Always My Sister

Overview

Always My Sister, by playwright Michelanne Forster, is based on a true story of murder, dashed hopes, and the testing of sisterly bonds.

Michelanne Forster wrote the play while she held the University of Auckland residency at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in 2011. The centre is situated in the old Signalman’s House on Mount Victoria in Devonport. Forster became fascinated with a true story loosely associated with the house: the brutal murder of a naval officer, his wife and their daughter.

The central character Maggie Reardon became the first and only woman in New Zealand to be transported to Tasmania to serve a seven-year sentence for perjury after lying to protect her husband, Joseph Burns, who committed the crime.