Stage Adaption of Colleen McCullough’s TIM Performs at Riverside Theatres

TIM a novel written by Australian icon Colleen McCullough and adapted for the stage by acclaimed playwright Tim McGarry, will commence a tour of eight NSW venues from July 2023, performing at Riverside Theatres from 31 August to 2 September.

Colleen McCullough is regarded as one of Australia’s most successful novelists, best known for her second novel The Thorn Birds and for her Masters Of Rome series, a fictionalised account of Rome in the age of Julius Caesar. She remains one of Australia’s highest selling authors with over 80 million books sold worldwide, 30 million of which are for TIM, and translated into 30 plus languages. She penned TIM in 1974. First entitled Not The Full Quid, this beautiful work has spawned two movies, the first starring a very young Mel Gibson.

Her character Tim is a beautiful 25 - year-old labourer, with a mild intellectual disability. He has grown up in a small but loving working-class family who have tried to shelter him from the cruelness of the world but is often the brunt of ridicule by those around him, particularly his uncharitable work mates. Mary is a successful mid-50’s business executive with a belief she can live a happy and comfortable solitary existence without friendship or love. Drawn to each other from their first meeting, Mary hires Tim as a gardener. But as the two enjoy a growing friendship, suspicion arises in the minds of those who wish to protect Tim about Mary’s motivations. What began as a chance meeting between them, soon develops into a lifechanging relationship for both.

Whilst Tim’s disability is never labelled in the play, it is a constant, underlying theme, embedded in a story that explores the importance of embracing differences, opening oneself to the fullness of life and the opportunities it has to offer. Filled with notions of love, loss and acceptance, and set in the modern day, this seminal Australian story has been sensitively adapted for the stage by playwright Tim McGarry.

Tim McGarry recently adapted Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe for Queensland Theatre/QPAC and has recently created a new work for the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Between 2005-2017 Tim was a Creative Director and Producer at Monkey Baa, one of Australia’s largest touring companies for young audiences. He has facilitated countless workshops for students and teachers throughout metropolitan, regional, and remote school communities and has worked extensively supporting people with a disability living in residential care.

TIM features a stellar cast with Ben Goss, a young man with a disability and recent graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, in the title role. Joining Ben on stage will be Valerie Bader, Akkshey Caplash, Jeanette Cronin, Andrew McFarlane and Julia Robertson.