11 Mar 2021

Surprisingly, the hardest part working on Dead Skin wasn't writing it, it was getting someone to read it.

When I set out to write Dead Skin, I was 17-years-old and I had never written a play before. I was getting straight B's in English and was constantly asked to conform to more traditional structures of creative writing. I even messaged NESA to ask if I could write a play in the English HSC exams, they said no.

But I knew what I was doing was important with Dead Skin, I knew my perspective was yet to be told. I'd seen countless "representations" of teenage girls as evil, sexualised, angsty or straight up aggressive with no character arch other than hating life (*cough, cough* to a particular contemporary british playwright).

I'd never heard of a play written by a queer teenager for queer teenagers so I wanted to write a play about love from the perspective of a 17-year-old. The way I viewed the world at this time was so intense, every moment was amplified and I wanted to convey those overwhelming feelings of bond, heartbreak and love I experienced as a teenager.

I also despised the lack of agency given to teenage girls in literature. In most of the works, I've read teenage girls were conveyed with as much ambition as objects who can be so naively influenced by others and usually end up in toxic relationships. I implemented this trope in Dead Skin to critique the toxicity of it all and give young characters who'd normally be known for their beauty or appeal the opportunity to have a voice.

That's how my play Dead Skin was birthed: two teeenagers working in the same convenience store at the same time in their lives, disconnected by time but connected through a bond, the maternal bond; when the world really does explode.

And now begins the retelling of the battle of a 17-year-old playwright versus the predominantely conservative male led theatre industry.

I sent my play to any person who would give me their email address, it got selected for a uni, then the play was kicked out of the program the week after for being too "controversial." 

I had lots of people ask to read Dead Skin and then never read it but I knew the story I had was good, if I kept bashing down doors... something would happen. 

I got into a playwright's program and it wasn't what it was all cracked up to be. People were rude, condescending and challenged my sexuality and queer identity. It wasn't until Dead Skin won the 2019 State Theatre Company of South Australia's Young Playwright's award that people started to take my work seriously. 

From there, Dead Skin got a staged reading at the Kings Cross Theatre's storytellers festival and ended up in the palms of Kim Hardwick, a prolific theatre director and one of the most amazing humans I've ever met.

It was Kim who read my work for what it was, a story of importance; a young voice representing all the young voices out there.

She didn't condescend or talk about my age.

Kim loved the story and gave me a pathway to tell it.

With all the odds against this work, Dead Skin became a published play and is currently in production for April at King Cross Theatre's.

This isn't because I'm overly talented at writing. This isn't because my mum knew Cate Blanchett's mum.

This is because people want to hear the stories of young queer people, from young queer people.

Ageism sucks, but there are people out there who want to give a platform to young people.

I knew I wanted to write something for my mum, something I could show her to convey the intensity of our bond. I also wanted to write something for other young people, to give them a voice onstage and encourage them to tell their own stories.

Regardless of what others say or how "bad" you think you are at writing. Whatever age, sexuality, race, gender you are. If you have a story or something to say, tell it.

Don't wait for permission.

My dream with Dead Skin is to have audiences filled with teenagers. If you'd like to see a work that was written for you, you can read more about the show here.

Dead Skin will be showing at Kings Cross Theatre on April 2nd til April 17th.

Written by Laneikka