🎭The Lucky Country
🗓️  13 to 18 October
📍 Lawler, Southbank Theatre
🎟️ mtc.com.au

When Vidya Makan joined me on the Showtime podcast we went on a journey through her story, one that starts not on stage but on the soccer field. Growing up in Brisbane she dreamed of playing for the Matildas and even won a scholarship to train at Manchester United’s summer school. That could easily have been her path but while overseas she went to see Wicked in London’s West End. Watching a woman of colour perform such a powerful role lit a spark in her. For the first time she thought that maybe theatre was a place where she could belong. By her teens she was trading soccer boots for stage shoes and chasing a very different dream.

Fast forward and Vidya has played some of the biggest roles in musical theatre. She has been Eliza in Hamilton, Katherine Parr in Six, and appeared in Sunday in the Park with George. Playing Eliza pushed her to the edge of what she thought she could do both vocally and emotionally. She saw Hamilton as Eliza’s story just as much as Alexander’s and worked to show her as a woman with rage, love, and passion, not just the dutiful wife. In Six she loved stepping into rock star mode, with the audience giving back as much energy as the performers on stage. As Katherine Parr she relished stopping the show to challenge the narrative and say hang on, let’s rethink this.

Vidya is not only a performer but a writer too. She has been writing songs since she was a kid and has always admired people like Lin-Manuel Miranda who create their own musicals. She wants her writing to put minority voices into the spotlight and tell stories that have been missing from the stage. Performing and writing go hand in hand for her. She knows how a lyric feels in the mouth of a performer and how a character’s voice should sound in a song. That makes her both a sharper performer and a sharper writer.

All of this came together in The Lucky Country, her own original musical which she started writing back in 2018. The idea came after she saw an Australian show that just did not reflect the diversity or reality of the country she knew. She wanted to create something that gave space to voices usually left out of the conversation. But she also wanted it to be fun, camp, and easy to enjoy. The Lucky Country is about what it means to be Australian but told from different perspectives. It challenges stereotypes but it also makes people laugh.

The music is like flicking through an Aussie radio. One song sounds like Baker Boy, another like Cold Chisel, then Kylie Minogue, then The Seekers. It is messy, eclectic, and joyful, just like Australia itself. Vidya worked with Sonia Suarez and Heidi Maguire to shape the show and add a band that even includes a yidaki. The result is a mix of sounds and voices that together tell a bigger story.

Of course making a show like this meant having some difficult conversations about race, history, and identity. Vidya and her team worked closely with First Nations collaborators like Shoa Demal to make sure the work was honest and respectful. For Vidya those risks and those conversations are what give the show its heart. Audiences have responded in different ways. Some came in doubtful but left thinking about what they had seen. Others, especially from minority communities, felt a deep gratitude at finally seeing themselves represented.

She has a couple of favourite songs in the show. One is a cheeky Kylie-inspired number that is like a fever dream about the dangers of living in Australia. The other is the finale, Rise, which is partly sung in Gurindji Kriol and gives the season a powerful and emotional ending.

Recording the original cast album was another special moment for her. Unlike live theatre it lets listeners hear the finer details of the performances. It also shines a light on a cast made up of performers who rarely get to feature in mainstream theatre. For Vidya that made the album more than just a recording, it was a way of saying these voices belong in the centre of the story too.

When we talked about the bigger picture Vidya was clear about what Australian theatre needs. More bold, authentic stories. More diversity. More investment in our own voices. She pointed to the world leading strength of Indigenous storytelling and highlighted new works like Fan Girls and The Dismissal as proof that local stories can connect widely. She believes Australia has what it takes to lead the world in theatre if it backs its artists and embraces its diversity.

The conversation finished with the excitement of The Lucky Country opening at the Lawler Theatre with Melbourne Theatre Company. For Vidya it was the payoff from years of work but also the start of something bigger. She is determined to keep opening doors and making space for others. Her journey from dreaming of soccer glory to becoming a writer and performer is proof that representation matters. One spark in a London theatre changed her life and now she is creating sparks for others.