The Dictionary of Lost Words

“Do not miss out on the beauty of this show.” Time Out

he Dictionary of Lost Words returns to Sydney after a hugely celebrated interstate tour, which won the hearts of theatre and literature lovers alike.

Pip Williams’ award-winning New York Times bestseller is brought to vivid life in this wildly popular stage adaptation by Verity Laughton. “Filled with humour and historical awareness” (Broadway World) and expertly directed by Jessica Arthur (Grand Horizons, Wonnangatta), it’s no wonder this play has become a runaway success.

It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll has a front row seat. Well, she’s hiding under the sorting table, anyway. As her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go, Esme collects the discarded scraps to compile her own far more magical dictionary. A sweeping historical tale, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of the First World War.