Lake Disappointment

Lake Disappointment was commissioned by Bell Shakespeare and written by Australian writers - award winner Lachlan Philpott with Luke Mullins.

In the vein of plays such as Twelfth Night, Lake Disappointment explores the concept of double identity but gives it a contemporary twist. This is a monologue that explores an A list film star's body double and the twisted world that he inhabits. As the play questions who this character is it serves to question the world that we have constructed and its psychological effects on those who embrace the norms of the body-beautiful and social popularity.

Two truths exist simultaneously in this play, and as those truths morph and change we are left with a clear understanding that those who buy into the norms that are constructed in places such as social media can be left bereft, stranded on a desert island of their own making. Our character is a sad and wilted Prospero who has created a world of delusion but who has enslaved only himself.

Lake Disappointment is a tragedy, and not unlike King Lear who wanders alone on the moors, the unnamed character in Lake Disappointment has invested in the wrong story and the wrong people, and so has lost himself in his aspiration to be loved.