Highway of Lost Hearts (2012)
winsome, lyrical and at times even transcendent ArtsHub / an absorbing piece about loss and change The Canberra Times / vivid, often hilarious NT News
A woman. A dog. A campervan. And 4,500kms of wide open road.
Mot wakes up one morning to find that her heart is missing from her chest - so, she decides to go and look for it. With her Dog enlisted as co-pilot, Mot heads down the Highway of Lost Hearts into the deepest core of the Australian outback; navigating red dirt landscapes, fire and flood, brittle dry-ness, vast salt lakes, age-old mountains and murky waters filled with lost souls. And the further Mot drives into the deepest heart of Australia, the more she realises that everyone around her seems to be missing some vital part of themselves.
An allegory for a country that's lost its heart, Highway of Lost Hearts is half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart. It leaves you pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to, in order to find it again?
2016 NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year
Artshub, Five Stars
…winsome, lyrical and at times even transcendent… Highway of Lost Hearts places a woman at the centre of its story and in so doing provides a fresh perspective upon the experience of travel both as a physical and psychological phenomenon… There is a palpable social conscience that underpins this drama. –
The Canberra Times
..an absorbing piece about loss and change, the importance of country and the power of a journey.
City News
Mary Anne Butler’s unique one-woman play, “Highway of Lost Hearts,” proves to be one of the hidden gems in The Street Theatre’s winter season.
Canberra Critics Circle
...an excellent reminder of how good Australian theatre can be...
Lip Magazine
...as humorous as it is gut-wrenching... Highway of Lost Hearts is a great piece of theatre, written and performed, somewhat ironically, with more heart than many plays I have seen.
NT News
A [Darwin] festival highlight ...vivid, often hilarious... written and performed with great heart.
Nicole Beyer, Director, Theatre Network Victoria
...the best piece of theatre I've seen in years.
