Adapted by Verity Laughton from the novel by Pip Williams
Directed by Jessica Arthur

Discover the secret power of words

Pip Williams’ award-winning New York Times bestseller and book club favourite, The Dictionary of Lost Words, is brought to vivid life in a new adaptation for the stage by Verity Laughton and directed by one of Australia’s best directors, Jessica Arthur.

It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll has a front row seat. Well, she’s hiding under the sorting table, anyway. As her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go, Esme collects the discarded (often gendered) scraps to compile her own far more radical, far more magical dictionary.

A sweeping historical tale in the spirit of The Harp in the South, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of the First World War.

This novel has captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of readers around the globe, and was recommended by book club trendsetters like Reese Witherspoon. In 2023, Verity Laughton’s adaptation unfurls this beautiful and transportive reflection on the love between a daughter and her father, at a time when the women’s rights movement was first gaining traction, into a delectable and warm night of theatre.

Approx. duration 2 hrs 20 mins (including interval)
Content Strong language

DATE: Wednesday 8 November 2023

TIME: 7.30pm

VENUE: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House

TICKETS: Single Tickets – Adult A Reserve $114, Seniors Concession $109

Judith and Cherry have purchased tickets J6 and J7

 To buy your tickets visit https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on

PRE-THEATRE: (Optional): Join Judith and Cherry for pre-theatre Drinks and Chat at the Sydney Opera Bar, on the Lower Concourse Level at 6.00pm.

RSVP TO: Judith Nguyen at [email protected]

RSVP BY: 1 November 2023

THEATRE GROUP – Looking Ahead in 2023

Our remaining play for the year is shown below.