The Kingdom of Eucalypts

The enigma of Miles Franklin
30 October To 17 November 2024

Miles Franklin returns to Sydney in 1932 after years in Chicago and London. She is still trying to get her books published, with little success. Frustrated by living with her elderly mother, the lack of money and feelings of failure, she struggles to reignite her fame as a twenty-year old when she wrote My Brilliant Career that captured the nation’s imagination.

Hope glimmers when Miles meets the mercurial publisher Inky Stephenson. They become firm friends, and he invites her to join his Yabber club of writers and progressive thinkers, A relief from caring for her elderly, demanding mother, it gives Miles a chance to be part of an influential circle. She ignores the warning signs of Inky’s outrageous ideas. His passion for Australians to create their own culture and break with Britain is more important to Miles, and she is still part of Inky’s circle as he begins his drift into dangerous politics.

Sarah Greenwood plays the young, idealistic Miles and Beth Daly is cast as the disillusioned older author in her 50s. Alice Livingstone takes on the role of Mile’s demanding elderly mother and James Coetzee is the romantic and passionate lover Edwin Brindle, who tries unsuccessfully to woo the independent young creative. Lloyd-Alison Young plays the publisher Inky Stephenson, a blustering, larger-than-life figure, who fails at everything he puts his hand to.

The Kingdom of Eucalypts takes place in the post-depression era, fascism is on the rise. As war gathers in Europe, the group segues into the fascist-leaning Australia First that looks to Hitler’s Germany as a model for strong leadership.

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