It’s not often that a play is performed on the stage for which it was written, but Max Harvey’s Cocky’s Crossing returns to the Garrick Theatre this month – 20 years after its opening night.

Mr Harvey, a long-time Mundaring resident and veteran musician, designed it to fit on the stage which he most loved and where he has performed in more than 40 plays.

Cocky’s Crossing is a rollicking musical set in the middle of a cyclone in outback Australia where a group of European tourists are stranded in the bar of the Railway Hotel with an assortment of colourful locals.

It’s a story about an Englishman who thought he’d bought a pub, but got diddled because he ended up with only half of it and has no money left to go back home.

The play unfolds through the vivid imagination of the Englishman’s daughter, a demure girl with an alter ego that is sexy and sensuous, proud and tempestuous. She transforms herself into someone who is beautiful and brave – and if she doesn’t drive men to drink, she kills them. Every character has their moment to shine and take centre stage at some point.

Mr Harvey wrote the words and scored the music, which ranges from Mexican, to Charleston, ballad, country and robust western, with a love song for good measure.

Director Susan Vincent has gathered an enthusiastic and talented crew and cast, with Kendra Smith as musical director and choreography by Kerry Goode.