“Don’t talk to strangers
or you might fall in love.”
Ethel Cain, “Strangers”
(Preacher’s Daughter, 2022)
⼀期⼀会 (Ichi-go Ichi-e)
Japanese idiom, meaning
“one lifetime, one encounter.”
For my girls—
Thank you for reminding me
that I shouldn't make anyone else the centre of my universe.
For [Redacted],
I hope you're doing well.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
There is something very interesting and mystical to me about how short-and-intense whirlwind romances can often have a greater impression than longer ones. What’s with that, right? And so when Fletcher told me about the script, a whirlwind travel romance and its far-lasting impression, I got on board immediately. Together, we have joyfully rehearsed and made a show that I hope will make you laugh and recall memories or moments of your own past flames, wherever they may be.
It has been such a pleasure to witness the script come to life, and hear it be infused with as many pop girl references and quotes as we could think of. Fletcher and I both share a deep love and appreciation for the pop girls, which has made for a beautiful shared language to draw on. I would also like to give a particular shoutout to the character of ‘Tina’ in this play, who doesn’t have a voice, but boy does she have a big presence in my heart. I know I will be saying “Tina, is that what you think of me?” for years to come. May we all find, and be, the Tinas that we need for both ourselves and each other.
PLAYWRIGHT’S STATEMENT
Almost two years ago, a psychic told me I would fall in love at the beginning of 2025.
In January, I went to Japan and fell in love. With a Trump supporter.
I have this terrible habit of searching for love in every room I walk in. To quote my fellow Aussie twink, Troye Sivan, “I see love in every space. I see sex in every city, every town.” I probably scanned the audience before you sat down tonight. Note: I am single, boys <3
Being a hopeful romantic is a burden I take very seriously. When I was sixteen, I wrote a poem about how I wish I could stop wanting love; that I could turn off my heart. It was really long and pretty much stole every beautiful line from Virginia Woolf’s The Waves. I never expected my hopeful romanticism to lead me to a politically charged love affair akin to Romeo + Juliet. I couldn’t stop the heart. When I said goodbye to this man in Japan, I wrote him an abridged version of the poem. The poem that inspired this play.
What you see now is a labour of love. It comes from the beating hearts of three brilliant beings. A boy playing with his girls (gender neutral) to create something joyous. Because that’s what I realised after it all. That I could sacrifice my morals when it only impacted me—but that’s not the world we live in. We’re in this together. And my girls hold me even when I feel like wet rubbish. I would do anything for them. I can’t love someone who wouldn’t do the same.
DRAMATURG’S STATEMENT
Stop The Heart is a wonderful experience of a play, blending true stories and heavy subject matter with the whimsical, vibrant, and sexy stylisation of Fletcher’s writing and Laura’s direction. But at its core it’s a personification of the experiences and lessons Fletch has undergone in the past few months. It’s about love in every form it can take. Having the opportunity to be not only a collaborator in this project, but a confidante to such a kindhearted and bright friend such as him is something I hold with pride, and have cherished through every meeting, voice message, and scribbled note.
While we certainly aren’t the first to make the political points that underpin this work, I believe we have succeeded in creating a thorough, fresh, and most importantly empathetic piece of theatre that speaks directly to current events and is a much needed piece of scaffolding to the structure upholding progressive conversations and movements. We all have a responsibility to continue shouting our beliefs and making ourselves — and those who cannot shout — heard. We have a responsibility to love aggressively and unabashedly, and that is exactly what Stop The Heart does.
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DIRECTOR
LAURA GOODLET
Laura Goodlet is an emerging playwright, actor, and theatre-maker. She grew up in mining town Kalgoorlie, WA, before moving to Perth for high school. In 2021 she began her studies at WAAPA: completing a Diploma of Acting, and a Bachelor of Performing Arts, where her final year works received the PICA Award for Most Outstanding Work and the Blue Room Industry Award. In 2024 she was selected for both ATYP’s Fresh Ink and National Studio playwriting programs, as well as WAYTCo’s 24Hr Play Generator and Made In Boorloo project: where she was commissioned to further develop her play Fallen Star for performance at The Blue Room Theatre. She began 2025 directing her play Blue Angel in the TBRT’s Summer Nights, and her play Orange Slices was recently published in Intersection: Crush with Currency Press and performed by various high schools at ATYP.
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PLAYWRIGHT / PERFORMER / PRODUCER
FLETCHER SCULLY
Fletcher Scully is a queer Native American-Australian multidisciplinary artist born and raised on Dharawal land in Southern Sydney. Fletcher has over twelve years’ experience in the creative and performing arts and holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Performance Making) from WAAPA and a Certificate of Speech & Performance from AMEB. He has completed numerous programs with STC, NIDA and ATYP, including this year’s National Studio playwriting program.
His auto-fictitious works of theatre include: Saturn Fairy in The Monologue Collective (KXT/Shopfront, 2022), AmericaNAH! (WAAPA, 2023) and Cowboys & Indians (WAAPA/The Blue Room, 2024). Though the written and spoken word are his first loves, he is also skilled in behind-the-scenes production roles, most recently as Assistant Stage Manager on SNAKEFACE (25A/Fruit Box, 2025).
He was the sub-editor of Dircksey Magazine in 2024 and his most recent publication is in Astray Magazine, with whom he did a Tokyo writing residency in February. As dramaturg, he has worked on Generator: Tomorrow (WAAPA, 2023) and Your Blood Isn’t Better Than Mine (The Blue Room, 2024). His webseries, GOOD BOY, is set to be released later this year. Fletcher is in constant pursuit of the rush he felt when making YouTube videos at age 14 for his 48 subscribers.
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DRAMATURG
SAM RUMPEL
Sam Rumpel is a queer and neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist hailing from Florida, USA. Sam began performing in the Gold Coast (Yugambeh) during high school and graduated WAAPA’s Bachelor of Performing Arts course in 2024. Sam has performed and collaborated in Check, Please (2016); How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying (2017); Spamalot (2018); The Book of Everything (2018); Cosí (2019); Grease (2020); and When They Go Low (2021).
At WAAPA, Sam devised and performed in Clubhouse, Dusk (2023); Big Love (2024); and A Murmuration of Lost Birds (2024). Sam also directed Out For the Count in 2024 which was adapted for The Blue Room Theatre’s Summer Nights program in 2025, where they co-produced, co-directed, and stage-managed, with glowing records from X-Press Magazine and Magazine 6000.
Sam is always just happy to be there, and doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as “too many questions” or “too off topic”. They value making original work that elevates marginalised voices, tells engaging stories, and looks cool.
Stop the Heart was drafted, developed, rehearsed and performed across Dharawal, Gadigal and Noongar land. It is set on the land of the Ainu people. It always was and always will be Indigenous land.
This work was supported by the Australian Theatre for Young People’s (ATYP) Peer 2 Pier program with free development space.
Special thanks to:
Finn Hoegh-Guldberg for being the most willing and ready stand-in. Best fake neck kisser.
Abbie Norris for being the most accomodating production assistant. You carried that bag like a pro.
Quinn Lomman for taking the sexiest production stills.
And everyone at Sydney Fringe for making this possible, especially our technician, Daniel Story.
Thank you for coming to Stop the Heart!
We would love to hear your thoughts <3