APRIL'S FOOL IS TOURING IN 2018 & 2019 WITH GRIN AND TONIC THEATRE TROUPE. CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS.
A true story of love, family and the choices we make.
April's Fool, an original play, was written and produced in 2010, before it toured nationally in 2012. It was shortlisted for the Premier's Drama Award in 2011. The play is published and can now be purchased.
In April 2009, two weeks short of his 19th birthday, Toowoomba teenager Kristjan Terauds died due to complications from illicit drug use.
Inspired by ‘April’s Fool’, an account of his son’s death by Kristjan’s father, the Empire Theatre commissioned award-winning playwright, David Burton to bring this story to the stage.
Using the words of Kristjan’s friends and family interviewed over many months the result is a powerful mix of sadness, loss, and ultimately love, laced with humour.
April’s Fool promises to be a thought-provoking and ultimately optimistic reflection on how we all live our lives.
Young people, parents, teachers, youth workers and theatre critics universally praised April’s Foolfor its ability to engage them in this story, gently sharing with its audience and at no time to seeking to lecture or preach.
The result is a theatre experience that reflects Kristjan himself – loving, warm, generous, open, honourable, gentle, complex and provocative.
You can pick up the script here.
“April’s Fool” is not foolish theatre, it is wise theatre that is speaking with the reality and totality of human experience. I salute and applaud this show and all those associated with bringing it to Brisbane. It is this subject matter of which there is a crying need, these are the stories we need to hear and this is the way we need to hear them. They have incalculable cultural and human value as we, in this most isolating and disconnected time, need more than ever to connect to each other, our emotions and the issues that confront and challenge ourselves and our society. -Brent Downes,Theatre People
‘April’s Fool is sweet agony. David Burton did justice to this story with his decision to write the script with ‘verbatim’ dialogue gathered from family, community and the diary kept by Kristjan Terauds’ father during the ordeal of Kristjan’s death. These words, little stitches of life, are masterfully woven by Burton into a tapestry timeline of the last days of Kristjan.’ - Sonny Clarke, Aussie Theatre
‘April’s Fool re-creates the memory of a smart, bright, beloved young man. For a second it feels as if he’s still here – but the realisation he’s not slaps the audience with just a fraction of his family’s grief.
It’s that potency that makes April’s Fool more than just a play – it’s a potential lifesaver.’ -Baz McAlister,Courier Mail