David Williamson headlines Queensland Theatre’s 2023 season

They say you should not talk about politics or religion in mixed company but David Williamson ignores all that in his play Family Values, which is the perfect way for Queensland Theatre to start 2023, writes Phil Brown.

Australia's greatest playwright, David Williamson, will kick of Queensland Theatre’s season 2023. Picture: Justine Walpole

David Williamson breaks all the rules of polite society in his play Family Values, which kicks off Queensland Theatre’s season 2023.

Williamson, 80, has been doing that for decades as Australia’s greatest playwright.

He and wife Kristin have called Queensland home for the past couple of decades and he has a knack of skewering Australian society and politics.

QT’s season 2023 was launched on Sunday, and Williamson’s wickedly funny play, directed by Lee Lewis and Peter Kowitz, will kick off the year from January 28 to February 18 at the Bille Brown Theatre, South Brisbane.

It was first performed in Sydney in 2020 but the playwright says that “events have moved on since then so I’ve had the rare chance of updating it”.

Australia's greatest playwright, David Williamson, will kick of Queensland Theatre’s season 2023.

‘”We’ve had a change of government so that alters some things,” Williamson says. “But there hasn’t been a fundamental change in our treatment of refugees.

“The play reflects my anger at how we have treated them.”

But Williamson plays are never lectures, they manager to be entertaining and political but never overtly so.

Family values is about a retired supreme court judge who is having a 70th birthday party. His children have different points of view, one is a “happy-clapping” Hillsong Church member, another is an activist charged with hiding a refugee who has escaped and another a lesbian in love with a Border Force boat commander.

‘The poor old father’s party turns into a nightmare for him,” Williamson says and his audiences love that and have for decades with plays such as The Removalists, Don’s Party, Emerald City and many more.

Queensland Theatre’s artistic director Lee Lewis says the play by Williamson, who was until recently on the board at QT, is a good way to begin the year as he “casts a fierce yet comical eye over deeply divisive topics with insight and wit”.

After Covid and flood damage, Queensland Theatre artistic director Lee lewis can finally smile again as her season 2023 is launched.

“After the speed bumps of the last two year we are putting our foot down on the pedal and are heading towards that light at the end of the tunnel, a huge season of inspiring plays,” Lewis says.

Academy Award nominee Nia Vardalos(My Big Fat Greek Wedding) brings vulnerability, authenticity, and candour to the stage on June 17 with her adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’sNew York Times bestselling book Tiny Beautiful Things. That play opens June 17 and will be presented in conjunction with London-based Trish Wadley Productions. (Wadley is from Brisbane)

Tiny Beautiful Thingsfollows the life of Cheryl, a mother, writer and ex-heroin user, who now spends her days offering strangers advice by way of her adopted online identity, Sugar, an anonymous agony aunt.

US author Cheryl Strayed’s book Tiny Beautiful Things has been adapted for the stage in Queensland Theatre’s season 2023.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing this to life at Queensland Theatre and can’t wait for our audiences to experience it,” Lewis says.

Other plays explore First Nations issues, while Drizzle Boy depicts life and love through the eyes of an autistic protagonist.

Melanie Tate’s The Appleton Ladies’ Potatoe Race is a comedy set in rural Australia.

It wouldn’t be a season without some Shakespeare, and acclaimed Shakespearean director Damian Ryan brings a contemporary twist to As You Like It in May, which is being spruiked as “four weddings and an exile”.

For the full program, go to queenslandtheatre.com.au