Plays read in books can be nearly perfect works of creativity. The acting is superb, the sets and lighting are imaginative and breathtaking and the direction somehow manages to extract every subtlety from the text without ever becoming overbearing (and I haven’t even mentioned the costumes). In fact, some plays read so well on the page that that is where they deserve to remain without ever being made to endure the harsh reality of an actual theatrical production.

Composing Venus by Elaine Acworth revolves around three generations of women living in an Outback Queensland town and the forces of time and emotion that shape and change their lives. Set at the rear of one of those big stilt-raised Queensland houses, the play opens on a night in 1957 with a radio broadcast announcing that the Russian satellite Sputnik is set to pass through the night sky over Charters Towers.