We, Wangaratta Players Inc, hosted a very special one-woman play at our Stage Door Theatre on Friday night, the 26th of October 2025.
The Good2Go Project has endeavoured to ‘reshape the narrative around death, dying, grief and loss’ since 2024. They host ‘Death Cafes’ for the community to ‘promote more conversation, more openness and more contemplation on these topics.’ And as a part of their mission, Good2Go hosted Delia Olam’s tour of Swedish Death Cleaning vs Everything (the shed) around North East Victoria for a short while. Delia would perform in rented out spaces, helping to bring awareness to the need for better communication when it comes to death, dying, grief, and loss.
The play was interactive, with Delia welcoming the guests as they entered like old friends. The premise was that she, Delia, called her friends to help her clean out ‘the shed’ 一 a task left to her after the passing of her mother, Gus Saunders-Sexton. Throughout the length of the play, Delia would ask the audience on what things of her mother’s she should keep and what she should discard, subsequently letting the audience choose how her mother would be remembered. She would read them poems about Gus; about her quirks and her love. Delia provided a snippet of her mother, sometimes transforming into her and speaking in her voice. By the end, she had told the audience a story of a woman, one that would be remembered for generations.
Overall, Swedish Death Cleaning vs Everything (the shed) was a brilliant memorial of a mother, a wife, a grandmother, and a woman. Wangaratta Players Inc is proud to have put on such a beautiful show, and we wish to thank the audience for their respect during the performance.
Written by Ailie Witting with the help of Rose Sexton
Photo taken by Rose Sexton