ONE of my obsessions as a playwright has always been about the nature of power in relationships – the way it’s perceived and exercised.

Often my plays involve scenarios where characters that initially appeared passive were revealed to be dominant and manipulative, or characters that were introduced as victims who were shown to be the willing architects of their situation.

I started writing in the 1980s after graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts, with my focus being on writing scripts for theatre, film and television.

Since then, I have had a rollercoaster career with highlights including an AFI nomination for my screenplay for the film Compo and receiving three fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. Currently, my bread-and-butter employment is writing for Channel Seven’s Packed to the Rafters.

However I have a real passion for telling stories in different ways, which is why I wrote the “intimate opera” Homesick! It is being performed in community houses across the Port Phillip municipality. This [allows] the audience to become more intimately connected with the performance, and gives them the opportunity to chat with performers and crew after the show.

Homesick! discusses the issues of power I find so compelling, but with music. It tells the story of a woman who tries to take control of every aspect of her life from the comfort of her home but instead comes to realise that she has become imprisoned by her fear. Her attempts to free herself are charted through a series of songs that work as a continuous narrative, but also as self-contained vignettes. The piece started out as an idea from my colleague, actor Amanda Armstrong, about a woman who wanted to stay home all the time. With the opportunities the internet and social media offers people today, one can make friends, meet lovers, and buy food and clothes without ever having to step outside the front door.