Claudia Boulton (1949 –2021)

Claudia was a talented actress and an accomplished theatre director, but more than all that, she was a true friend known and loved by a wide variety of people from all walks of life. In the early ‘90s, while Chili spent time running the Quanbun Downs cattle station in Western Australia, Claudia managed Lundonia House (rentals, lodging, etc.) in her absence. She also produced and directed many memorable shows at the Gallery, some of which, like the riotous pantomime, CinderAlladin, she wrote herself. Over the last decade, she developed a series of ‘table-top tragedies’ – Greek drama, enacted by Claudia, using everyday objects found in any kitchen as puppets and props. No one who witnessed Claudia’s table-top Oresteia can ever again see a ‘double-wing corkscrew’ without contemplating Clytemnestra’s revenge.

Claudia attended most Gallery openings, a familiar and fun-loving figure who would happily engage with anyone about whatever they were most interested in. She wrote a brief synopsis of her long interaction with the Gallery for Dream No Small Dream, the publication celebrating 40 years of October Gallery. As a thoroughbred thespian, I know thatClaudia would always have wanted to be given the last word…