Contemporary Australian Drama (DRAM7516)
Semester 1 / 2010

Texts

y separately published work icon Half and Half Daniel Keene , Sydney Melbourne : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2002 Z970007 2002 single work drama (taught in 1 units)
y separately published work icon Still Angela Jenny Kemp , Sydney : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2002 Z957751 2002 single work drama (taught in 8 units)
y separately published work icon Love Patricia Cornelius , 2003 Hobart : Australian Script Centre , 2004 Z1226600 2003 single work drama (taught in 1 units) 'Tanya, Annie and Lorenzo are on the bottom of the heap. They're young but already the youth has been wrung out of them. They've been abused, they're abusive, and they're difficult to like let alone to love. But it is love in all its distorted and mutated forms that holds them together. Annie and Tanya make a pact; their love will protect them from an unloving world and it will endure. Even the dreadful and charming Lorenzo will not threaten it. Only doubt in each other's love can put a wedge between them.' (Back cover, Currency Press, 2006)
y separately published work icon The Seven Stages of Grieving Wesley Enoch , Deborah Mailman , Hilary Beaton , 1995 Brisbane : Playlab , 1996 Z355402 1995 single work drama (taught in 14 units)
— Appears in: アボリジニ戯曲選 : ストールン; 嘆きの七段階 2001;

'This is a proud milestone in Australian theatre history; a contemporary Indigenous performance text from the highly acclaimed Kooemba Jdarra. Appropriating western forms whilst using traditional storytelling, it gives emotional insight into Murri life. This one-woman show follows the journey of an Aboriginal ‘Everywoman’ as she tells poignant and humorous stories of grief and reconciliation. A powerful, demanding and culturally profound text, The 7 Stages of Grieving is a celebration of Indigenous survival, an invitation to grieve publicly, a time to exorcize pain. It has a universal theme told through the personal experiences of one incredible character.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Playlab).

y separately published work icon Holy Day The Red Sea Andrew Bovell , Sydney : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2001 Z900872 2001 single work drama (taught in 2 units)

'On the white frontier in mid-nineteenth century Australia, a lone, bloodied woman arrives at a traveller's rest in the midst of a violent desert storm with a shocking story to tell. Aborigines have allegedly murdered her husband and stolen her infant child. But an Aboriginal woman has a different story to tell. What would cause a missionary's wife to lie? What chance does the word of an Aboriginal woman have against hers? A chilling mystery that draws together the lives of four extraordinary women and their men, all struggling to survive in a hostile and misunderstood landscape. (1 act, 4 male, 4 female).' (Publication summary)

y separately published work icon Up the Ladder Roger Bennett , Brisbane : Playlab , 1997 Z449855 1997 single work drama (taught in 1 units)
— Appears in: アップザラダ; レイディアンス 2003;
y separately published work icon Blak Inside : 6 Indigenous Plays from Victoria John Harding , Tammy Anderson , Tracey Rigney , Maryanne Sam , Jadah Milroy , Richard Frankland , Playbox Theatre , Strawberry Hills : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2002 Z950463 2002 anthology drama (taught in 1 units)

Contains six plays.

Enuff by John Harding is a frightening and funny play about an Australian future where black patience has run out. A violent uprising is planned for Reconciliation Day – will retribution or forgiveness prevail?

I Don't wanna Play House by Tammy Anderson is the moving story of her childhood. A truly remarkable account of the triumph of the human spirit.

Belonging by Tracey Rigney recounts the taunts and temptations of a school girl, and her personal struggle to remain true to her culture, and herself.

Casting Doubts by Maryanne Sam is a funny, and at times heart-wrenching, play about an actors' casting agency with more colour charts than a paint shop, and the problems that Indigenous actors face.

Crowfire by Jadah Milroy is the story of a young, urban Indigenous Australian woman, and a man from a desert community lured into the city. The moving story of a search for identity and the need for reconciliation.

Conservations with the Dead by Richard J Frankland is a poetic and savage play that takes you into the aching sorrow of deaths in custody.

y separately published work icon The First Play Collection Duong Le Quy , Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2002 Z991171 2002 selected work drama (taught in 1 units)
y separately published work icon Wonderlands Katherine Thomson , 2003 (Manuscript version)x401384 Z1151063 2003 single work drama (taught in 1 units)

Description

This topic examines Australian writing for performance from 1990 to now. It explores how Australian dramatists are engaging with issues in Australian society and how their works are transforming our experience of Australian culture. It also considers the status of dramatic writing in Australia today, particularly in relation to trends in contemporary performance, to the development of new dramatic works, and to the transition of works from stage to screen.

Other Details

Levels: Undergraduate - Honours
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