Julia
'I'm ignited by three small words. I will not.' It's 9 October, 2012. She's been PM for two years and four months and she's worn down. She's been hounded, slurred, dissected, libelled. She's been violated over and over again by words. Julia Gillard's prime ministership was marred by the Australian media monopoly's inability to step over one thing: that she was a woman. A woman who, as a young aspiring lawyer, was told, 'When you are on your way up, don't forget the flowers that grow on the roadside'. There, in the spotlight of Australia's politics and patriarchy, she encounters thorns of the sharpest, cruellest kind. Joanna Murray-Smith's Julia peels back the public mask to attend to the private woman; one who harbours compassion, doubt, rage and ambition. A woman compelled not simply by her own voice, but by the voices of a million others speaking to, and with, her. 'The writing teems with wit, desire and tenderness.' ArtsHub
Secret Bridesmaids' Business and It's My Party (And I'll Die If I Want To)
It's the night before Meg's wedding. She and her bridesmaids are planning to kick up their heels as the final hours before the big day tick down. However not everything goes according to plan as a last minute scandal threatens to ruin the whole affair. Elizabeth Coleman's delightful characters bring this seriously funny play to life. Never far from reality, Secret Bridesmaids' Business exposes the insanity that can be created as the wedding juggernaut threatens to swerve out of control. Marriage may be a wonderful thing, but after a night like this, well, could it really be worth it?Ron Patterson has 111 minutes to live, so he decides to invite the kids around for sausage rolls, salads and a bit of quality time. As he attempts to tie up the loose ends of his life, all the juicy neuroses of this very dysfunctional family come out of the closet, and his well planned last party starts to unravel. It's My Party (And I'll Die If I Want To) is an excellent black comedy that keeps the surprises coming until the very end.
Never Closer
Northern Ireland, 1987. Deirdre is stuck - between arguments, nations, and the lives she almost lived. But when her old schoolfriends gather in her kitchen yet again for Christmas Eve, their growing differences push to the surface a powder-keg, waiting the tiniest spark. And then one of them turns up with her surprise fianc矇.He's English.Set against the backdrop of The Troubles, this brilliant debut play is an unforgettable drama of home, friends, the decision to leave or stay, and the possibility of forgiveness.
Honest Hour
A captivating piece of naturalistic theatre featuring an all female-identifying cast. A regular girls' night in takes a turn when a group of friends decide to play a game of anonymous truth-telling. Find out what happens when the walls come down and all barriers are removed. Will uni mates Kat, Izzy, Becks, Fi and Flo welcome the honesty or will it damage their relationships for good? An entertaining comedy/drama that will have you invested throughout. Requiring only one simple living room set, this play is ideal for low-faff, low cost productions.
The Harp in the South Trilogy
The Harp in the South Trilogy follows the trials and tribulations of the Darcy family over thirty years, from country New South Wales in the 1920s to the inner-city slums of Surry Hills in the 1950s. The beating heart of this exuberant play is its carousel of characters. From hard-boozing Hugh Darcy and his long-suffering 'Missus' Margaret, to their children, sensitive and romantic Roie, smart and sassy Dolour, and poor little Thady who ran out onto the overcrowded road and has been trying to find his way home ever since. Along the way there's the Chinese greengrocer Lick Jimmy, who tempts Dolour with his 'poor man's oranges', no-nonsense brothel madam Delie Stock, who tempts everyone with her girls, and handsome young Charlie Rothe, who tempts Roie with the promise of a better life. Kate Mulvany brings her trademark humour and tenderness to bear on Ruth Park's much-loved novels in this epic adaptation. Join the Darcy family as they journey through laughter and tragedy, booze and blood, poverty and cruelty, but most of all love.
Intersection
'Remember when you asked me if I wanted to be in a high-speed heist that was going to turn the school on its head and make me an online sensation?'Bin Day by Megan RundleAs dawn breaks, the Sustainability Club's plans to prove once and for all that they must be taken seriously are about to surprise everyone-including themselves. A blanket fort provides a space for two estranged siblings to express the things they've been too afraid to say. Dressed in an itchy lavender turtleneck, Laura finds she isn't quite ready to come out of the toilet and face Nan's friends and their egg and lettuce sandwiches. Can a Rat and a Bird navigate the cheesy world of teen romance? And in Principal Nelson's office, hockey stick in hand, Annelise Ashley is ready to bring in a new regime. Each year, ATYP brings together 20 emerging playwrights from across Australia to create short plays for teenage performers. Intersection: Dawn is a selection of these funny, moving and surprising plays, written by some of the country's best new writers, and first performed at ATYP's Intersection Festival.
Back at the Dojo
After nearly losing his mind in the abandon of 1960s America, young Danny finds his way again with the help of an enigmatic sensei. At a New Jersey karate dojo, he and other mislaid souls make their way back into the world, and Danny bumps into a woman called Lois. Meanwhile, in present-day Australia, Danny's long-lost grandchild has decided to become Patti Smith...From the marvellous mind of Lally Katz comes a modern romance about wanderlust, love and karate. Inspired by the true events that brought her parents together, Back at the Dojo is a ravishing, nourishing story about the myths families live by.
Just So Stories On Stage
This book is a collection of plays that have been adapted from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The scripts can be used as performance plays, readers' theatre or just used to promote reading in groups. The plays in the collection are: How the Camel got his Hump, How the Elephant got his Trunk, How the Whale got his Throat, How the Rhinoceros got his Skin, How the Leopard got his Spots, The Cat that Walked by Himself, The Crab that Played with the Sea, The Beginnings of Armadillo, The Butterfly that Stamped, The Sing Song of Old Man Kangaroo.
W I Night
Benevolent dictator Marjory runs her small W I group her way and woe betide anyone who thinks differently. All is well until an interloper from another branch challenges her for the chairwoman's role on AGM night, testing the friendships and loyalties of the group to the core. Comedy-drama with occasional swearing.
In Search of The Lost Galaxy
In Search of The Lost Galaxy is a 2 act stage play.An old man, worried that he is losing his mind, seeks the help of a psychiatrist to analyse the mysterious dreams that he's been having.As each dream is relayed by the old man, a disturbing story unfolds.The lines of fantasy and reality become blurred, but remain inexplicably linked.Who are the characters in the old man's dreams and why do they haunt him so?A heartbreaking journey of discovery that will resonate with many family members.
The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table
'Let this table be a home for me. Let it be a home for all the lost and the hungry. May all my children and my children's children eat at this table.'In the 1870s a girl is born under a tree - her birth tree - chosen to give her strength and wisdom. When the tree is cut down she follows it into the white man's world, working as a cook for the big house on the island. Her tree has become a kitchen table, one she will pass down through successive generations as a legacy - a way of carving out her family stories. Now, generations later, a young man and his mother fight for ownership of the table.The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table is a moving testament to culture lived, lost and found, the strength of family, adapting and gathering together.
First Nations Monologues
First Nations Monologues brings together over 30 bold texts, each an excerpt from a play written by esteemed playwrights such as Jada Alberts, Kodie Bedford, Wesley Enoch, Andrea James, Leah Purcell, and many more. These gritty and poignant monologues, from a range of genres including comedies, dramas, and biographies, are selected from plays that have captivated audiences in leading theatres, often breaking box office records.First Nations Monologues pays homage to the diverse perspectives that resonate throughout the country, embodying a timeless ritual of storytelling that remains crucial as First Nations people continue to endure, resist, and thrive. Through this anthology, the voices and lived experiences of First Nations individuals are honoured, contributing to a body of work that seeks to decolonise and prioritise vital narratives.Muruwari playwright Jane Harrison has curated a collection of monologues that speaks to the multivalent experiences and unyielding spirit of First Nations communities.
Whitefella Yella Tree
A love story unfolds. Under a lemon tree, two teenage boys meet in the light of a full moon. Neddy, a wannabe warrior from the Mountain Mob, and Ty, a storyteller from the River Mob, are tasked with exchanging information about the strangers who have landed on their shores. Starting out defensively, full of teenage bravado, their uneasy friendship grows into tender love; they're young men on the brink of an adulthood that promises all love has to offer. But trailing their every move is an army of invaders, bringing with them cultural shifts, moral judgement and deadly disease. When history comes knocking, love is tested to its limits. Whitefella Yella Tree by Dylan Van Den Berg is a stunning exploration of young, queer love and Country in the midst of invasion, told with a fierce poetic vision and razor-sharp wit. Winner of the 2023 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Playwriting.
Mnemonic
One of the most astonishing discoveries of modern times is the immensity of the past mnemonic / ni'monik / adj. 1. assisting or intended to assist memory; 2. of memory A body is found in the ice, and a woman is looking for her father while a man searches for his lost lover. This story is as much about origins as it is about memory, and remembering what is lost. As relevant in 2024 as it was in 1999, Mnemonic asks us: what is our place in the natural world? How have human relationships with the environment shaped patterns of migration? Who are we, and where do we come from? Conceived and directed by Complicit矇's Artistic Director and Co-founder, Simon McBurney. This edition was published to coincide with the production at the National Theatre's Olivier Theatre from June to August 2024.
Duck
I've always been known for my timing. It's what makes me a great batsman... Today, I've got the worst timing known to man. It's the summer of 2005, England prepares to win the Ashes, and Ismail is about to become the youngest ever player in his elite public school's First XI cricket team. He sets his sights on immortality to break the school batting record and get his name into Wisden. But things are about to heat up. Recipient of the Pleasance's Charlie Hartill Fund 2024, from award-winning playwright maatin, Duck explores the challenges of adolescence, the pressures of sporting competition, and what it means to establish your own identity. This edition was published to coincide with the run at the Pleasance Courtyard at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2024.
A History of Paper
Winner of a Fringe First Award 2024What use is paper? To speak.To imagine. To remember. It starts when she puts a note through his letterbox. 'Hello Number 4, this is Number 6. Please could you SHUT THE **** UP? Ta.' Not a promising beginning, but... they meet, they fall in love, they get married. Then one day a letter arrives that will change them, and the world, forever... Oliver Emanuel and Gareth Williams's A History of Paper is a musical love story about a man and a woman and the little bits of paper that make up a life. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere Dundee Rep and Traverse Theatre co-production at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre in August 2024.
VL
Winner of a Fringe First Award 2024Winner of the Popcorn Writing Award 2024 Here, you. Are you a VL? Max and Stevie are just two wee guys trying to survive in an ordinary Scottish secondary school. But to survive, sometimes you need to hide. And there's no hiding when you're a VL. A VL is a Virgin Lips. It means you've never kissed a lassie, or a laddie. But it's so much more than that. And the longer you stay a VL, the more of a VL you become. Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair, the Fringe First Award-winning writers of Square Go, team up again for another raucous and riotous comedy about status in a chaotic hormonal pressure cooker... This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Paines Plough's Roundabout, produced by Francesca Moody Productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.
The Constituent
I am not your punch bag! I am a Member of Parliament! An MP with an instinct for compassion. An ex-serviceman with a life in free fall. And a parliamentary protection officer who's having none of it.? This volatile new play by Olivier Award-winner Joe Penhall deconstructs politics, panic alarms and the conflict between public service and personal safety.? Published to coincide with the world premiere at London's Old Vic starring Anna Maxwell Martin and James Corden in June 2024.
How I Learned to Swim
Shortlisted for the Popcorn Writing Award 2024 Grieving is weird and expensive. Jamie can't swim. Fuelled by guilt and a need to mend her broken family, at 30 years old, she's taking on her biggest fear - the ocean. With the help of a chipper swim instructor, a shady spiritual guide, and one cathartic crab sandwich, she questions, 'How many lengths does it take to wash away regret?' Brilliantly witty, deeply heartfelt, this play explores what lies beneath the surface of the Black diasporic relationship to water. Somebody Jones's searing debut How I Learned to Swim is 'funny with fear, liberating with grief' (Fringe Review) and impossible to walk away from unchanged. This edition was published to coincide with the Prentice Productions show at Summerhall's Roundabout, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2024.
Jobsworth
As far as I'm concerned, why get paid to sit on my arse at home when I can get paid to sit on my arse in a lobbyWhere I also get paid Bea's secretly working three full-time jobs. All at the same time. And she's still financially f*cked. Between looking after luxury flats and dogsitting the world's ugliest pooch, she's neck-deep in employers and it's only a matter of time until someone finds out she's breaking all her contracts. Armed with nothing but her smarmiest boss' dirty secret, can Bea get herself out of the red and into the black (and into the fit intern's bed)? Or will the plates she's been spinning come crashing down around her and her dysfunctional family? Jobsworth is a riotous comedy about snakes and surviving capitalism written by Isley Lynn and Libby Rodliffe. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at the Pleasance Courtyard, at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2024.
Stake Out
Whilst Detective Harris and Detective Damote are on a stake out to gather evidence on a perpetrator who has been assaulting young women, a freak event leads to a DNA match on the most notorious sex offender the world has ever seen and this sets alarm bells ringing across every possible law enforcement agency. Only one problem though. The offender committed suicide in detention four years previously. Or did he? The ensuing cover ups and shifting alliances beat a path to the highest positions of office in the land and the upper echelons of corporate America. Before long Harris and Damote discover an enemy in their ranks. Special Agent Stonehouse of the FBI, acting on orders from up high, is doing whatever it takes to bury the evidence that Chad Levenstein faked his suicide. This sets the stage for a stand-off between Len Wyatt, the director of the FBI and Edward Baker, the police commissioner of the NYPD, around which a small team of incorruptible and determined individuals slowly unravel the machinations of the rich and powerful. Soon the bodies start piling up. Who is pulling the strings behind the scenes? Can detectives Georgina Harris and Paul Damote bring the whole cabal down? And will they themselves live to tell the tale? One by one the pieces of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. All except the most important piece of all. They need to identify Chad Levenstein as he is now. Face altering surgery would have afforded him the luxury to move freely as he had done before and to continue child trafficking with impunity. Business as usual. The clock is ticking. Time is running out. If they don't succeed soon, Levenstein will go to ground and the chance of a life time would have slipped through their hands. Sex, murder, duplicity and betrayal all play their part in the battle between good and evil; a story of David and Goliath and a warning to the elite of the world that perhaps they were no longer the untouchables they thought they were. This is a story of how a handful of people with integrity and sheer determination can triumph against all odds over high level crime and a lesson that obscene power does not always equate to impunity.
Great Bars of New York City
Acclaimed photographers James and Karla Murray invite readers inside the doors of thirty legendary watering holes to discover how each has contributed to the social and cultural fabric of New York City. For nearly three centuries, people have been gathering in New York City taverns, bars, and pubs. Celebrating the historical significance of thirty of those establishments, this book features gorgeous full-color photographs by James and Karla Murray, the award-winning team behind Store Front NYC. Each drinking den is paired with engaging descriptions that capture the location's unique identity, penned by journalist Dan Q. Dao. There's the White Horse Tavern, frequented by writers such as Dylan Thomas and James Baldwin; the Stonewall Inn, renowned for its role in the LGBTQ+ rights movement; the King Cole Bar in the St. Regis Hotel, a sophisticated lounge adorned with a mural by Maxfield Parrish; and quintessential neighborhood dive Rudy's Bar & Grill, where cheap beer and free hot dogs are served with a side of vintage grittiness. Filled with legends and stories, it also includes a map. Whether they're looking to soak up some NYC history or raise a glass to fit their mood, this helpful guide will ensure readers that they'll find a place to have a good, stiff drink.
Macbeth Study Guide
This is a comprehensive study guide of Shakespeare's great tragedy play, Macbeth written in 1605. It examines 37 key extracts from the play in terms of meaning, historical context, and the effective use of language and literary devices. The study guide is full of fascinating background information which will help students prepare for exam questions on Macbeth. Paul De Marco is the author of 16 books including Fatima 2017, Our Lady of Lourdes, Gallipoli, The Somme, Ypres, Coping with Dementia, Upon this rock I will build my Church, and For the love of a Fox.
The Girls in Grey
Set in World War I, The Girls in Grey tells the story of three Australian Army nurses. The play shows how history can be dynamically interpreted through drama. It challenges the audience to rethink female identity in WWI and provides a female perspective on the ANZAC legend. Four actors perform the play: three female and one actor playing all the male characters representing each character through voice and gesture. The show features minimalist performance styles and staging allowing the text and use of ritual gesture to provide the landscape. Other non-naturalistic conventions used are tableaux, exaggerated movement, direct address and heightened use of language.
Mother
Mother is a one-woman play that tells the story of Christie, a homeless woman in a world detached, unforgiving and destructive. It gives voice to the fallen and dispossessed, to those who exist at the edge of safety, at the point of being undone. It speaks of madness, denial, ignorance and free-falling poverty. Utterly devastating, yet written with Daniel Keene's characteristic lyricism, Mother is wrought with tenderness, violence and loneliness in equal measure.
Radiance
Radiance is an exuberant black sabbath for three great Indigenous dames. Cressy, Nora and Mae are half-sisters with little in common except the ghosts of their childhood. They gather in the tropical Queensland landscape for Mum's funeral. These three sisters are a force of nature, and they haven't been in the same room for many, many years. It isn't long before that old house can't contain the joy and pain of them all being together again.
Highway of Lost Hearts
A woman. A dog. A campervan. And 4,500 kms of wide open road. Mot wakes up one morning to find that her heart is missing from her chest. She can breathe; she has a pulse'but she feels... nothing. So, she decides to go and look for it. With her dog enlisted as co-pilot, Mot heads down the highway of lost hearts into the deepest core of the Australian outback - navigating red dirt landscapes, fire and flood, brittle dryness, vast salt lakes, age-old mountains and murky waters filled with lost souls. An allegory for a country that's lost its heart, Highway of Lost Hearts is half gritty road journey, half magic realism and all heart. It leaves you pondering the question: when your heart goes missing, what lengths will you go to in order to find it again?
Fearless
Fearless investigates the many portals of loneliness. Ten characters inhabit the world of Fearless. Each character flinches at a point in their lives. In that moment, each life is unexpectedly hurled off its normal pat into an emotional abyss. Fearless begins at this juncture where redemption, recovery, release or relapse is but an inch from each person's grasp.
Namatjira and Ngapartji Ngapartji
Namatjira and Ngapartji Ngapartji go right to the heart of the intersection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous experience. These stories of family, friendship, land, myth, life and death are contextualised within the social and political framework of their times. They resonate universally, yet at the same time capture unique moments in Australian history and experience. Namatjira tells the moving story of Albert Namatjira (1902-1959). Namatjira was Australia's most famous Indigenous watercolour artist and the first to achieve commercial success, but his story is hardly known. Albert Namatjira's story resonates today as strongly as it did 50 years ago, providing a lens through which we can see the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians both in the past and the present. Taking its name from the Pitjantjatjara concept of exchange and reciprocity, Ngapartji Ngapartji co-created with Trevor Jamieson is a deeply affecting experience of Indigenous history. Exploring themes of dispossession and displacement from country, home and family, the play tells the story of a Pitjantjatjara family forcibly moved off their lands to make way for the testing of British atomic bombs at Maralinga.
The First Garden
The First Garden tells the story of Olive Pink - a trailblazing Aboriginal land rights activist and environmentalist. Ridiculed by her peers and shunned by the Alice Springs community for espousing ideals that were considered to be outlandish she was viewed as a public nuisance, to be barely tolerated. However, due to her vigor and vision the Olive Pink Botanical Garden was established in Alice Springs. The First Garden also touches on key narratives in modern Australian identity, seamlessly incorporating Aboriginal rights, environmentalism, the Gallipoli legend and feminism into its gentle rhythmic tone. This reflects a maturation of our society, where we are prepared not only to acknowledge but also to reconcile.
The Village's Royal Secret
The Village's Royal Secret In the shadowy village of Elderton, a storm rages as Alex, Eleanor, and Mr. Thompson uncover a powerful artifact hidden within a decaying manor. When an enigmatic figure from the Shadow Keepers appears, the trio finds themselves entangled in a web of ancient prophecies and sinister motives. As they delve deeper into the artifact's mysteries, they discover its potential to either restore balance or unleash chaos. With the fate of the village hanging in the balance, they must navigate treacherous secrets and confront the hidden forces that threaten to tear their world apart. "The Village's Royal Secret" is a gripping tale of intrigue, danger, and the quest for truth, where every revelation brings them closer to a perilous truth that could change everything.
Williamson
David Williamson is the most popular, prolific and produced playwright in Australian history. These four comedies consolidate his place as a great dramatic entertainer. Williamson turns his unflinching gaze on the foibles and follies of married life and life itself. In Jack of Hearts, Williamson has written his charm into a lovable loser who does his best to disprove the theory that nice guys always finish last. In Cruise Control three philandering, bickering and workaholic couples board a cruise ship travelling from London to New York for seven days of marital healing. Dream Home follows Dana and Paul, whose dream turns into a nightmare when they discover their perfect beachside flat is festering with neighbours' grudges, death threats, come-ons, heart-to-hearts, the smell of oysters ... and Paul's ex-girlfriend living upstairs in the throes of regret. In Happiness, Williamson follows Roland, a professor of Wellbeing, and his cynical wife Hanna as they grapple with the elusiveness of the emotion.
Dreams in White
When wealthy property developer Michael Devine goes missing, his wife Anne and daughter Amy fear the worst. As the pieces of Michael's disappearance start falling into place, the picture reveals a scandalous secret. On the other side of town, Paula and Gary Anderson have an unwanted visitor. Regretting ever having let Ray Wimple creep into their lives, they're now stuck with his unwelcome and insistent attention. When these two very different worlds collide, one fateful event will transform both families forever.
David Williamson
Australia's most well-known playwright, David Williamson, returns with four new plays'three comedies that demonstrate his continued skill at tapping into the zeitgeist, alongside a sweeping historical drama. In Nearer the Gods, Williamson brilliantly recreates Sir Isaac Newton's battle with the Royal Society to prove his astonishing universal theory of gravity. In Sorting Out Rachel Williamson steps onto fertile ground with a social comedy about legacy, greed, entitlement and making good on past relationships. In The Big Time best friends are put to the test in a satirical comedy set in the celebrity world of TV, film and theatre. In Odd Man Out a couple navigate the emotional terrain of a new relationship, which turns out to be less typical than either of them expect.
Brumby Innes and Bid Me To Love
Written in the 1920s, Brumby Innes confronts the turbulent relations between the sexes and the races in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is published with another Prichard play from the 1920s, Bid Me To Love, set in fashionable white rich society in the lush hills outside Perth. The two plays are compelling for their dramatic styles and for their insight into the novels which followed: Coonardoo and Intimate Strangers. This new edition includes introductions from Maryrose Casey and Jacqueline Wright.
Normal
An urban detective story in which the investigator is a teenage girl and the body is her own. Poppy has developed a tic. A twitch. A spasm. It spreads through her body, then her group of school friends and before long, the whole town. Nobody can explain it, but as the disease spreads, the community begins to fracture along lines that turn into deep fissures. Who or what is to blame? And how are they going to fix it? Inspired by the true story of 'the town that caught Tourette's', this new work by award-winning playwright Katie Pollock is dark, provocative and theatrically inventive. Normal is the winner of the Inscription/Edward Albee Playwriting Scholarship and the Ingenious Grant from Town Hall Theatre, MA (USA).
The Lewis Trilogy
Spanning five decades from 1962 to 2017, The Lewis Trilogy follows Louis Nowra's occasional hero, sometime narrator and perennial misfit, Lewis, as he struggles to find and understand his place in the changing world around him. In Summer of the Aliens, Lewis is a young man on the cusp of adulthood, growing up in a Melbourne housing commission. Set against the backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis, the play is a coming-of-age story about sex and family, alien invasions, and suburban tragedies played out behind closed doors. In Cosi, Lewis is fresh out of university and directing Mozart's Cosi fan tutte with the inmates of a mental institution. As anti-Vietnam protests take place in the streets outside, Lewis finds himself stepping off the sidelines to become emotionally involved with his actors' lives. In This Much is True, Lewis is a writer 'between divorces' and temporarily adrift among the outsiders and dropouts of an inner-city Sydney pub. Older, and possibly wiser, Lewis is once more drawn into a world of colourful characters, all of them searching for magic in the mundane. Lewis' constant search for connection plays out against the evolving hopes and battles of Australian society - just like us, only more extraordinary.
Annele Balthasar
First performed in 1924, Annele Balthasar is a poetic drama set in the time of the witch hunts which raged in Europe for two centuries. Nathan Katz (1892-1981), the author, is considered to be "the most original Alsatian poet since the Middle-Ages." This book contains translations in English and in German of the play, as well as the original text in Alemannic. There were never more "witches" burned than in the time of Descartes.Jacob Rogozinski ANNELESeven judges sit at court... years pass by... years are gone... Seven skulls rot underground... PRESIDENTYou must answer what you are asked!... ANNELEBut I am but a poor maiden from Willer... And now you want to hurt me... with you rough hands! PRESIDENTWhen did the Evil Spirit come to you? Now, answer! ANNELEHe came to the little window... Don't be so wild, you bad boy... what if you break a windowpane... what then!But don't be so wild, I say!... - You've stolen a little carnation from the windowsill!... Oh, you're so sly, you!... You only wanted to make me come outside, to scold after you!... I knew it! PRESIDENTYou went sometimes to the witches' dance? ANNELEI had no more peace, day or night!... He screamed for me! He whinnied above the barn roofs! He has torn apart trees! I was lying so warm under the bedcover!... I was awake... when he sometimes whispered sweet things from outside, as if a breeze were going through a thicket of peonie stalks!... I heard him the whole night! I cried in my pillows!... PRESIDENTYou have gone with them onto the Fuchsberg! ANNELEJuchu! Juchu!! We rode through the night... out through the chimney... on the broomstick! Like the wind! Juchu!... Riding over the churchyards... over the woods, over the villages! - - At Old Ferrette, we have danced around the gallows! As fast as the wind! Just like the wind! - - Isn't that a merrymaking, my sweetheart, my betrothed... Haha! Over the woods, over the dells, over the dark villages, all over!... Naked we danced under the pines! The little owls were shrieking for us... The dogs whined... After that, someone died in the village.
Jump for Jordan
Aspiring archaeologist Sophie left home when she was only 20, much to the shame of her traditional Jordanian mother. Six years later, losing sleep and petrified by the judgement of her visiting 'mad Arab' Aunty Azza, Sophie is forced to lie about her life, her career and the existence of her Aussie partner. Worst of all is the fear that she's also lying to herself. Looking deep into the heart of Sydney and beyond, Jump for Jordan unpacks the experience common to countless second-generation Australians of being caught between two cultures. Sifting through shifting layers of past and present, farce and fantasy, it's one woman's mad, messy excavation of her own history, and her attempt to piece together the broken bits of her identity. Jump for Jordan took out the Griffin Award in 2013, wowing the judges with its vitality and ambition. It was also awarded the 2015 AWGIE for Stage.
Deceptive Threads
A singing spy, a hawker's lie... How do you reconcile a family history littered with secrets? Deceptive Threads tells the extraordinary true stories of David Joseph's grandfathers - one a Tivoli singer turned ASIO spymaster who vetted 'unwanted' arrivals, the other an early Lebanese immigrant who had to lie about his birthplace to gain Australian naturalisation. In this award-winning solo show, Joseph explores race, belonging, history, and national identity to theatrically illuminate the personal in the political. Deftly untangling the threads linking his family's connection to Australia's racist past and its present dilemma over asylum seekers, he explores the nexus between the government control of immigration and the 'unwelcome' immigrant.
Pinocchio and The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper It is the strangest yellow, that wallpaper! It makes me think of all the yellow things I ever saw - not beautiful ones like buttercups, but old foul, bad yellow things - It is like a bad dream. It creeps all over the house. A recuperating woman, a misguided husband, a hideously papered bedroom. The Yellow Wallpaper is a shrewd blend of physical performance and subtly subversive text - a gothically patterned tale which challenges the boundaries between care and control, madness and liberationPinocchio It all began with an ordinary block of wood. Welcome to the fantastical - and dark - world of Pinocchio. An epic adventure of danger, villainy and excitement, told through multiple characters, mask, puppetry, song and plenty of hilarious audience interaction! An engaging, innovative reimagining of Carlo Collodi's cautionary tale about the little wooden puppet who wants to become a real boy. Don't miss this magical and unique adaptation that draws on the traditions of the travelling storytellers of a bygone era and - of course - Commedia dell'Arte.
Control
A heavily pregnant ex-ballerina, a child detective, a bitter puppeteer and a feminist pop princess hurtle towards Mars. The world is watching. Isn't it? On the eve of a revolution, Nicki and Caroline attempt to gain control over their lives as their A.I. superior, Alex, dances the night away. And on New Earth, Esta and Isabelle forge hope through a new kind of relationship. First presented by Red Stitch in 2019, Control is a startling and provocative new work by Keziah Warner that explores humanity's desire to dictate how we're perceived by others. Told across several decades, and in locations from Melbourne to Mars, Control delves deep into our relationship with technology: its moral ambiguities, its dependencies, and its potential.
Dead Cat Bounce
As if their 20-year age gap wasn't trouble enough, Matilda's fighting for space with Gabe's long-time bedfellows: misery, booze and writerly angst. She's not even convinced he's over his ex-girlfriend and publisher Angela, who was hooked on picking up his pieces. If Gabe wants to get sober, he'll have to abandon his image as tragic writer betrothed to the bottle. And if Angela's really trying to let Gabe go, like her partner Tony needs her to, she should probably say goodbye to Gabe's wretched cat, which she's somehow still looking after. Mary Rachel Brown (The Dapto Chaser) wields her razor-sharp wit to ask painfully familiar questions around romance and addiction: how do we find the strength to be loved? Why do we cling to people intent on pushing us away? And how do we shake off the past, when the bastard won't stop tailing us? Dead Cat Bounce finds humour in the everyday muck, with characters that hit rock bottom-and keep digging.
Lake Disappointment
Kane and I were both rising stars. I was rising to the top of the hand-modelling world and Kane was doing his plays. Kane got his first action film and I became his double. We clicked. Everyone said so.' Kane is one of the world's biggest movie stars. His body double has been there from the start, sharing more than just looks with his famous counterpart. The body double and Kane are to work on Lake Disappointment'an independent arts film that might see them win prestigious awards and fame. This one-person play of mirrors and mannerisms explores the strange world of the body double. It makes unique contributions to timeless theatrical concepts of images and representation. Lake Disappointment is an unusual new work about ego, self-fashioning, and illusions.
Diving For Pearls
Katherine Thomson's story about aspiration and reinvention is one of the great Australian plays. Set in Wollongong during the economic rationalism of the late 80s, Diving for Pearls remains startlingly relevant - the political decisions of that time planted the seeds of divide we continue to witness between those with opportunity, and those without. With the town she grew up in changing all around her, Barbara is determined to change with it. Dreaming of a way out, she sets her sights on landing a job at one of the new resorts popping up all over town. Meanwhile, her partner Den is having change forced upon him. The steelworks he's worked at his whole life has been sold and Den must reinvent himself to survive. The arrival of Barbara's daughter, Verge, just might be the thing that tips Barbara and Den over the edge.
Smurf in Wanderland
David Williams - acclaimed documentary theatre maker, writer and football fanatic - is the 'Smurf'. For the uninitiated, 'Smurf' is the nickname given to a Sydney Football Club fan. During the 2013-14 A League football season, Williams, a long-suffering Sydney FC fan, frequented Western Sydney Wanderers' games on their home turf in Parramatta. Kitted out in his Sydney FC sky-blue jersey, Williams-the-Smurf stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of red and black. His presence caused bewilderment and banter, but none of the hooliganism that's come to be associated with the game - he didn't need to fear for his life. Developed during Williams' 2015 residency, Smurf in Wanderland is one man's insightful and hilarious examination of football, tribalism, belonging and identity. It's also a passionate defence of the fan - what it means to be a fan, the demonisation of fans and the artificial wedge that has been created between Sydney and its western suburbs.
