Acclaimed company Here Theatre has returned with an ensemble of Tasmanian and Victorian theatre makers to develop Fahrenheit Ammonite, a world bending new play by Kit Lazaroo, directed by Dr Jane Woollard. Critics have long admired Lazaroo’s work, calling it “first rate, sometimes clever, sometimes truly inspired”, and “an exemplary demonstration of how theatre can be political and contemporary without being didactic or simplistic”.
At the centre of this imaginative work is Mildred Montag, the pill popping housewife from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, who has finally had enough of being written as the hero’s small brained spouse. When a talking rabbit patched into intergalactic radio frequencies appears, Mildred seizes the chance to escape the confines of the Western literary canon. She accepts a mission to retrieve her nemesis Clarisse from a distant corner of the Universe, and in doing so begins to peer into the worlds of feminist science fiction. Convinced that only a time loop can offer the liberation she craves, she sets out to find the portal that might rewrite her fate.
The play draws inspiration from Fahrenheit 451, Richard Adams’s Watership Down, and Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite. Lazaroo began the script as a retelling of Bradbury’s novel from Mildred’s perspective, imagining how she might resist the limitations imposed upon her by her creator, and what text she might choose as her own reason to survive. Into Mildred’s journey Lazaroo has woven Clover the Rabbit, and later the endangered Goth from the Planet Jeep, creating a tapestry of voices that challenge, subvert, and expand the canon.
“Underneath this world hopping, time bending narrative lies the question of knowledge and privilege, where the Western literary canon stands both as a mirror to humanity and a means of eclipsing the Other,” Lazaroo explains. “The interweaving of alternative perspectives takes us first to nature, and then to cosmology, as ways of articulating Mildred’s longing to go beyond herself.”
In an era marked by violence and the thirst for supremacy, the creative team sought to make a work that speaks instead of tenderness, vulnerability, and the desire to repair. Their development was selected for the esteemed La Mama Theatre Explorations season, which brought together experienced professional theatre makers with emerging performers, technicians, and sound designers from Naarm and Lutruwita.
Among the ensemble were Theatre and Performance alumni Scout MacDonald (BCA 2019) and Anna Barber (BFA Hons 2022), along with current BFA Honours student Matt Langham. All three shone throughout the project, performing with confidence, nuance, and generosity for Melbourne audiences.
Scout MacDonald, who has been working professionally since 2020, brought a wealth of experience from her consistent work with Terrapin and her international touring with the Bluey stage show. She is currently lead puppeteer and associate director of puppetry for Ilbijerri’s new work The Line, and was recently awarded Puppeteer of the Year at A Blanck Canvas’ Puppetry Awards (2026). For Anna and Matt, the project offered a fantastic opportunity to connect with Melbourne’s vibrant independent theatre scene, and to collaborate with established artists who welcomed their energy and insight.
Photo: Darren Gill
“La Mama’s Explorations program was an exceptional opportunity to develop and test new work,” says Dr Woollard. “It was meaningful to bring together recent Theatre and Performance graduates with my longstanding colleagues from the Melbourne independent theatre sector, to hurl ourselves at the work for three days and see where we landed. For me, I am still making new work.”
Lazaroo reflects on the process with equal admiration. “Developing this work with director Jane Woollard and our Explorations cast and creative team has been an experience of curiosity, craft, intuition, and empathy, as we explored the embodied voice and illuminated image in creative tension with the written word.”
Supported by the School of Creative and Performing Arts and La Mama Theatre, the team ventured boldly into time travel, language, and feminist science fiction, complete with ammonites, talking rabbits, and Fabulamilies, in their quest to create brave new theatre across Bass Strait.