The Drawer Boy​

by Michael Healey

Directed by Zac Bridgman

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Season: 21-30 August, 2025

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The Mockingbird Studio, Belconnen Arts Centre

This brilliantly touching and often hilarious multi-award-winning play follows Miles, a young actor from the big city who moves in with two friends, Morgan and Angus, aging bachelor farmers, to do research for a new play. Intrigued by the puzzling Angus who suffered brain damage during World War II, and gently tormented by Morgan because of his ignorance of all things rural, Miles attempts to integrate himself into farm life with varying success. Desperate for material, Miles includes an overheard story in his play, unwittingly breaking open the fragile pattern of the farmers’ lives.

A modern classic of Canadian theatre, The Drawer Boy is an elegant testimony to the transcendent nature of fiction and the healing power of truth.

Winner of the Canadian Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and the Chalmers Canadian Play Award.

“Far and away the finest new Canadian drama…richly textured, The Drawer Boy touches the heart and mind in equal measure” – Toronto Star

“Wonderfully understated. Funny and deeply affecting” – Toronto Sun

“Healey’s created a magnificent work, rich in compassion and universal in scope” – NOW

“Sheer magic…a moving tribute to art’s healing power…the crowd stormed to its feet, cheering with an enthusiasm usually found only at rock concerts” – Maclean’s

“The Drawer Boy is a beautifully written play. It moves from toughness and hilarity to something devastating and tender” – Michael Ondaatje

Great Plays. Great Actors. Great Stories. Mockingbird Theatre is an award-winning (Canberra Critics Circle – The Laramie Project plays) Canberra-based theatre company bringing discerning audiences the best text-based 20th and 21st Century plays from around the world. Utilising the talents of Canberra’s experienced and emerging theatrical talents, Mockingbird Theatre’s mission is to move, thrill, entertain and to create theatrical magic that will touch the soul.

From the Director:

The best stories are grounded in reality, and Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy is no exception. It’s a two-act play set in 1972 on a farm near Clinton, Ontario with only three characters: the farm’s two owners, Morgan and Angus, and Miles, a young actor from Toronto doing research for a collectively created theatre piece about farming. And it just so happens that in the 1970s a group of actors, including The Drawer Boy‘s original director, Miles Potter (who the character of Miles is loosely based on), headed into the rural heartland of southern Ontario and, after interviewing local farmers and their families, created a landmark Canadian theatrical event: The Farm Show. Almost two and a half decades later, Michael Healey went to work as an actor at the Blyth Festival and came into contact with many of the farmers and members of the local community whose stories had served as inspiration for The Farm Show. The longevity of the impact of that experience, in turn, inspired the playwright to write his tribute to the power of performance, The Drawer Boy, a celebration of alternative Canadian theatre and the true meaning of deep, decade-spanning friendship.

And so, it with much excitement that we are pleased to present Mockingbird’s fourth official production as the theatre-company-in-residence at the beautiful Belconnen Arts Centre. You will be effortlessly transported a 1972 farm in Ontario, Canada due to Chris Baldock’s powerfully imaginative set design, and Rhiley Winnett’s exceptional lighting and sound expertise. It was not so long ago that I had the privilege to direct the comedic chameleon Callum Doherty in Mockingbird’s rendition of the one-man show Fully Committed, which meant I felt extremely lucky to direct not one, not two, but three extremely talented performers (one of which is the same charismatic Callum himself) in tonight’s show. Richard Manning’s stoic and subtly playful Morgan is powerful, and Chris’s giddy and child-like Angus is an absolute delight. Callum’s wickedly curious Miles rounds out our awesome trio who will blow you away with their exceptionally committed performances. Famed Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot once said “I have just a really strong love for people when I perform”, and Michael Healy’s The Drawer Boy shows us that love through performance can be truly powerful, mysterious, and transcendent. So, sit back and prepare to laugh and cry as you discover this remarkable play. Our heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone at the Belco Arts Centre and you, the Canberran community, for your endless love and support.

The Drawer Boy was originally produced at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto in February 1999

The Drawer Boy is staged by arrangement with Pam Winter, GGA, www.ggagency.ca.

Setting: Ontario, Canada. 1972

The performance will run for approximately 140 minutes with a 20 minute interval

CAST: (in order of appearance)

Angus – Chris Baldock

Miles – Callum Doherty

Morgan – Richard Manning

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Director – Zac Bridgman

Stage Manager – Rhiley Winnett

Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Zac Bridgman

Sound Design – Rhiley Winnett, Zac Bridgman and Chris Baldock

Set Design – Chris Baldock

Set Realisation – Chris Baldock, Richard Manning, cast and crew

Projections – Chris Baldock

Projection, Sound & Lighting Operation – Rhiley Winnett

Costumes – Cast

Props – Chris Baldock, Richard Manning, cast and crew

Publicity – Chris Baldock

FOR MOCKINGBIRD THEATRICS:

Artistic Director & Head Tutor – Chris Baldock

Technical Manager – Rhiley Winnett

Publicity, Graphics and Photography – Chris Baldock

Associate Directors – Zac Bridgman, Steph Evans, Céline Oudin

Associate Tutor – Ruth Pieloor

Patron: Liz St Clair Long

THANKS TO:

Anni, Shan & the Belconnen Arts Centre staff, City News & Helen Musa, ABC Radio Canberra, Steph Evans, ANU Shakespeare Society, Canberra Critics Circle, ArtsSound, Living Arts Canberra, HerCanberra

REVIEWS:

http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-drawer-boy.html

http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-drawer-boy_27.html

https://citynews.com.au/2025/an-absorbing-play-of-loss-and-love/

https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/drawer-boy-0

PRODUCTION PHOTOS  AT BOTTOM OF PAGE – PLEASE SCROLL DOWN

Angus – Chris Baldock

A multi-award winning actor, director and designer, Chris’ onstage roles has been as varied as Gabriel York in Mockingbird’s recent When The Rain Stops Falling, Oscar Wilde in both The Judas Kiss and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Jack in Queers, various characters in The Laramie Project Plays, Ronald in Absurd Person Singular, Roo in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Gene in Side Man (Victorian Drama League Award – Best Actor in a Drama), Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men, The Actor in The Woman in Black, both Roy and Henry in Cosi, George IV in The Madness of George III, The Bullfrog in Honk!, Tom in Farragut North, Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar, Ian in The Other Place, Michel in God of Carnage, Mathew in Scenes From A Separation, The Duke in Big River, Snoopy in both You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy! The Musical, Arkady in A Month In The Country, Peck in How I Learned To Drive, Moonface Martin in Anything Goes, Lennie in Of Mice and Men and The Dentist (and others) in the NZ premiere of Little Shop of Horrors + many, many more. He worked at the The Street developing Clean, a play detailing the history of the AIDS epidemic in Canberra. His voice can be heard as part of the permanent In Their Own Words exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery. He also role-plays for counselling student assessments at CIT. Chris is the owner and Artistic Director of Mockingbird Theatrics.

Miles – Callum Doherty

Callum Doherty is an actor, former Mockingbird student and fashion icon. A NIDA auditionee, he has been described by critics as “the wild-haired young man” (McKone 2025), “trying too hard to be funny” (Power 2023), and “disconcerting” (Tolhurst 2017). Select performance credits include Present Laughter; The Forsaken (both ACT Hub); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time; Fully Committed (both Mockingbird Theatre Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; This Changes Everything (both Echo Theatre); The Inheritance (Everyman Theatre); Away; The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] (both Canberra REP); Rosieville; How to Vote! (both Canberra Youth Theatre); Jasper Jones (Budding Theatre); The Full Monty (SUPA Productions); Strictly Ballroom (Canberra Philharmonic Society); The Addams Family (The Q); The Music Man (Queanbeyan Players); and Mary Poppins (Free Rain Theatre). Callum was the Assistant Director of Puffs and God of Carnage (both Echo Theatre) and has also performed through the Canberra Comedy Festival and Starlight Children’s Foundation. He won an Ovations Award for Outstanding Lead Performance for The Complete Works… and is a five time CAT Award loser.

Morgan – Richard Manning

Richard has been involved in various creative endeavours over a number of years. He has played guitar in Rock, Blues and Jazz bands, including The Blamey Street Big Band and 70s funk band Turner’s Antidote. He has also played guitar in a number of musicals, such as Cats (ANU), Spring Awakening (Phoenix Players), Godspell and Hello Dolly (Queanbeyan Players).

Richard spent much of his working life as a drama teacher at Canberra schools, having directed Year 10 and 12 students in plays as diverse as Royal Hunt of the Sun, A Clockwork Orange, Blackrock, The Golden Age and Dust.

Since retiring in 2018 he has performed above stage as Clyde Cameron in A Deadly Game of Marbles at Old Parliament House; Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Canberra REP); Ray in Ruben Guthrie (Wander Theatre), where his performance earned an Ovations nomination; Alan in Rosieville (Canberra Youth Theatre); Lord Burleigh in Mary Stuart (Chaika Theatre); Steve in August – Osage County (Free Rain Theatre); Ed in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mockingbird Theatre) and now as Morgan.

Now let’s talk about golf……..!

Zac Bridgman – Director

From a young age, Zac has always had a strong desire to tell other people what to do, a desire that has managed to last well into adulthood, as he now relishes the chance to tell the heart-warming and comedic trio of Chris Baldock, Callum Doherty, and Richard Manning what to do on stage.

An original obsessive of film, theatre, and all things creative, Zac spent most of his childhood lost in imagined worlds of wonder. Now all grown up and working in a delightfully dreary office job, he has slowly returned to a more creative world. Four years ago he was lucky enough to have Mockingbird enter his life (or was it the other way around?) and provide boundless opportunities to grow as an actor and director under the wise guidance of Chris, who has since tried his best to teach him everything he knows. It was at Mockingbird that he first met Callum and thought “Man, he could play AT LEAST 40 more characters” before directing all 40 in Mockingbird’s rendition of Fully Committed. Zac partly directed a Mockingbird showcase of Every Brilliant Thing, before turning his sights to that more challenging project. He was also fortunate enough to lose many friends and the trust of the general public by playing the complicated father figure of Henry Law in Mockingbird’s run of When The Rain Stops Falling this year. 

He has directed, written, and acted in various short films, including an APS comedy/sci-fi short-film DEAD, a romantic zombie comedy (Zom-Com) Till Undeath, and a horror/thriller They’re Ready For You (which was filmed in this very theatre). All were top 12 finalists in the Lights! Canberra! Action! Short film competition and all were award-winning. He has also acted in or worked on many various film projects around Canberra (you can even catch a tiny glimpse of his blazer in the background of an Art Gallery in the comedy TV show Austin on ABC!)

It is now with giddy abandon that he is delighted to bring laughter, joy, and hope into your life with The Drawer Boy! It’s a mysterious and funny journey that showcases the power of memory, friendship, and performance, along with a few fascinating facts and figures for a touch of agricultural education and beautiful rendition of a cow called Daisy. He is more than happy to take all the credit for directing the charismatic Chris, riotous Richard, and charming Callum in performances that will blow you away. And he would be totally lost without the superior stage management and lightning expertise of one relentless Rhiley Winnett. All four will amaze you tonight as they show you just what it means to be the drawer boy. 

Rhiley Winnett – Technical Director & Stage Manager

 This production acknowledges that it is being performed on stolen Ngunnawal and Ngambri lands. We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ cultures represent the oldest form of storytelling in Australia. It is an honour to continue this practice on their land. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging. We welcome all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people who join us today. 

Mockingbird Theatrics is a Resident Company at

© Mockingbird Theatrics ABN 54 911 897 182

www.mockingbirdtheatrics.com and all pages herein are managed and maintained by Mockingbird Theatrics.

Mockingbird Theatrics acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land where we meet and work, the Ngunnawal people, and recognises all other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We celebrate and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of the ACT and region.