Chopped Liver was commissioned by the Victorian Health Department to educate indigenous people about living with Hepatitis C in a fun and poignant way.

Melodie Reynolds played lead character Lynne, and said since starting work with the play three years ago, the response has been outstanding.

“This is the first time we have been to NSW, the play has been showing for three years around Victoria and South Australia in prisons and communities but this tour is the biggest and the response hasn’t changed. People have been coming up to us after the show saying ‘that is my story’ or saying how they wished they had bought more people to see it.

“I think the key to the plays success is that we use so much humour and realism. People wouldn’t take the message on as much if we weren’t realistic, Lynne and Jim (the lead characters) could be anyone’s brother, sister, cousin, aunty or uncle and they are good people that made some mistakes – and who hasn’t done that?”

Production Manager Lisa Maza said the tour would be continuing until mid-November and they hoped the story would reach many more people.

“This is our first time through NSW and we are really enjoying it, doing two shows a day can be hard sometimes but we are just excited to reach as many people as we can.”

Staff from Armajun Aboriginal Health Service in Inverell said the play was a great asset for the community.

“I thought the play was really good and got the message across from the point of view of health workers, it would be great to have even more people see it and learn more about the disease,” said Beryl Hepi, Registered Nurse at Armajun.

“I would really like to see the play shown in more schools and prisons around NSW, to really get the message across to young people and people in danger of contracting hepatitis, so they could see the different stages of the disease, the treatment and the support available to them,” said Angela Guan, Aboriginal Health Worker and Enrolled Nurse at Armajun.

Both Beryl and Angela agreed that the play made people talk about the disease and gave sufferers a human face.

“I think when people get Hep C they think no one wants to know them, they aren’t lepers and the more people see that and understand that, learning will follow after,” Angela said.

Armajun Health Service is located on the corner of Rivers and Otho St Inverell.

The service can be contacted on 6721 9777, The Inverell Community Health Centre also has information on Hepatitis C and be contacted on 6721 9600.

http://inverell.yourguide.com.au 

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