Friday night came around, so after work Kim caught the train into the city and met me for tapas and a couple of great Jim Barry rieslings at Yak. Afterwards, we walked down to the Malthouse and saw a play – it had been ages since we last saw one. Maybe 8 years. The Black Swan of Trespass was based on the real-life Australian literary hoax of 1944. Two incensed, philistine Sydney students created the fictional character of Ern Malley and submitted silly, random poems to a leading literary editor of the time, who proclaimed them as works of genius. The hoaxers, posing as Ern’s sister, when asked to provide more input as to the life and background of Ern, faked a lifetime of unrequited love and a recent death due to Graves disease. I don’t know why I expected the play to be a straight re-enactment of the original story, because it wasn’t at all. The producers tried to imagine what Ern Malley would really have been like if he’d lived, and used a rooster and a cat to portray his inventors. Knowing this, I wish I’d read more about the story beforehand, as without it, you’d be hopelessly lost. The more I think about the show, the more amazing it seems in hindsight. Kim and I had a good old chat about it afterwards – trying to explain the various roles and the obsession with mosquitoes. I think we’ll be going to another play again soon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern_Malley 