Ian Roberts Honoured with Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award for 2024

Ian Roberts, the trailblazing rugby league forward and actor, has been celebrated once more, not for his athleticism or acting, but for his storytelling. Roberts, along with playwright Alex Broun, has won the prestigious 2024 Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award for their compelling play Into the Light.

The winners were announced during the annual Seaborn, Broughton and Walford Foundation Christmas Party, where Melbourne playwright Olivia Satchell was also named a joint winner for her work Ballkids.

Each winning play received $20,000 in recognition of their exceptional contribution to Australian theatre.

Chair of Trustees Diana Simmonds described the unique circumstances surrounding this year’s decision, saying, “Every year we’re thrilled at the variety and standard of submissions, and past winners prove the talent we’ve discovered and supported. This year we had a situation that’s happened only once before – two plays just couldn’t be separated. So I’m happy to say we’ve been able to make equal awards – $20,000 to each.”

Ian Roberts: A Story of Compassion and Righteous Anger

Into the Light is based on the harrowing true story of Roberts’ platonic friendship with a youth named Arron, who was tragically murdered just before he was due to testify against a paedophile ring. The play navigates this devastating tale with a semi-documentary approach, resisting sensationalism while delivering a powerful narrative of resilience and grief.

Terry Clarke, one of the award judges, spoke highly of the play saying:

“Into The Light is based on the true story of the (platonic) relationship between Ian Roberts, the renowned rugby league forward and NIDA graduate, and Arron, a youth he had compassionately befriended. Arron was murdered the day before he was to be Crown witness against a paedophile ring. The presentation is semi-documentary, so avoiding the temptation to sensationalise. While understandably presenting things from Roberts’ point of view, it does not whitewash him; on the contrary: the play, born of righteous anger, is both authentic and scarifyingly honest. The story itself is both horrible and moving, even heartwarming; the telling of it is well crafted, both dramatic and cleverly theatrical.”

For Roberts, who has long been a vocal advocate for LGBTQIA+ issues and was the first professional rugby league player to come out as gay, this recognition highlights another facet of his remarkable career. Roberts was also recently appointed to the New South Wales governments first LGBTIQ+ Advisory Council. He is also the current director of Qtopia Sydney, which he co-founded to help preserve LGBTQIA+ history in Sydney and Australia.

Celebrating Emerging Voices

Alongside Roberts and Broun, Olivia Satchell was honoured for her play Ballkids, which examines friendship through a nuanced and joyful lens. Theatre director Lee Lewis praised her work, saying:
“Ballkids is a play that signals Olivia Satchell as a significant voice in the future of Australian theatre. Sophisticated, nuanced, accessible and optimistic Ballkids is a joyous portrait of friendship that reveals Satchell’s gift for understanding humans and transporting them into theatrical shape. This award recognises the achievement hived in Ballkids but also revels in the anticipation of all her plays to come.”

The Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award, established in 2000, continues to spotlight exceptional Australian playwrights, with past winners including the likes of Alana Valentine, Dylan Van Den Berg, and Maxine Mellor.