as victims of their class, masculinity and mateship. Director Steven Vidler said the film was not about a rape, rather it was "about the culture that allowed it to happen." Vidler defended the choice to give the rape victim a minor role, stating, "It was important to show that this could have happened to anyone. We didn't want to give away too much about the victim so we could maintain that suspense." Producer David Elfick said that the film was about contemporary Australia; about "kids who have all their life to enjoy, then a deadly mixture of drugs, alcohol, sexual tension, and desire add up to a tragedy." Production Theatrical origins Brian Joyce, the director of Newcastle's Freewheels Theatre in Education, approached playwright Nick Enright, encouraging him to create a play that explored themes around the 1989 rape and murder of Leigh Leigh in Stockton, a beach area of Newcastle. Leigh's family objected to the fictionalisation of her murder. Titled A Property of the Clan, the 45-minute play premiered at the Freewheels Theatre in 1992 and was performed at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1993. The play was shown at various high-schools in the Newcastle area and, following its positive reception, was shown nationally at high schools across the country over a period of eighteen months. In 1994, the Sydney Theatre Company commissioned Enright to develop the play into a feature-length production. The resulting play was titled Blackrock. Blackrock retained the original four characters from A Property of the Clan, and added nine others; it was considered a more fictionalised version of Leigh's murder. The narrative and emphasis were reshaped for an adult audience rather than for a specifically educational environment. Film adaptation While the revisions to the play Blackrock were still being finalised, Enright started working with first-time director Steven Vidler to direct a film version, which would also be titled Blackrock. By December 1995, Vidler was working with Enright as an unofficial script editor, although they were having trouble finding financing for the film. Vidler said he considered directing the film Blackrock after having watched and been moved by the theatrical version, saying the play was "absolutely what it was like [for him] growing up in the Western Suburbs... It's about keeping bonded with your mates. Nothing else matters... It's about the unbelievable lengths boys will go to keep those bonds solid." Leigh's mother Robyn campaigned