Play based on 1960 Sydney kidnap tragedy has world premiere

Balmain actress Eloise Snape is among the seven-strong cast in Gods and Little Fishes, co-written by Sydneysiders Richard Sydenham, who directs the play, and Jamie Oxenbould, who stars as Frank, a character based on Bazil Thorne who suffered unthinkable consequences after winning 100,000 pounds in the Opera House Lottery.

"I did a read of the script with them in lockdown last year, and fell in love with it," says Snape, a graduate of the Leichhardt-based Actors Centre Australia. "I thought it was incredible, and from there they had me on board. It is unique; it surprised me. I didn't see it going where it goes so hopefully the audience will have that same experience."

Five weeks after travelling salesman Bazil Thorne won the lottery in June 1960, the jubilation turned to horror when his son Graeme was kidnapped on the way to school in Bondi, and held to ransom for 25,000 pounds.

Now widely forgotten, it was Australia's first high-profile kidnapping case and a subject of massive public interest, even more so when Graeme's body was found in bushland at Seaforth. His kidnapper, Hungarian immigrant Stephen Bradley, was captured and sentenced to penal servitude for life.

The play, which won the Silver Gull Play Award in 2020, involves a man, Frank, stuck on a raft with a trio of misfits - a clown (played by Snape), a bear and a strongman.

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"It's obviously based on a true story", says Snape, "but then Richard and Jamie have taken that story and they are telling the story of how one man deals with grief.

"It is aligned perfectly between comedy and drama because while it is an inherently sad story, we get to experience that through humour, and that is really, really powerful."

Jamie Oxenbould explains the play's evolution: "It didn't start out to be about [the Thorne case]. It was a play about grief, and a man losing his child, and Richard has always had a fascination with the Thorne story - where a family went through this huge joy and then unbelievable grief - so we married the two together."

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