Appearing on stage at The Theatre at 210 Petrie Terrace could not compare to the pressure of appearing on the High Court bench, but you won’t catch Ian Callinan treading the boards.
“If there is one thing that is certain, it is that unlike Alfred Hitchcock, I will not be making a cameo appearance,” said the softly-spoken former judge about his latest play, which will debut at the theatre next month.
Gold and Silver is the 87-year-old’s latest work to draw on his distinguished legal career, which includes nine years serving on the highest court in the land and 22 years at the Queensland Bar.
The six-show production is expected to challenge its audience to consider what really matters in the race toward the future.
“There are two themes to the play: a relationship between two people from two entirely different spheres which changes under various pressures to which it is subjected, and the benefits and perils of artificial intelligence,” Ian said.
“One of the parties is brilliant and a university gold medallist, and the other is a sprinter who comes second and is a silver medallist. Hence the title, Gold and Silver.”
Ian Callinan at the theatre.
Play director Blake Young, who is also a law student, has been working with Ian for more than a year on the independent production, which is now in rehearsals.
Blake said he was keen to share the play with the profession, many of whom would be familiar with Ian’s literary work which encompasses short stories, literary reviews, legal treatises and published novels, including The Lawyer and the Libertine, The Missing Masterpiece and The Coroner’s Case.
Gold and Silver may not be Ian’s last work. He said one of his childhood ambitions was to write a novel to rival those of Charkes Dickens; the other was to don the baggy green.
“Things turned out differently. Those ambitions were never realised. It is far too late and I was never good enough to play cricket for Australia but am still trying to write a book even though it never will be as good as David Copperfield,” he said.
Gold and Silver will run at the The Theatre at 210 Petrie Terrace from Thursday, 14 November, to Saturday, 23 November. Tickets here.
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