New Play, A Letter for Molly Explores Lineage of Strong Indigenous Women

A Letter for Molly. Courtesy of @ensembletheatre, 2022.

New play, A Letter for Molly written by Gumbaynggirr writer and actor Brittanie Shipway debuts this month in Sydney, running from May 9th to June 4th, 2022. The play explores the lineage of four generations of First Nations women, and stars an all-Indigenous cast.

A Letter for Molly follows the story of a young woman Renee, an artist who’s on the precipice of a life changing event. Searching for answers she looks to the past and four generations of women within her family. The play explores Indigenous culture and a long lineage of strong First Nations women. In Ensemble Theatre’s promotional (2022) video, playwright Brittanie Shipway talks about how A Letter for Molly celebrates the culture and wisdom of many generations of women: 

“I’m really passionate about culture being a celebratory thing, not something negative, or that causes trauma. So as Renee looks back to the past, and some of the issues that mothers and daughters have had in her family she decides to use culture as a way to heal the past and to move forward.”

Throughout the play, Renee’s vivacious best friend Nick helps keep her grounded as she faces a life-changing decision and navigates her relationships with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother. A Letter for Molly is described as a “celebration of culture that brings to light the importance of identity and the emotional power of a mother-daughter relationship” (Ensemble Theatre, 2022).

This unique piece of theatre will be showing at Ensemble Theatre in Sydney until June 4th. You can learn more and purchase tickets here.