‘It was incredibly naïve’

Late one evening in 2012, two actors were arrested by police outside Melbourne’s La Mama Theatre.

They had just finished a show – a play about a group of soldiers being ambushed in Afghanistan – and were walking down the street, carrying their props to their car.

And that’s when they were stopped by police and taken into custody.

In an interrogation room, the pair had to explain what they were doing loading replica assault rifles into the boot of their car.

“It was incredibly naïve,” Rowan Freeman tells The Stage Show’s Michael Cathcart, “thinking we could hold these imitation firearms that we’d been using in the show without anyone caring. It wasn’t really the case.”

Rowan was one the actors involved in the incident – and now he’s turned his experience into a play of his own, which you can hear in the latest episode of Radio National Fictions.

Another highlight of the week is the story of an impossibly beautiful, unusual sea creature that we know startlingly little about.

If you, like David Attenborough, have a soft spot for weedy seadragons, make sure you catch up on this episode of Off Track.

Until next time,

Rosie Ryan, digital editor

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