Asked if he would co-write the libretto for an oratorio about the murder of Dr George Ian Ogilvie Duncan in Adelaide in 1972, Christos Tsiolkas was apprehensive. The acclaimed author explains why he felt compelled to put his fear aside and accept this “gift”, and how the libretto came about.

Christos Tsiolkas. Photo © Sarah Enticknap

In early 2020, after Neil Armfield got in touch to invite me to be part of the collaboration that eventually became Watershed: The Death of Dr Duncan, I got scared. I knew Neil through his work as a director, on stage and on screen, and was inspired by the vitality and poetry of his staging. He explained that he envisaged the work as an oratorio, to...