When theatre director Isaac Drandic first encountered Dear Son, Thomas Mayo’s anthology of letters written by First Nations men to their sons, it wasn’t just the content that struck him – it was the courage. “The level of vulnerability these men were willing to go to,” he says, “to share so publicly … that was something we felt we had to honour.”

From that place comes a stage production that is anything but a straightforward adaptation of the book. Co-created by Drandic and writer John Harvey, Dear Son transforms the epistolary format into a truly theatrical event – part storytelling circle, part men’s group and wholly honest.

Isaac Drandic in rehearsal for Dear Son. Photo © Morgan Roberts

Drandic and Harvey’s collaborative approach ensured that these perspectives were treated with respect. “We weren’t just adapting letters,” Drandic says. “We were building a space where those voices could live.”

The adaptation process began not with the text, but with shared experience. In an early workshop held in Cairns, Drandic and Harvey gathered the cast and set the letters aside.

“We actually didn’t pick up the book at first,” Drandic recalls. “We just started talking...