Welcome To The Theatrical Run of
The Bleeding Tree • Written by Angus Cerini
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The Bleeding Tree is a bold, haunting, deeply human, and darkly funny revenge drama that follows a mother and her daughters in the aftermath of abuse, confronting themes of complicity, truth-telling, and survival.
Meet The Creatives
Vanessa Beck | Cast
Vanessa is an award-winning writer, director, and professionally-trained actress. Her short film Isobelle garnered 11 award wins, and 8 nominations in 2025 including; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. She began her career in film and television as an on-set production assistant working on several studio films. She is currently co-writing the feature film What Makes The Desert Beautiful with Johan Schueling, a short film Adam and Eve with Grace Rose, and is starring as Scarlett Deveraux in the vertical micro-drama series Scarlett Letters.
Angus Cerini | Playwright
Angus Cerini is a multi-award-winning writer, performer and theatre maker. His plays have been produced widely in Australia by companies including Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre Company, and Malthouse Theatre. THE BLEEDING TREE, won an AWGIE Award for Best Play, a Helpmann Award for Best Play, multiple Green Room Awards including Best Play, a Sydney Theatre Award for Best Play, the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Drama, as well as the Griffin Award & the David Williamson Prize.
The Bleeding Tree was first produced by Griffin Theatre Company, 7 August 2015 at
the SBW Stables Theatre, Sydney, Australia, directed by Lee Lewis, designed by Renée Mulder,
with lighting design by Verity Hampson and music by Steve Toulmin. The cast were
Paula Arundell, Airlie Dodds, Shari Sebbens.
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The Bleeding Tree has won the following awards!
Winner Best New Australian Work, Sydney Theatre Awards
Winner Griffin Award, 2014, Winner Best Play, Helpmann Awards, 2016 Winner NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, 2016
Winner Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, Australian Writer’s Guild Awards, 2016
Winner Best Ensemble, Best Writing for the Australian Stage, Best Production, Best Director, Green Room Awards, 2019
Nominee Best Performer, Green Room Awards, 2019
'Girls, I think your father's dead. I knocked his knees out. I conked his head. I shot that house-clown in the neck.'
In a dirt-dry town in rural Australia, a shot shatters the still night. A mother and her daughters have just welcomed home the man of the house-with a crack in the shins and a bullet in the neck.
Triggered into thrilling motion by an act of revenge, The Bleeding Tree is rude, rhythmical and irreverently funny. Imagine a murder ballad blown up for the stage, set against a deceptively deadly Aussie backdrop, with three fierce females fighting back.
