A debt collector, a drag queen, a rogue chemist and a manic-depressive walk into a pub…

Red Line Productions is thrilled to present the world premiere of This Much Is True, written by one of Australia’s leading playwrights Louis Nowra, for a limited season at the Old Fitz Theatre from July 12.

This Much Is True continues the story of Lewis from Summer of the Aliens and Cosi. Now he’s older, a writer and lives in an inner-city suburb filled with public housing, the underclass and characters who could only exist in such a place. He attends the 150-year-old hotel, The Rising Sun, where he mixes with a core of customers, including an ice chemist, a once famous drag queen, a violent debt collector, a con man, a manic depressive and a fixer. These stories are true.

Acclaimed actor Toby Schmitz (Black Sails, Newton’s Law, The Rover) returns to the Old Fitz to direct a brilliant cast including Danny Adcock (The Dapto Chaser, The Moodys), Septimus Caton (Comedy of Errors, My Kitchen Rules), Joanna Downing (Between the Streetlight and the Moon, Hilt), Alan Dukes (Hay Fever, The Last Cab to Darwin), Robin Goldsworthy (Look Back in Anger, 80 Minutes No Interval), Martin Jacobs (Secret City, The Present), Ashley Lyons (The White Guard, The Removalists) and Justin Stewart Cotta (A Steady Rain, North By Northwest).  

This Much Is True is Louis Nowra’s first play since 2006 and is also the first play that Red Line Productions has commissioned. Nowra is a multi-award-winning playwright, novelist and screenwriter and his theatrical works have been performed by every major theatre company in Australia and include Summer of the Aliens, Cosi, The Golden Age, Inner Voices, Capricornia, Sunrise, and many more. His non-fiction book Woolloomooloo: A Biography that was released earlier this year can be considered a companion piece to This Much Is True, both featuring characters (or versions of) that Nowra has encountered while frequenting the Old Fitzroy Hotel.