Queensland Theatre has opened its 2021 season at full capacity in the Bille Brown Theatre with Thornton Wilder’s small-town American classic Our Town, directed by Artistic Director Lee Lewis. First performed in 1938 and awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Our Town follows the interlocking everyday lives of the citizens of fictional town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, between 1901 and 1913.

The cast of Our Town. Photograph © Pia Johnson

The main character of the play is the Stage Manager, who speaks directly to the audience as he shows them around the small community and introduces the other characters. The set is minimal, and miming replaces props in most instances, so the Stage Manager’s narration is an exercise in audience imagination. From the heliotropes in Mrs Gibbs’ garden to the mountain sunrise and the town’s many churches, Wilder’s script conjures clear imagery, painting the picture of idyllic American small-town life at the start of the 20th century. The play is divided into three acts – Daily Life, Love and Marriage, Death and Eternity – and focuses on the Gibbs and Webb families as children grow up, dreams are realised or put aside, babies...