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Interview: Deborah Conway AM // Book of Life

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​ Australian music legend, Deborah Conway AM returns to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre this April as a part of her national tour of Australia. We got the chance to sit down with Deborah to have a brief chat about her new show and the music industry!

Can you share a little about your book 'Book of Life'?

Book of Life is a memoir detailing stories of growing up in an idiosyncratic household, of becoming a musician, the sordid adventures of youth, the at odds relationships musicians have with the music industry, of love, of becoming a mother, of work, of creativity, through to the full flowering maturity of all facets of growing into an adult in the most complete way.

What was the approach to bring the book to stage in this show?

I started writing in November 2019, sitting on my couch in Melbourne. March 2020 brought the cancellation of everything. I was very fortunate to have begun a project that I was finding so absorbing. As the lockdowns stretched on in Victoria, my project got longer. And still lockdowns continued and no-one was allowed to leave their houses. We were restless, online Zoom concerts could only provide so much in the way of connection. But hey we had a property, why not use it as the basis to tell a theatrical story. Willy & I wrote Songs From the Book of Life as lockdown continued. The idea was to marry all the many ways of story telling, props, sets, costumes, role-play, song, movement, technology and interactive dialogue with the past.

What can audiences expect from the show?

A fast moving, surprising evening of twists & revelations. Laughing, crying & applauding wildly have all been observed by us in the wilds of theatre-land.

What would you say to young people starting out in the music industry today?

The music business, like everything else, is changing with frightening rapidity. But the one thing that hasn’t changed is it has always been a jungle out there. The best thing anyone embarking into the uncertain seas of a career in music is to pay attention and work as hard as you can. This is not for the faint-hearted.

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Deborah's National tour has already begun at the Sydney Festival, however, the show is coming to multiple venues across the nation:

Canberra Festival - 28 Feb 2024

Wagga Wagga Civic Centre - 2 March 2024

Burrijna Cultural Centre - 23 March 2024

Frankston Arts Centre - 24 March 2024

Queensland Performing Arts Centre - 12 & 13 April 2024

This is a show you don't want to miss out on from a LEGEND of the Australian music industry! Tickets for the QPAC show are selling extremely quickly and can be purchased at qpac.com.au

Originally Written for BroadwayWorld.com

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