Criminal play turns moral compass

The play Criminology uses real life events as a starting point to shed light on our morality.

1997 was a year when many celebrities passed away – Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Michael Hutchence – but a lesser-known death in suburban Canberra sheds more light on Australian society and morality.

That is the starting point of Criminology, a new play being produced by Arena Theatre Company in collaboration with Malthouse Theatre.

The play, which premieres at Melbourne’s Malthouse in August, is inspired by the death of law student Joe Cinque, who suffered a lingering death after being drugged by his girlfriend and fellow student Anu Singh.

Several friends were told of Singh’s plans for a murder/suicide, however none intervened and one helped Singh.

Director Rosemary Myers said the play would explore ‘the fascinating circumstances of a group of young people away from their parents at a time when their moral compasses were at a formative stage’.

Singh hosted two ‘send-off’ dinner parties that her inner circle understood to be the prelude to the deaths she was plotting.

‘Why didn’t someone stop it? How could this have occurred?’ are two questions that the play will explore, said Rosemary.

Criminology’s style is dark and strange – evoking a ‘suburban nightmare under the veneer of suburban Canberra’.

Rosemary developed the show with writers Lally Katz and Tom Wright and a team that includes designers and filmmakers.

She said that ‘we couldn’t have made the show’ without Australia Council funding through its New Australian Stories initiative.

‘The funding and the collaboration with Malthouse allowed us to work on a much larger scale. For instance, we have seven young actors from diverse cultural backgrounds.’

Helen Garner examined the case in her book Joe Cinque’s Consolation.

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Andrew Parker
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