Cirrus@Austlit

'Are women obliged to mourn an abortion? Must we perform the role of La Llorona, condemned to weep for a lost child, even one we never wanted? Will it ever be possible to treat a termination as a simple medical procedure and feel uncomplicated relief? Even from the pro-choice camp there is sometimes a defensive argument that the choice is never easy. There is a tacit acceptance that the decision is necessarily a heavy one, even though the heaviness often comes not from the decision itself, but from the political weight society, particularly the anti-abortion minority, puts on the act of abortion and the bodies of those who have them.'(Introduction)   

'Leslie Bird disapproves of the world. Specifically, she disapproves of gay people, trans people, Muslims, curly hair, exposed décolletages and basically everything that her husband, Wallace, and their children do. Sometimes she keeps her disapproval and bigotry to herself, but mostly she doesn’t.'(Introduction)

'Sally Olds’s essay collection, People who Lunch: Essays on work, leisure & loose living, deals primarily with worlds, or subcultures, on the margins of society. Each holds within it a kernel of hope for a different way of living: club culture with its embrace of hedonism and rejection of living-to-work; cryptocurrency’s promise of financial returns outside state-regulated markets and wage labour; polyamory’s attempts to break free of the stultifying nuclear family unit. None, however, has managed to pose any serious threat to the existing order and most have come to live comfortably within or alongside capitalism.' (Introduction)

'“This is a tragic case” concludes an article in a scrapbook kept by Jay, a full-time carer to her two sons and the narrator of Al Campbell’s debut novel, The Keepers. It’s one of many stories about neglect, abuse and deaths of people with disabilities that Jay extracts from newspapers and reports – a loosely assembled archive of horror.' (Introduction)

'The Crossroads Hotel in Casula has gained the kind of infamy that most venues in 2021 want to avoid. In June the hotel became ground zero for the Covid-19 outbreak in the multiracial, largely working-class area of south-west Sydney. The starkly different, militarised response to this outbreak, compared with those in the eastern suburbs, has arguably done more to entrench Sydney’s west–east divide than any other event in the city’s history.' (Introduction)

'“They said: ‘Keep that boy at arm’s length’. But whose arm? The arm of an orangutan, a giant squid, a Tyrannosaurus rex?” These lines from Chloe Wilson’s short story collection Hold Your Fire could be a response to the standard advice given to girls on how to ward off unwanted sexual advances. It’s the kind of advice that puts the onus on victims, so that the body they’re trying to protect – their own – somehow, monstrously, becomes both predator and prey, a hostile, turbulent force that they must spend their entire lives keeping under tight control.' (Introduction)

'Matte is ready to re-enter the workforce. He's educated, certified and competent. Only, there don't seem to be many jobs…

'At JobReady Agency, it's our job to get you a job, no matter what! Job job job. But you'll have to work for it (because you can't expect to sit around all day on public money, can you?). We'll break you down and build you back up to be the perfect candidate. This may feel a little strange.

'JobReady is a surreal, dark comedy set in an employment agency. The play follows Matte Roland through the dark underbelly of the welfare system.'

Source: Old 505 Theatre.