fortyfivedownstairs presents the world premiere of the multi-award-winning Australian play Do not go gentle…by Patricia Cornelius, directed by Julian Meyrick and featuring Paul English, Jan Friedl, Rhys McConnochie, Terry Norris, Anne Phelan, Pamela Rabe and Malcolm Robertson.

A poignant and compelling drama, Do not go gentle… is a brilliantly humorous exploration of lives well lived, highlighting the fragility and beauty of human existence. Set in a landscape of icy plateaux, deep crevasses and labyrinthine ice corridors, a sublime, mysterious and treacherous terrain that provides a brilliant background to the stories of characters battling the realities of ageing.

Cornelius’ metaphor of Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition, juxtaposed with the parallel story of six vibrant and opinionated Australians, grapples with existential questions of love, death, loss, happiness and the lust to live life to its fullest.

In 2006 Cornelius was the recipient of the Patrick White Playwrights’ Award and R.E. Ross Trust Playwrights’ Script Development Award for Do not go gentle…, and was also shortlisted for the Griffin Award. In May 2011 Cornelius won the Play Award in the  NSW Premiers Literary Awards for Do not go gentle.., followed by the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize, and the 2011 Major AWGIE and AWGIE Award for Stage.