Blackrock (play)

Play by Nick Enright

Blackrock is a play by Australian playwright Nick Enright that was first performed in 1995. It was adapted from a 1992 play by Enright, A Property of the Clan, which was inspired by the murder of Leigh Leigh in Stockton, Australia in 1989. The plays were both well received critically but attracted criticism from both Leigh's family and the media because of the fictionalisation of an actual murder. Despite repeated statements from Enright that the plays were a work of fiction, they have both often been considered by viewers to be a factual account. A Property of the Clan was shortlisted for a New South Wales Premier's Literary Award in 1993, and Blackrock won the AWGIE Award for Best Play in 1996. Blackrock was developed into a feature film of the same name in 1997.

Blackrock is an Australian beachside working class suburb where surfing is popular among youths like Jared. He has his first serious girlfriend, Rachel, who comes from a much wealthier part of the city. One day Ricko, the local surfing legend, returns from an eleven month trip. Rachel's brother Toby holds his 18th birthday party at the local beach club a few days later, and Jared decides to merge a 'welcome home' party for Ricko with the event. The party is unsupervised, with alcohol freely available. The following morning, it is revealed that 15 year old Tracy Warner was killed at the party. Three youths from the party, Davo, Scott, and Toby, tell Ricko that they raped Tracy but left her alive. The three boys are later arrested for the sexual assault. Ricko confesses to Jared that he killed Tracy. He says he was attempting to have sex with her when she bit him and kicked him, so in a moment of rage he grabbed a rock and hit her with it. He has already told police that he was with Jared all night and asks Jared to confirm his alibi in the name of mateship. Jared is torn between telling the truth and protecting his friend. After witnessing Ricko's abusive behaviour towards their friend Tiffany, Jared decides to tell the truth. Ricko is detained by police and hangs himself in his cell. Jared's silence leads to the breakdown of his relationships with both Rachel and his mother, Diane. In the play's last scene Jared confesses to Diane that he witnessed the three youths raping Tracy, but he did not intervene. He is unsure why he did nothing but he believes it was out of loyalty to the boys who were his mates. Ricko left Jared a suicide note giving him his van, but Jared asks his cousin Cherie to dump the keys to the van in the ocean when she goes out surfing.

The play originated as Enright's A Property of the Clan, a theatre in education piece written for Freewheels Theatre in Education in Newcastle which premiered in 1992. Enright was approached by the director of Freewheels, Brian Joyce, who suggested the murder of Leigh Leigh as a subject for a play. Enright initially refused, but Joyce argued that the actual subject of the play would be the victim's peer groups. Enright agreed, after being convinced a play could be made out of the conflicting responses to the crime. The title was taken from a quote in the psychological report that was made on Mathew Webster, the man who murdered Leigh, in preparation for his trial. Leigh's mother Robyn objected to the fictionalisation of her daughter's murder, stating she would have preferred a documentary account. Enright stated that while the comparison to Leigh's murder was of interest to the media, the play was actually about how any group of boys abuse any girl, and how they came to do it. Nevertheless, many viewers considered the play to be a factual account of the murder. Despite the controversy, the play was shown at various high schools in the Newcastle area, and following its positive critical reception, was shown nationally at high schools across the country over a period of eighteen months. However Newcastle High School, where both Leigh and Webster had been students, declined to book the play. also shifting the plays focus. While A Property of the Clan focused on the possible motives for rape, Blackrock was said to focus on the boys involved in the crime, portraying them as victims of the society they live in. Blackrock was first performed at Wharf I, a theatre run by the Sydney Theatre Company, on 30 August 1995. It also played at the Australian Theatre Festival in Canberra that same year. Blackrock continued to be performed at the Sydney Theatre Company throughout 1995, and performed a sold out season at Wharf I in 1996. It has since had many productions throughout Australia, including being performed by a Newcastle based theatre company, Tantrum Theatre, in 2010. The 2010 version contained a few minor updates, such as referring to surfer Layne Beachley instead of Wendy Botha.

John McCallum from The Australian gave a favourable review of the play, also stating that the decision to transform the play from its original educational environment to a mainstream audience was a "bold move" that was "triumphantly successful." Blackrock won an AWGIE Award for Best Play in 1996. When the play was shown in Sydney, Joyce expressed disappointment at how it was misinterpreted as being about Leigh and "that community". quote|People came up to me after and said "Is it really like that in Newcastle?" I was very disheartened because I grew up on the Northern Beaches in Sydney and I didn't see it as any different whatsoever. It was happening 20 years ago when I was young. I remember there was violence, there was rape, there was party rape and there was party rape with alcohol and a lot of violence associated with that.|Brian Joyce prior to its decommission in 2016.

While the revisions to the play Blackrock were still being finalised, Enright started working with first time director Steven Vidler to produce a film version, which would also be titled Blackrock.