'A life worth living
'This is a vivid theatrical portrayal of one of our country’s most intriguing public figures.
'From the age of eight, Catherine McGregor knew she was a woman. But first she would have to live as a man. She played many parts: son, brother, husband, athlete, soldier, speech writer. She worked in professions full of machismo, inside institutions built by men.
'Every day was a challenge, and every challenge took its toll. In 2012, aged 56, McGregor faced a turning point: end her life, or transition as a woman.
'Drawn directly from countless hours of interviews with McGregor, Still Point Turning tells her story in her own words. It reveals a woman of fierce intellect, passion, incisive humour and profound feeling. It celebrates her tenacity without shying away from her faults. It is the true story of her true self.
'Writer/director Priscilla Jackman, in her STC debut, has assembled a magnificent cast, led by Heather Mitchell (Cloud Nine) as Catherine, to bring this moving and timely true story to the stage.
'"And I arrived at the same point every trans person does. If I am to live on, it would be as the person I felt myself to be, or I would die." Catherine McGregor'
Source: STC
World premiere, Sydney Theatre company (21 April to 26 May 2018).
Director: Priscilla Jackson.
Designer: Michael Scott-Mitchell.
Lighting Designer: Nick Schlieper.
Composer & Sound Designer: Steve Francis.
Consultant: Kelly Glanney.
With Nicholas Brown, Helen Christinson, Andrew Guy, and Heather Mitchell.
'In the introduction to her seminal memoir of life as a transgender person, Conundrum (1974), the author Jan Morris makes it clear that she is not concerned with merely narrating the facts of her condition. ‘What was important’ to relate ‘was the liberty of us all to live as we wished to live, to love however we wanted to love, and to know ourselves, however peculiar, disconcerting or unclassifiable, at one with the gods and angels.'' (Introduction)
'“The unifying trans experience is rejection and repudiation.” So says Cate McGregor’s character in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story.' (Introduction)
'“The unifying trans experience is rejection and repudiation.” So says Cate McGregor’s character in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story.' (Introduction)
'In the introduction to her seminal memoir of life as a transgender person, Conundrum (1974), the author Jan Morris makes it clear that she is not concerned with merely narrating the facts of her condition. ‘What was important’ to relate ‘was the liberty of us all to live as we wished to live, to love however we wanted to love, and to know ourselves, however peculiar, disconcerting or unclassifiable, at one with the gods and angels.'' (Introduction)
