Sarah Spillane on the set of Around the Block. Image supplied.
Writer/director Sarah Spillane explained that Around the Block tells the story of “an American drama teacher, played by Christina Ricci, who lands a job teaching in one of Sydney’s toughest high schools, in Redfern. She tries to stage a production of Hamlet for her mostly-indigenous students and she develops a connection and friendship with the young indigenous boy called Liam who she casts as Hamlet. We soon start to discover that Liam’s personal life parallels the central dilemma in Hamlet. His own father isn’t dead like Hamlet’s father, but his father’s in jail and he’s supposed to avenge the person who is responsible for his dad being in jail.”
