In the isolated community of Wala Wala, Senior Constable Ray Lorkin struggles to keep an uneasy peace between Aboriginal tradition and the law he is sworn to uphold. But when a local man dies in mysterious circumstances, Ray decides he can no longer do things 'blackfella way'.
1993 The Australian Human Rights Award
1993 The NSW Premier's Literary Award for stage
1993 AWGIE, Best Stage Play
'Dead Heart is Australian history in the making, as In the Heat of the Night was for America in the sixties ... Dead Heart touches the near extinct life that just beats beneath Australian society ...' - The Times, London
'Dead Heart ... asks how blacks and whites can continue with different value systems ... The question is a burning one not only in Australia but in every other country where multicultural identities come into conflict.' - Time Magazine
'A fantastic, totally unforgettable production.' - The Observer, London
'... the force and impact of Dead Heart (is) in it's devastating lack of resolution; and its tough minded complexity.' - the Sun Herald, Sydney
Parsons, Nick: - NICK PARSONS is an award-winning writer and director in film, television and theatre. He has a BA (hons) in Philosophy from Sydney University and is a graduate of both the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He has directed more than a dozen stage plays, three short films, television drama, a documentary series and a featurefilm. He has written three produced full-length stage plays, a stage musical, several one-Acters, two feature films and numerous episodes of television series and serials. He is also the author of several radio plays. In 1993 his play Dead Heart premiered at NIDA and subsequently won the AWGIE for Best Stage Play, the NSW Premier's Literary Award for best script and the Australian Human Rights Award. He wrote and directed the film adaptation of Dead Heart in 1996, which was nominated for the AFI for Best Adapted Screenplay and won the Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His other screen credits include 'The Saviour', a half-hour episode of the series two Twisted, screened on the Nine Network in 2006, and Tipping Point, a 16-part mini-doc series for The Weather Channel. He also wrote three episodes of the children's TV series My Place Season One (2010) and one episode of season two (2012). Both series won the Logie for Best Children's TV series and Nick's episode for Season Two won the AWGIE for Best Episode of Children's Drama. He wrote five episodes of the crime drama series The Straits (2013), winner of the AWGIE for best TV Drama Series and the Deadly Award for Best TV Series. In 2008 Nick's play Hollow Ground was performed in Hobart by the Old Nick Theatre Company. The same year he directed a sold-out season of a new play by Tony Zeane, Burnt, for La Mama Theatre in Melbourne, and his musical A Nasty Piece of Work premiered at the New Theatre in Sydney. Nick is currently developing several theatre, TV and film projects.
