In Conversation with Izabella Day | Red Sky Morning

In today's backstage blog, we spoke to Actor Izabella Day, who's currently rehearsing for Theatre Works' Red Sky Morning, which opens next week at Theatre Works for a two-week season before touring Victoria.

Life in the country can be beautiful and brutally honest. In RED SKY MORNING, we meet a woman, a man, and a girl who live under the same roof but have slowly drifted apart. Over the course of one day, their stories unfold in a series of poetic monologues that reveal love, regret, and the quiet hope that things might get better. Tom Holloway’s award-winning script captures the heart of regional Australia: the early mornings, the long silences, the unspoken care that holds families together. With sharp wit and tender honesty, it reflects the challenges and strength of small-town life, where connection is both fragile and essential.

Q: Welcome to Theatre Works! For anyone who knows nothing about Red Sky Morning other than the show synopsis, what would you tell them first?

Red Sky Morning focuses on the quiet breakdown, and fragile hope, within a rural family. We see the three characters lives unfold over one day through interwoven monologues, rather than traditional dialogue. It is a style of writing and performance that is incredibly technical and engaging to watch. Although these characters share a home, they are emotionally disconnected, speaking past rather than to one another. Their stories overlap and diverge, highlighting how miscommunication, isolation, and unspoken pain shapes family life. What is beautiful about Red Sky is that, even through all of this, the story still leaves room for hope and healing, and the belief that things can get better. 

Q: Tom Holloway's work is known for being intricately woven and interconnected. How do you go about navigating such complex work as a cast?

As a cast, we have to become incredibly technical about how we learn, deliver and perform this script. Red Sky is not a text that you can learn ‘traditionally’ as an actor: we have to deeply invest in our characters stories and navigate the world our characters inhabit. As actors, we have to basically learn the entire script and everyone’s parts. In this process we, as actors, have become so on point with learning every line in this script and delivering our lines with precision and intent. 

This script is an incredible challenge as an actor. It is so rare to ever perform in a show this complex and interwoven, but it has been an absolute pleasure to do so and such a great learning journey! I have learnt so much about my style of acting and the way I learn and deliver text. This experience is making me better in my craft in every way. 

It has been so incredible working with Alpha and Emma on this show, we have created such a beautiful bond that helps us support one another through learning the script and the show as a whole. We are all so committed to navigating the complexity of this work together, and they inspire me everyday, they make me a better person and actor. 

Our wonderful director Lyall has been such a wonderful leader in this process. He has so much trust in us as actors and gives thoughtful, insightful direction that continually strengthens the work. The entire team behind us in this show is incredible, we are so fortunate to be supported by such wonderful creatives in this process. 

Q: Where do you think this work sits, here and now, that differs from its original context in 2008?

I think Red Sky lands a bit differently today than it did in 2008. Back in 2008, when the play was first performed, the play’s focus on rural isolation, depression, and emotional disconnection within a family felt relatively underrepresented in the mainstream culture. Mental health (especially in regional Australia and particularly for men) was often less openly discussed and more stigmatized. Here and now, this same material sits in a context where mental health awareness is far more visible and publicly discussed. 

What I think is important for audiences to see in Red Sky Morning is the obvious neglect or lack of mental health resources available in regional Australia. I hope audiences can reflect on our broader culture and see that this kind of help should be as equally accessible across regional and metropolitan areas in Australia, so that these services are available to anyone at any time. I think what this show reveals is that as a culture we need to create a social standard that encourages people to seek the mental health support that they need when they need it. 

Q: What will surprise audiences about this work?

I think audiences will be surprised that even though the work has fairly deep, emotional themes, the show can actually be quite funny. I know I personally have found so many lovely moments in the show that I am excited for the audience to see alongside the deeper messaging Red Sky has to offer. What is surprising about the work is also how people interpret the shows ending. The show is left quite open to interpretation in the end, which stirs up lovely conversations about the shows major themes. It has been very insightful finding my own response to the play’s ending and it’s lovely to be apart of a show that leaves you in a reflective headspace afterwards. I know this show makes me so aware of my relationship to my loved ones, and gives me incentive to check in with them and reach out: which is super special and makes me see how powerful this show is!!

Q: What has been the most memorable part of the process so far?

We had a beautiful moment as a cast in our first week of rehearsals. We developed the story of this family before the play occurred, and we sat down at the end of the exercise all huddled around hugging one another. It was super touching and that connection is always in the back of my mind when we perform the show. It’s not a connection you really will see on stage, but as the performers, it’s a wonderful tool to ground ourselves in the past lives of the characters. It’s important to find the journey of how this family has shifted and changed over the years and how we can use that to inform the work. It’s also just lovely as actors that we have formed this sincere connection with one another. 

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Red Sky Morning plays 6 - 16 May at Theatre Works, before launching a tour across Victoria.

Click here to get your tickets!