CANBERRA Youth Theatre’s director Luke Rogers is determined to make up for covid-lost time with a year of stage plays that address young people’s fears and strength. 

His latest choice is the unsettling play, “Little Girls Alone in the Woods” by playwright Morgan Rose, a work exploring young women in extremis.

Rose was born in New Orleans, grew up in New Mexico, but now lives in Melbourne, where she enjoys a flourishing career as a playwright, performance maker and dramaturg. With plays at the Melbourne Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, Monash/Malthouse and Red Stitch, she is now a resident writer at youth theatre company, Riot Stage, and co-founder of Lonely Company.

Rogers is known for his sophisticated productions, which have attracted the attention of the Canberra Theatre, but also for giving his young performers the scope to find elements of themselves in the scripts they work on. Here he ventures into treacherous territory.

Here’s the scenario he’s presented to his cast.

In an ordinary street, in an ordinary town, something is amiss. It’s not the maths exam, it’s not global warming, it’s a “buzz” of anxiety, because girls have been going missing.

Maybe, it is speculated, they’ve walked off into the bush to live out some wild fantasy, and that’s not good from an adult perspective, so now young women are required to be registered with authorities, a high fence is being erected and all females under the age of 18 have to wear a tracking device.

All is well, it seems. They will be controlled, and they will be safe. Or will they?

If the plot sounds oddly familiar, it’s because Rose was inspired by Euripides’ tragedy, “The Bacchae”, where the acolytes of Dionysus run wild in the woods seeking knowledge well beyond the borders of respectability. In that case it ends in tragedy.

But in this case? That would be telling.

As one of the girls says, “Maybe if I was something else I would feel like I existed”.

“Little Girls Alone in the Woods”, Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, until May 22, book here or 6275 2700.