THE DRAGONFLY (NWF Reading)
21 October 2024 6:45PM Old Fitz, 129 Dowling St, NSW, Australia. A$0.00After dropping out of university Zane's life has become a frustrating cycle of day jobbing for a local tech store, avoiding his broken father, and colliding with his twin sister, Lucy. At night, he escapes to become 'The Dragonfly', an online troll within an infamous community of disaffected men that target women and 'social justice warriors' with devastating consequences. When a feminist blogger ends their reign of terror with a series of articles that forces their server to deplatform them, Zane is tasked with discovering the identity of the woman behind their demise.
But when his online world and real life collide, he's faced with both a terrible reckoning and a race to abandon and outwit his community before something terrible happens.
This new play, shortlisted for the 2023 Silver Gull Award and 2024 Cooper Prize, was inspired by research into online hate forums that target minority groups, pushing people to self harm in the name of socio-political ideology. The Dragonfly is an exploration of a very current malaise infecting men in Western societies globally, and particularly in Australia. The story showcases the dangers of losing ourselves to online obsession and the allure and connection that people can find in extremism.
Team: Simon Thomson (playwright), Emma Whitehead (director), Robbi James (producer), + more...
Run Time: ~65 minutes
Content Warnings: References to self harm, homophobia, and hate speech
Note: this a free staged reading presented as part of the Fitz’s inaugural New Works Festival.