Letters to Lindy

Alana Valentine

• Publisher: Currency Press
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781760620257
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Drama

'The most powerful thing that has been done on my story, and the most true to what I lived through.' — Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%The court case captivated a nation. A mother accused of murdering her child, her claim—that the baby was taken by a dingo—denied and discredited by zealous police and a flawed legal system. The media circus, the rumours, the nation's prejudices laid bare. And in the eye of the storm: Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Over three decades, from baby Azaria's death to the final coroner's report, the public's fascination with Lindy seldom waned. The National Library holds a collection of more than 20, 000 letters to Lindy. From sympathy to abuse, from marriage proposals to death threats, the correspondence traverses the gamut of responses to Lindy's story.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%Letters to Lindy draws on this correspondence and interviews with Lindy herself. It is an enthralling, revealing, and long overdue dialogue between Lindy and the nation; a portrait of the wisdom and resilience of a grieving mother.%##CHAR13##%%##CHAR13##%This powerful work by award-winning playwright Alana Valentine (Ladies Day, Parramatta Girls) explores the public's relationship with one of Australia's most iconic figures.

ACT TWO

The FIGURES are a singing and dancing chorus. LINDY is still in her prison dress.

KATH FISHER [FIGURE 1]: Dear Mrs Chamberlain, this is an official ‘cheering up’ type letter.

FIGURE 3: My washing isn’t Omo bright

FIGURE 2: My kids won’t stay asleep at night

FIGURE 3: I’m overweight

FIGURE 2: I hate my hair.

FIGURE 3: My dress is worn, no glamour there

FIGURE 2: The bills are always somehow paid

But there’s never any left … to … save.

ALL: [singing] I long to make my life complete

My youth escapes on fleeting feet

And though I love them earnestly

I need a little time … for … me.

KATH FISHER [FIGURE 1]: Thought I’d write you a letter. Don’t know why ’cause you’ll probably not get to read it. I bet you get thousands. I wrote to you recently in response to an article I intend to give to an ex-step mummy. What? Oh, ‘ex’ step mummy because my dad and her got divorced when he became a lady.

FIGURE 3: The house is full of persistent dust

FIGURE 2: And creeping toys that feel they must

Fill every room without a rest

FIGURE 3: I try I do I try my best

But I never seem to get jobs done

They keep on rising with … the … sun.

ALL: [singing] I long to make my life complete

My youth escapes on fleeting feet

And though I love them earnestly

I need a little time … for … me.

KATH FISHER [FIGURE 1]: We’ve got jelly beans and Smarties in the kitchen. When I walk in there they attack me and I must defend myself with my teeth. I went shopping for dresses last week. I usually fit into a sixteen or at least an eighteen, but I couldn’t even fit into a twenty. How many fat ladies have you seen with wafer thin hips?

FIGURE 2: Three children battle night and day

Demand attention right away

FIGURE 3: My friend had gained her B.S.C.

But all I’ve got is M.A.D.

FIGURE 2: Hubby’s in love with the TV set

‘Uh huh’ and grunt is all … I … get.

ALL: [singing] I long to make my life complete

My youth escapes on fleeting feet

And though I love them earnestly

I need a little time … for … me.

KATH FISHER [FIGURE 1]: Sincerely yours, Kath.

I write poetry. Can’t get it published though. I try.

But as I write from the perspective of an outer Western suburban neurotic housewife suffering from severe melancholy and verging on insanity, I don’t get many takers.

ALL: [singing] Whatever became of ‘being in love’

I guess the years gave that … the … shove.

I long to make my life complete

My youth escapes on fleeting feet

And though I love them earnestly

I need a little time for me

I long to make my life complete

My youth escapes on fleeting feet

And though I love them earnestly

I need a little time for me.

LINDY When I got this one I said to all the girls in jail, ‘Look what I’ve got’. We laughed, because I loved the ones who wrote to cheer me up, not just tell me how they felt. I mean they meant well and all of them, everyone who wrote, that was lovely, but the ones I really cherished were the ones who didn’t just want to tell me how much they pitied me or how sorry they felt for me. I mean think about it, being told you’re a Christian martyr and pitiable, and tragic, doesn’t exactly help you to get through the day! It’s all very well to say that I’m like Paul and Daniel and Job, try being told that when you’re trying to psych yourself up to get through another day in prison. Yeah, the letters I adored, and was really grateful for, were the ones that made me laugh.

ANONYMOUS [FIGURE 2]: What did the doorbell say to Lindy Chamberlain when she rang it?

Dingo dingo dingo.

ANONYMOUS [FIGURE 3]: What’s a baby in a pram next to a dingo?

Meals on Wheels.

ANONYMOUS [FIGURE 1]: What do vegetarian dingoes eat?

Cabbage Patch kids.

What is the definition of revenge?

ANONYMOUS [FIGURE 2]: A baby with a dingo in its mouth.

ANONYMOUS [FIGURE 3]: What is the natural enemy of a test-tube baby?

Dingo with a straw.

LINDY: Did you hear the one about the Irish dingo?

He was found in the Darwin Botanical Gardens eating Azaleas.

SCENE: LEAFLETING THE MALL

MAVIS is standing in the Darwin Mall, holding leaflets. MIKE passes her.

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: Can I give you one of these?

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: What is it, luv?

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: It’s a leaflet about how to help protest Lindy Chamberlain’s innocence.

He stops stone still.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: And why would I want to do that?

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: Okay.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: No, come on. Why?

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: You clearly believe she’s guilty.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: Not me, luv, that’d be the courts, that’d be the judicial system.

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: Well, I believe they’ve got it wrong.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: Well, I don’t believe a dingo can get a baby out of its jumpsuit by using scissors and then fold it up and leave it in a pile.

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: Okay.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: Well, okay is not exactly an answer, luv.

MAVIS [FIGURE 1]: There are answers to what you’re talking about but I’m not sure you want to be persuaded.

MIKE [FIGURE 3]: You calling me st...