STARS IN THEIR EYES
Our sordid tale begins in 2006, in the treacherous, high-stakes industry of children’s television. Here are the characters who you’ll meet.
Mackenzie 13-year-old actor. Desperate for her big break – but stuck in a daggy little role in The Dahlia Show. Polite. Sweet. Apologetic. Or is she?
Ruth A pushy stage mum who is intent on living out her dreams of fame and fortune through her daughter Mackenzie – whatever the cost. Ruth by name, ruthless by nature.
Beau Gentle, kind-hearted 13-year-old castmate of Mackenzie. Aspires to make cinematic art in Europe.
Pickle As old as Christmas, Pickle is a substitute hair and makeup artist who buzzes around set making the cast look fabulous dahling.
Dahlia Nepo baby and dazzling 13-year-old star of her own hit TV show. Perfect hair. So famous. So insecure.
Gayle Salt-of-the-earth chef on set. Not fazed by fame or glamour.
Network Head Big boss man who says what he likes and likes what he says. Profit is his top priority. (Actually wait. Profit is his only priority.)
Producer Always sucking up to the Network Head. Lives in a constant state of high alert.
Choreographer Rules the dance routines with a rod of iron. Can’t deal with these amateurs!
hEllen Cheese-ball American talk show host. Just! So! Excited!
Florence and Minnie Beau and Dahlia’s younger sisters have the world at their dancing feet.
FIVE FAST FACTS
Like a version: Mackenzie ingeniously tracks the events of Macbeth, with a devious modern twist. It’s packed with “Easter eggs” for Shakespeare buffs but can be enjoyed by anyone who is – or has ever been – a teenager.
Giddy heights: Australian writer Yve Blake is the brains behind Mackenzie. Her previous musical stage show, Fangirls, packed out theatres across Australia, snagged a bunch of awards, and was staged at the Lyric Hammersmith in London.
It’s in the blood: You could say director Virginia Gay was born to direct Mackenzie. Her mum is Shakespeare scholar Penny Gay (in fact, Penny once taught a young James Evans, who is now Bell Shakespeare’s executive director!).
Tapping a rich vein: Mackenzie follows an illustrious line of Macbeth reinventions, including Just Macbeth! (abridged) by Australian children’s author Andy Griffiths, which was adapted by Bell Shakespeare’s Joanna Erskine and staged in 2023.
- Calling the tune: Macbeth has inspired music by The Cure, John Cale, 2Pac, Duke Ellington, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Lucinda Williams and Sonic Youth. Yve Blake and Tom Lowndes (aka Hot Dub Time Machine) have now cooked up a clutch of bubblegum pop bangers for Mackenzie.
PLAYING WITH THE SCOTTISH PLAY
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, no ruler is ever secure. Male violence is what gives kings their power – and male violence is what snatches that power away. Lady Macbeth disavows her femininity and harnesses her husband’s masculinity to ascend the throne.
In Yve Blake’s Mackenzie, the most potent commodity is not male violence – it’s youth. Mackenzie’s mum harnesses her daughter’s youth to chase fame and fortune. Children dance and sing on command to achieve stardom, then live in constant fear of being replaced by the next bright young thing.
QUOTE UNQUOTE
Here’s a few sneak peaks at this brand-new script:
Choreographer If you’d rather be in high school right now, using a protractor to draw sad little triangles, and doing P.E. in a gym that smells like puberty, that’s FINE with me! In fact, I can personally arrange that for you!
Producer See what I mean, Sir? They’ve been at this for three hours and Mackenzie’s the only one not sweating.
Network Head Hate when kids sweat. Nightmare for hair and makeup.
Ruth …Once you’re on the merch, that’s a royalty. That’s cheques in the mail. And THAT’s how you afford a really good surgeon!
Mackenzie You’re the only other person on earth who knows what it’s like to grow up on this show. Or sign a pencil case with your face on it. Or to be shown a tattoo that’s just a drawing of your feet. And it’s not even a good drawing of your feet. And I think we need to stick together or we’ll both go insane.
Ruth Sorry everyone - don’t be alarmed. My beautiful daughter is experiencing a very… very normal symptom of- (changing tacts) She’s doing method acting! She’s actually currently prepping for a very exciting role in a… in a… AN ARTHOUSE FILM!
THE STORY IN 5 BEATS
(Spoiler alert! Stop reading if you don’t want to know what happens!)
Welcome to the show: Thirteen-year-old actors Mackenzie and Beau play minor parts in The Dahlia Show, but they yearn for major stardom. Makeup artist Pickle is seized by a weird vision of a brighter, starrier future for Mackenzie – and also for an unnamed person who is related to Beau.
Mother’s little helper: Mackenzie relays Pickle’s vision to her mum, Ruth, who hatches a plot for her daughter to steal the show – literally. Mackenzie and Ruth set a trap that disfigures Dahlia’s famously gorgeous face and they frame the show’s choreographer for the crime. Dahlia is carted off to hospital and obscurity.
Now it’s Mackenzie’s World: And we all just live in it. With careers and money on the line, the Network Head and Producer make Mackenzie the star of her own hit TV show. Sweet-natured Beau plays her faithful sidekick. Mackenzie is catapulted to outrageous success. Record deals. Merch. Talk shows. Awards. World tours. Teacup piglets.
Looking after Number One: Approaching the age of 18, Mackenzie jealously guards her fame and is prepared to do whatever it takes to become Number One Pop Girl of the World. In her relentless pursuit of star power and relevance, she shuns her mother, loses Beau’s trust, and frets that Beau’s sister may usurp her.
- A fate worse than death: Mackenzie instigates a smear campaign to scupper the careers of Beau and his sister. When Gayle the lowly chef rumbles the ruse, Mackenzie sabotages her too. Mackenzie’s mother loses her marbles and gives a self-incriminating TV interview. Just as Mackenzie’s popularity goes stratospheric, she plunges into new depths of paranoia and the whole gaff is blown by Gayle. Mackenzie is publicly disgraced and permanently cancelled, leaving the path clear for the next generation to chase the teen dream.
