david morton

If the border closures of the last two years have a silver lining for Australian artists and audiences, it must be the renewed focus on Australian work at our capital-city arts festivals.

This year's Brisbane Festival demonstrates what that kind of investment can achieve, with an array of world premieres gracing the city's stages, including Holding Achilles, Tiddas, Slow Boat and Othello.

“We had said to each other, if we don’t have anything at this date, we’ll put a pin in the company until we can find the energy and the passion to drive again.” 

Long before the global pandemic, award-winning theatre makers and global adventurers David Morton and Nicholas Paine of Dead Puppet Society were at a crossroads. Off the back of their most successful project ever – a world-first presentation of their acclaimed production The Wider Earth at London’s National History Museum – a new kind of exhaustion set in. 

“So tired we could barely function, Nick and I left London and headed to New York to try and find some brain and soul space… We didn’t really know where we wanted to go with the company.”

Giving themselves a strict deadline and ultimatum, the pair – both business partners and life partners – agreed that if they couldn’t land on the next creative idea with clarity and conviction, they’d put their 10-year-old company to rest. 

“We scared the living daylights out of each other just by saying that.” 

And thus Holding Achilles was born – a refreshing take on one of the ancient world’s best-known heroes and his relationship with Patroclus, his not-so-well-known lover. 

In this episode, Holding Achilles writer and director David Morton discusses modern storytellers’ tendency to glorify the blood and violence in Homer’s The Iliad, the oft-ignored human cost of major conflict, and his decision to never explicitly define the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus.  

“This is not another queer tragedy. It’s a tragedy with queer characters.” 

Brisbane Festival returns to fill the city with three weeks of wonder, delight and celebration from 2 – 24 September 2022. For information and tickets, visit brisbanefestival.com.au 

Beginners’ Call records on Turrbal and Yugerra country in Meanjin, Brisbane. Brisbane Festival recognises the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples play in our creative, artistic and celebration spaces and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.

Podcast Curator: Louise Bezzina (Brisbane Festival)

Podcast Guest: David Morton (Dead Puppet Society) 

Podcast Host: Adam Brunes (Aruga) 

Podcast Producer: Gilberto Castillo (The Podcast Boss)