SPIT HOOD - context

I can now openly discuss the news that my play SPIT HOOD, has been shortlisted for The Queensland Theatre Company Premier's Drama Award.

It's been almost a year in the writing and I'm continuing to work on it as we move into 2022.

It is not my place to discuss the various cases that have led to the ban on spit hoods in Australia. Needless to say, It is an incredibly brave group of families that fight for justice every day.

I can only write from my experience as someone who worked briefly in the justice system, during the period when the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was in its infancy. I make no claim of knowledge or expertise. I was a Field Officer, whose job was to visit those arrested, often being the first call they made to the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement here in SA..

I also write from the first hand experience of my own family and close friends who have fought and are still fighting for fairness in a system that is hell bent on destroying us.

To our nations eternal shame, not much has changed. 

SPIT HOOD is about a mother and a son. It's a spiritual allegory and hopefully a clarion call to those in power.

One play will not make a difference. But it will add to the myriad of voices calling for change, equity and justice.

"He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn,
and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun."
Psalm 37:6