At one of Australia’s oldest residential colleges, scandal is rare. Or, scandal that reaches the outside world anyway. Behind closed mahogany doors, there’s always quiet money to mop up the mess. Writing the cheques this year is Jo Mulligan, the first female Master in the college’s hundred-year history.
And for Nikki Faletau-student resident and aspiring journalist-this is a time for hope, for change, for reform… That all changes when a serious allegation is made against a fellow resident. For Jo, it’s a case of boys will be boys. For Nikki, it’s yet another symptom of rape culture rearing its ugly head on campus. Kendall Feaver (The Almighty Sometimes) started writing Wherever She Wanders when incidents of sexual misconduct were being flung into the unforgiving light of the internet. In 2021, the play has only become more prescient. Online, there are no rules: social media is polarising political discussion, comments sections are as concrete as they are chaotic, and many vulnerable people are getting caught in the crossfire of a debate raging out of any one person’s control. Like a 21st century reworking of The First Stone, this brilliant new work plunges into generational feminism’s ever-growing divide with Feaver’s signature ferocious wit.