A frustrated insomniac writer acts out the epic journey of the New England whaling ship Catalpa. Becoming dozens of different characters he recreates the story of the most daring prison escape ever attempted. A little known chapter of Australian convict history, this richly lyrical one-man show builds into an astonishingly gripping tapestry. Catalpa by Donal O’Kelly is performed by Des Fleming, directed by Alice Bishop with live music and sound by Wally Gunn. "It's a triumph, a joy and a delight. I beg you to go and see it." The Irish Times "A masterpiece…of mind boggling versatility…a searingly satirical, comic, tragic, profoundly sensitive play…it is as though Hollywood had recruited Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce and Flann O’Brien to produce a script." The Scotsman Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick May 8th to May 18th Privacy Policy