My plays have been performed (or are to be performed) as part of the Legends of the Skies series at the National Aviation Museum, Moorabbin, VIC from 2014 to the present. They all deal with some aspect of Australian aviation history. It’s both exciting and challenging to perform against such a backdrop!
LEGENDS OF THE SKIES 2023
Those Splendid People
Bruce Lascelles was a decorated pilot, a POW, an active member of the camp escape committee – not to mention an escaper!
Old John
John Jackson was a World War Two pilot and Commander of 75 Squadron (aka Jackson’s Few), who valiantly held back Japanese attempts to capture the Allied air base in Port Moresby.
LEGENDS OF THE SKIES 2022
On His Majesty’s Secret Service
The story of Sidney Cotton – entrepreneur, inventor, aviator …. and spy!
The Flying Dressmaker
Eileen Steenson funded her dream to fly by working as a dressmaker! As a pilot in Papua New Guinea for many years, she braved challenging conditions, delivering humans, animals and assorted cargo to remote villages.
EARLIER PRODUCTIONS
Maurice Guillaux – LOTS 2014
The story of Maurice Guillaux, daredevil French pilot who delivered Australia’s first official airmail
Smithy – LOTS 2015
Charles Kingsford Smith’s legendary exploits.
Boomerang – LOTS 2016
The story of Friedrich (Fred) David, a Jewish aeronautical engineer. Fred fled Nazi Germany and Japan’s secret police only to end up in an internment camp in Victoria as a suspected enemy alien before being released to help the Australian war effort.
Lost in the Desert – LOTS 2016
A ballad. The sad story of pilot James Knight who came down in the desert. He scratched a message to his sweetheart on the fuselage of his aircraft before walking to his death.
A Sky Saga: the Story of Sir Thomas White – LOTS 2018
Tommy White, parliamentarian and son-in-law of Alfred Deakin, was one of the first pilots to train for the Australian Flying Corps. This play takes a humorous look at some of his WW1 exploits.
Black Magic – LOTS 2019 & 2022
Len Waters, the first Aboriginal military aviator.
I know where I’m going: the Peggy Kelman Story – LOTS 2019
Peggy Kelman defied convention to become one of Australia’s trail-blazing aviatrixes. With musical interludes!
Thirteen is lucky for some – LOTS 2020
Comedy: the story of WW1 reconnaissance pilot Eric Dibbs who survived 13 crashes.
Over the fields of France – LOTS 2020
In 1917, pilots James Sandy and Henry Hughes’s Reconnaissance Experimental 8 (RE8) went down in a field near Armentières.
Alison Knight, Author. 