Iron Lung Theatre

Night, Mother, the Pulitzer prize award-winning play by American playwright Marsha Norman, centres on a daughter, Jessie, and her mum, Thelma. It begins with Jessie stating that she wants to commit suicide, and they exchange dialogues, she reveals reasons for her decision, her life with her mum, and how she planned her own death. The play explores the themes of death and suicide.

This is the first production of Iron Lung Theatre in 2019. The production earned praises from both audiences and critics, and it put the production company on Melbourne’s theatre map.

Iron Lung Theatre is helmed by co-founders and artistic directors Esther Van Doornum and Briony Dunn. Both have worked excellently to establish their production. Briony directs and works with the creative team, and Esther works on marketing. Both studied at NIDA and met there.

Iron Lung Theatre’s latest show is Andrew Bovell’s award-winning drama, When the Rain Stops Falling. The play tackles on climate issues, and weaves a family drama that stretches from London in the 1960s to Australia in 2039.

Briony recalls how she wanted to direct the play. When she skimmed five pages of the script, she was immediately drawn, and sensed its “extraordinary breadth and depth and what it has to say.”

With their latest project, what can audiences expect, and what will they learn from the play? How can audiences be moved and take a stance on climate change?

Aside from the project, how did Iron Lung Theatre founders establish the company?

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