Cirrus@Austlit

'Enchanting, amusing, life-affirming and wise.' Toni Pearen

'Sometimes the best compass to follow is your heart.

'Actress Rachael Coopes had a serious boyfriend and successful career in Australia when she was awarded a scholarship to study at a renowned clown school in Paris.

'It was the opportunity of a lifetime, so she upped sticks and fully surrendered herself to the possibilities of Paris. Cue a coveted pied-à-terre with a view of the Eiffel Tower, quaffing champagne at midnight with her glamorous new amies, and learning how to flirt in French. But for all its charm and sensual pleasures, Paris had a hard lesson or two to teach her about life, and love.

'Paris for Beginners is about growing up (even when you're already, supposedly, a fully-fledged adult) and figuring out what you need in life, set against the perennially alluring backdrop of the City of Lights.'(Publication summary)

'“Across the great dividing ranges lies another great divide. Between us and them. Dreamed and the dreaming. Haves and have-nots. Gold and dust. Coppers and gangs. Always an us, and always a them. Big sparkling city chewing them up, spitting them out, pushing them over the mountains to us.”

'It’s Rayleen’s birthday, but she’s not getting excited.  She and three other teenagers are caught in an interrogation room. Their lives overlap but their challenges are very different. In this town, the past is with you everywhere you go, looking over your shoulder, whispering songs of survival. It’s hard to live for the moment when you can’t see a future.  Particularly when the past keeps closing doors.

'Developed over three years in partnership with the Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, this powerful new play looks at the experiences of generations of teenagers in this regional NSW town. Part drama, part music, part ghost story, it’s a personal tale that reflects experiences from towns across Australia. Rachael Coopes and Guy Webster, part of the creative force behind the multi-award winning Sugarland, bring to life another unique Australian story.'

Source: ATYP.

'Sugarland provides a glimpse into a teenage Australia that feels like a foreign country. This haunting new play will make you pause, make you smile, make you wonder how much can be real.

'Erica's Dad is in the RAAF so her life gets a transplant every few years. Now she's in year eleven she's stopped trying to fit in. What does it matter; she'll be out of there in a few years anyway. Nina's good at school but that's not important. She needs a house to live in. And she needs it soon. She's been living at her Auntie's so she can go to school in town, but that's not working out.

'The only thing Erica and Nina have in common is the music they listen to. Sometimes that's enough.'(Publication summary)