Desperate remedies

Set in a highly stylised nineteenth century, ‘Desperate Remedies’ powerfully mixes the excitement of a subversive melodrama with the enchantment of historical romance. Set in a nineteenth century colony, it examines a society in which women outmanoeuvre the men. A beautiful woman, Dorothea Brooks, races her buggy down to the wharf. She picks out a handsome immigrant disembarking from a ship. Her quest is simple, almost shocking. She appears to be offering herself, he appears to be pliant and willing. But Dorothea has her feckless younger sister to consider. How can she extricate her from a destructive love affair? This seems to be Dorothea’s problem. ‘Desperate Remedies’ is the story of inhabitants trapped in the nightmarish colonial town called Hope, trying to outwit each other, bargaining, plotting, playing cat and mouse, fighting for what they desire most: all the time poised to accept their own desperate remedy. Cast includes Kevin Smith, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Lisa Chappell, Kevin Smith and Clifford Curtis and Michael Hurst.