Bungendore history front and centre in new play

Posted on 25 May, 2022

One look inside the house at 21 Forster Street, Bungendore and it’s easy to see how this is a place that has lived many lives.

Rooms painted rich primary shades, thick velvet drapes, soaring ceilings giving way to stunning stained glass and a spiral staircase are some of your first hints that this has been the home of many interesting people over the course of its long life.

It’s this home’s 150-year history that inspired 21 Forster St, Kate Walder’s new play, that opens at The Q tonight.

Part of The Q’s new Q The Locals program, a new initiative that gives opportunities to artists and theatre makers from the surrounding regions, 21 Forster St focuses on Kate’s own relationship with the house, which was owned by her father until his recent passing.

Spending her father’s final days in the house by his side, Kate, a performer, director, and theatre-maker, says the play is a homage to his life and the history of his remarkable home.

“I have such fond memories of the final days with my father under the stained glass windows that he built for the house,” she says. “My father spent the days sharing stories and memories of a house that had become his pride and joy—the ghost that played in the hallways…the rumoured bone room under the mulberry tree.”

Kate was been joined on the creative team by John Shortis OAM, Bungendore local and one-half of the iconic Simpson and Shortis, as well as a host of other Canberra region creatives to bring this hyper-local production to life.

“Having John on board to create an original soundtrack for our theatre piece has been such a fantastic way to delve into the history that he can share about Bungendore” says Kate.

Artistic Director for The Q Jordan Best says this is a play with heart at its centre.

“The premise for 21 Forster St immediately struck me as incredibly unique, inspired and with great heart,” says Jordan. “Kate’s late father’s house not only has historical significance within the community, but by drawing on stories from its 150-year history the work will shine a light on the regional Australian home.”

“It is not hard to envisage theatre-goers in the Queanbeyan/Palerang community being excited by a high-quality work of theatre that incorporates their own histories, but also traverses deeply universal territory.”