''Mark Colvin's Kidney'' is a stage play by playwright Tommy Murphy.

Plot

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

journalist Andrew Taylor described the play in a recent article: "Mary-Ellen Field's kidney is one of the better known body parts in Australia. Its new owner, veteran ABC journalist

Mark Colvin Mark Colvin (13 March 1952 – 11 May 2017) was an Australian journalist and radio and television broadcaster for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and worked on most of the flagship current affairs programs. Notably, based in Sydne ...

, is one of this country's more notable organ recipients. Field is also notorious as the business advisor sacked by

Elle Macpherson Eleanor Nancy Macpherson ( ; ; born ) is an Australian model, businesswoman, television host, and actress. She is known for her record five cover appearances for the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' beginning in the 1980s, leading to her ...

for allegedly leaking information about the supermodel that was later found to have been obtained through

phone hacking Phone hacking is the practice of exploring a mobile device, often using computer exploits to analyze everything from the lowest memory and CPU levels up to the highest file system and process levels. Modern open source tooling has become f ...

. Their relationship offered a dramatic arc that attracted playwright Tommy Murphy. "This is a story about a radio journalist who reaches out to an interviewee on Twitter, a woman who has been the victim of intrusions into her privacy via hacking," Murphy says. "For the most part they are pen pals, via new technologies. And then she saves his life."

Premiere production

The play opened at Sydney's Belvoir on 25 February – 2 April 2017. The director for the premiere production was

David Berthold David Berthold is an Australian theatre and festival director, who has also been artistic director of several major Australian arts organisations. Early life and education David Berthold was born in Maitland, New South Wales. He spent some ye ...

Cast

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

as Mark Colvin *

Sarah Peirse Sarah Peirse is a New Zealand actress who works on both screen and stage. She is best known for her roles as Honora Rieper in ''Heavenly Creatures'' and as Kate in ''Rain''. Career Screen Peirse played two very different mothers — Honora Ri ...

as Mary-Ellen Field * Helen Thomson aa

/ other roles * Peter Carroll as various roles * Kit Esuruoso as various roles * Christopher Stollery as various roles

References

{{Reflist 2010s Australian plays 2017 plays