The Looby Sisters

(Sisters Amanda (left) & Anne)

Inspiration can strike at the most unexpected times. In January 2005, AFI award winning actress Anne Looby’s sister, Amanda, was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Amanda was at the time a healthy, vibrant 37 year old mother of two. The impact that this illness had on her family was devastating and incomprehensible yet empowering, inspiring and ultimately positive.

To watch someone you love endure the shock of diagnosis, the pain of treatment and the emotional rollercoaster that is inherent in any life-threatening disease is very confronting.  As a sibling the sense of being powerless is omnipresent.  “I kept wishing I had chosen a more useful vocation; medicine, physio, naturopathy; anything that would allow me to alleviate her pain.” said Looby.

Looby being a performer – albeit a very well connected one – decided that because LAUGHTER is the best medicine- a prescriptive cure was in order! So, inspired by her courageous sister, she put her skills (and connections) to good use by creating a theatrical vehicle in celebration of breasts (and those who support them) in order to raise both awareness and funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Breast Wishes – An Uplifting Musical was born. 

Breast Wishes is a new Australian musical about love, loss, life and silicon; a witty and heart-warming journey of courage and determination through laughter to triumph. It is a hilarious celebration of breasts, written by some of Australia's most respected comedic and dramatic writers including Merridy Eastman, Jonathan Gavin, Richard Glover, Wendy Harmer, Sheridan Jobbins, James Millar and Debra Oswald, with music and lyrics by Bruce Brown.

Breast Wishes explores the breast in all its glorious forms - we follow the journey of one family and the events that have shaped their breasts - from the humiliation of that first bra fitting through to the excruciating embarrassment of being mammary-challenged or the indignation of being mistakenly perceived as promiscuous because of an ample bossom to ruminating on the joys of motherhood, ah yes, lactation. “I was all set to become Daisy the Contented Cow”! We even allow the bloke’s perspective, courtesy of Richard Glover. “It’s hard not to look.... we’re meant to”. We explore gravity and its impact or as Wendy Harmer puts it “Gravity sucks! And in the face of this universal truth, there’s not a woman I know who hasn’t thought of getting a boob job.” But of course you can’t create a show about breasts and not explore the horror of breast cancer. We gain an insight into the familial experience, from the guilt and anguish of the loved ones to the turmoil and grief of the victim and the impact on the children. All this contained in a show that is in turns both deeply moving and hysterically funny.

Please support "Breast Wishes" and click on the link below to purchase tickets.