Premiere of new Australian play TIM

Jeanette Cronin and Ben Goss
Photo credit Branco Gaica

TIM a novel written by Australian icon Colleen McCullough and adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tim McGarry, premiered at Glen Street Theatre on 28 July 2023. The play then tours to Wyong, Newcastle, Nowra, Penrith, Wollongong, Queanbeyan and Parramatta until 2 September.

Colleen McCullough is regarded as one of Australia’s most successful novelists, best known for her second novel The Thorn Birds and for her Masters of Rome series, a fictionalised account of Rome in the age of Julius Caesar. She remains one of Australia’s highest selling authors with over 80 million books sold worldwide, 30 million of which are for TIM, and translated into 30 plus languages. She penned TIM in 1974. First entitled Not the Full Quid, this beautiful work has spawned two movies, the first starring a very young Mel Gibson.

Her character Tim is a beautiful 25 - year-old labourer, with a mild intellectual disability. He has grown up in a small but loving working-class family who have tried to shelter him from the cruelness of the world but is often the brunt of ridicule by those around him, particularly his uncharitable work mates. Mary is a successful mid-50’s business executive with a belief she can live a happy and comfortable solitary existence without friendship or love. Drawn to each other from their first meeting, Mary hires Tim as a gardener. But as the two enjoy a growing friendship, suspicion arises in the minds of those who wish to protect Tim about Mary’s motivations. What began as a chance meeting between them, soon develops into a lifechanging relationship for both.

Whilst Tim’s disability is never labelled in the play, it is a constant, underlying theme, embedded in a story that explores the importance of embracing differences, opening oneself to the fullness of life and the opportunities it has to offer. Filled with notions of love, loss and acceptance, and set in the modern day, this seminal Australian story has been sensitively adapted for the stage by playwright Tim McGarry.

TIM features a stellar cast including Ben Goss, in the title role, a young man with a disability and recent graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts. Joining Ben on stage is Valerie Bader, Akkshey Caplash, Jeanette Cronin, Andrew McFarlane and Julia Robertson.

TIM is directed by Darren Yap, with Set Design by James Browne, Costume Design Lucy M Scott, Lighting Ben Hughes, Composer Max Lambert and Sound Design Zac Saric.

TIM is Produced by Christine Dunstan, Christine Dunstan Productions.

Bookings and tour information http://www.christinedunstan.com.au/tim/

• Glen Street Theatre, Belrose 28 – 30 July
• Art House, Wyong 2 August
• Civic Theatre, Newcastle 4 August
• Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, Nowra 9 & 10 August
• The Joan, Penrith 11 & 12 August
• Merrigong Theatre Company, Wollongong 16 – 19 August
• The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre 25 & 26 August
• Riverside Theatre, Parramatta 31 August – 2 September