A jigsaw puzzle is a metaphor for life in a play by a Dayboro resident that has been shortlisted for a prestigious national playwriting award.

Sharyn Durley’s one-act play, Pieces, is one of three finalists in the Edythe Brooke-Cooper Playwriting Competition.

A barrister by day, Sharyn said writing fictional stories was a “really relaxing” departure from her day job.

“To come up with an idea and then sit down and write it, it’s really good because there’s no deadlines, no limits and nothing binding you to anything,” she said.

“I probably spend weeks thinking about it (a story) and when it comes down to actually writing it, it happens really quickly.

“I always think what’s the beginning and what’s the end, and then I have to find what sort of characters will take us from the beginning to the end.”

Sharyn said Pieces, a story about an aged woman trying to finish a jigsaw puzzle while piecing together memories from her life, was written specifically for the Edythe Brooke-Cooper Playwriting competition, which carries a $2000 first prize.

Pieces and the two other shortlisted plays, Sue Sewell’s Once Bitten and Neil Ronald Anderson’s Thicker Than Water, will be performed at the BATS Theatre Company in Buderim this weekend.

It will be the first time Sharyn, who has previously written four stories presented by the Dayboro Players, has been in the audience to watch one of her plays.

“All the other plays I’ve written… I’ve always been behind the stage,” she said.

“I’ve always directed my plays as well, so to hand over my play to somebody else… and to see what somebody else has done with it, that will be a real thrill.”