When the Rain Stops Falling

by Andrew Bovell

Alice Springs.

2039.

A fish falls from the sky – it still smells of the sea. It’s been raining for days and Gabriel York knows something is wrong.

When the Rain Stops Falling unfolds like a puzzle to be solved. Told through the interconnected stories of two families over four generations; between a prediction in London 1959 and its outcome in Australia eighty years later. This intricate, multi-layered story explores betrayal, abandonment, destruction, forgiveness and love. Where damage to the planet serves as a metaphor for the damage inflicted from generation to generation.

Writer Andrew Bovell (Lantana, After Dinner, Anthem) has created an epic and powerful piece of magic realism, which asks the question: do we have the capacity to address the damage of the past in the future? First performed in 2008, the play has become increasingly relevant as the world faces the impacts of climate change and global warming.

Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and the Green Room Award, 2008, and the Sydney Theatre Award for Best New Australian Work in 2009.

This production was produced with generous support from City of Port Phillip. This is a Theatre Works and Iron Lung Theatre co-production.