DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN

Ruby Langford Ginibi’s memoir Don’t Take Your Love to Town has made an invaluable impact since it was first published in 1988. It has won awards, found its way onto school and university reading lists, and most importantly, pays tribute to the resilience and spirit of Indigenous Australia.

Now one of Australia’s most revered actors, Leah Purcell (pictured), has adapted Ginibi’s story into a two-act, one-woman show. “The combination of Leah and Ruby is pretty damn special,” writer Eamon Flack explains to me. Together Flack and Purcell managed to trim down 240 pages of the book to 40 pages of script.

“You always end up throwing away some gold,” he says. “Ruby’s story is like a national story. It’s one of the most unmitigated pleasures of my working life so far. People talk about these things being humbling and it really was.”

“Her writing is so honest but also what she writes about is this extraordinary and enormous life. It’s like ten lives in one. She’s a sort of real life Mother Courage. I think the massiveness of her humanity in her writing is very beautiful.”

Ginibi, who passed away last year, was onboard with the adaptation. “She was really happy Leah was doing it because Leah was a bit of a protégé of hers. It was something they dreamed about. Leah has been preparing for a very long time to keep Ruby’s spirit alive.”

Nov 29-Jan 6, Belvoir Street, Downstairs Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, $32-42, 9699 3444, belvoir.com.au