Three Magpies Perched in a Tree

A searing yet heartbreaking Indigenous Gothic that confronts the difficult reality of juvenile justice work.

An Aboriginal man from the stolen generation works in his community, watching young people who confront the criminal justice system slip through the cracks time and time again. Taken from the lived experience of front-line juvenile justice work, this play grapples with the multitude of obstacles young Aboriginal people face and asks how much difference one man can make in the uphill battle to teach them that, despite what society has told them, their lives and futures matter.

Brought to the stage by award-winning Indigenous creative Glenn Shea & narrated by legendary actor and activist Uncle Jack Charles, this play won the 2023 Green Room Award for Best New Writing, received the 2010 State Library of Victoria R.E Ross Trust Development Award and was Highly Commended for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award 2023.

"...lyrical and confronting theatre, juxtaposing Dreaming myths with grim testimony from the coalface of our Aboriginal justice and child protection systems" -Cameron Woodhead, The Age

"Shea delivers a resplendent Gothic tale...cutting edge poetic verse" -Stage Whispers

"Three Magpies is a personal history that is also a history haunted by the spectre of broken families, broken dreams and broken notions of personal empowerment" -Vanessa Francesca, Arts Hub