Long term collaboration reaps rich rewards

The 31 year creative partnership between Susie Dee and Patricia Cornelius shows no signs of slowing down.

Publicity image for Dee & Cornelius’ s Big Heart. Photo by Pier Carthew.

Looking back on the 31 years to date of her fruitful collaboration with director/performer Susie Dee, playwright Patricia Cornelius doesn’t mince words. ‘It’s an awful fucking long time,’ she laughs.

The pair met in Melbourne in the early 1980s and initially bonded as actors while performing in an early Cornelius play, 1986’s Lilly and May. After an initial season at La Mama (where it was recently re-presented as part of the theatre’s 50th anniversary season), the compact two-hander had multiple seasons, giving the pair several years in which to cement their friendship.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts