to coincide with the play’s 1994 La Boite season, director Sue Rider said this play “was a fine example of the close work that can occur between a number of artists who believe in and are committed to the success of a new work”.[i] Critic Sue Gough called it “the best-crafted new play by a Queensland playwright in a long time”[ii] and the Matilda Award committee agreed – Hilary Beaton won a Matilda Award for her play, the first such award presented to a playwright.[iii]

Writer: Dr Christine Comans

[i] Artistic Report, March 27, 1995, Rider Private Collection.

[ii] The Bulletin/Newsweek Sept. 27, 1994.

[iii] 1994 Artistic Report, Rider Private Collection.