Cirrus@Austlit

'Against the backdrop of 1950s and 60s suburban Melbourne and in the wake of the Second World War, multi-award-winning writer Patricia Cornelius delivers a poetic, heart-rending tale that unpacks the shadow of war, and the trauma it leaves behind.

'The youngest of Jack and Martha’s five children, Christine idolises her father, especially his stories of wartime heroics. She cannot understand why her siblings – Jill, Johnnie and twins Door and Mouse – don’t share her love for their dad. Jill, meanwhile doesn’t understand why their mum puts up with him. As Christine watches on, one by one her siblings start to rebel against the tumultuous environment they are growing up in. Once fascinated by her father’s war stories, they slowly start to lose their shine as the conflict in Vietnam intensifies and war once again becomes front of mind for the family.'

Source: Production blurb.

'Oscar Wilde’s century-old moral fable, packed with witticisms, is as devilishly wicked today as on its debut.

'Seeing himself in a dazzling new portrait, an exquisite young man makes a Faustian wish for eternal youth. Dorian Gray throws himself into a life of wanton luxury drifting from the pampered salons of Victorian London to the darkest recesses of the capital, and revelling in the splendour of his beauty which remains forever golden. Meanwhile, the portrait – banished to an attic – becomes more and more grotesque.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Meet Barbara and her band the Camp Dogs. Barbara’s been trying to make it in Sydney but maybe this just isn’t her town. In all the relentless demands of city life, where’s the sense of belonging she craves? It’s time to take a break with her cousin René.

With Ursula Yovich as Barbara and Casey Donovan as her redoubtable cousin, Barbara and the Camp Dogs is a rock-gig musical about love and home.' (Production summary)

'In an isolated farmhouse, outside a small country town – a woman and her daughters have just killed their abusive man of the house. Known throughout the district as a cur and a dog, the women set about disposing of his body. However their task becomes fraught when several of the local villagers choose to pay a visit and grow suspicious at their behaviour – will their act become exposed before they can dispose of the body? A lyrical exploration of family, violence and revenge against a backdrop of a brutal, rural Australian landscape.' (Play summary)

'The Season is a humorous insight into the inner workings of a family mutton bird shed on Dog Island (part of the Bass Strait Islands) during the six week harvest season of the mutton birds by Aboriginal Tasmanian people.' 'The story follows the highs and lows of the mutton bird season; with no TV reception and basic living conditions there are lots of shenanigans. Every problem is complicated by the island factor, dealing with extreme weather and ‘family’. There are plenty of tears, truths and laughs to be had during a birding season and at the Maynard’s shed it’s no exception.'

Source: Publisher's blurb; Tasmanian Times.com