For I am the captain of my ship, the master of my high-speed disco attack skateboard!
Rockhampton, 1970’s. Business shorts are in, shirts are nylon, skirts are high – as are the spirits of Rockhampton’s longest serving mayor.
Flush with victory against his most recent adversary, Rex Pilbeam stands poised for the next phase of his ambitious plan to transform a regional backwater into an oasis of modernity.
With his connections, cunning, and single-minded vision, the Emu Park alumnus resolves to drag his city into the future, whether Rockhampton likes it or not! But even Rex cannot predict just how successful this resolution will prove to be…
How will the man variously described as a ‘visionary’, ‘tyrant’, ‘rogue’, ‘chauvinist’, and the ‘rude, crude and unattractive best thing that ever happened to Rockhampton’ survive in an era where our tweets are our monuments, a hot take greater than riches?
Never letting the truth get in the way of a good story, Rex Pilbeam: Time Traveller is a work of speculative, historically inspired fiction that examines the ties that bind and the sides that divide us.
Through the eyes of a figure whose vision was his livelihood, we reimagine the region for what it was, is, and one day could be.
Creatives
Playwright: Jodie van de Wetering
Director: Ian Westley
Dramaturg: Jessica Lamb
Designers: Elizabeth Westley and Jordana Smith
Dramaturgical Mentor: Bridget Boyle
PAST EVENTS:
Work in Progress Reading 2, Saturday 2nd August, 2025
Performers: Clint Lennox, Esther Elder, Mackenzie Whatuira, Dana Bedward
Documentation: Blue Eagle Productions
Emu Park Cultural Hall
This creative development is delivered through JUTE Theatre Company’s DARTS initiative. DARTS is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, and has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. Midpoint Theatre Company thanks Livingstone Shire Council and Queensland Theatre for their in-kind support of this creative development project.
PAST EVENTS:
Work in Progress Reading 1, Saturday 18th January, 2025
Performers: Clint Lennox, Esther Elder, Jordana Smith, Kayla Kirk
Documentation: Blue Eagle Productions
RMOA – Rockhampton Museum of Art, 220 Quay Street
First developed through RMOA’s Artist in Residence Program (2024), Rex Pilbeam: Time Traveller has received support through the Regional Arts Development Fund, a partnership between the Queensland Government and Rockhampton Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
RMOA Artist in Residence is generously supported in partnership with Haymans Electrical.
This reading was delivered with the support of the Rockhampton Regional Council through the Regional Arts Development Program. The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and Rockhampton Regional Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.
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