Cirrus@Austlit

'At 27, Naomi is just trying to be a normal person. A normal person who works at a Jewish museum, who cares for lost things, found things, sacred things and her family. A person who finds herself going on bad blind dates, having cringe-worthy sex, a tumultuous, toxic affair, and falling for a man called Moses.

'Being a normal person would be easy and fine if she didn't bear the weight of the unspoken grief of Cookie, her Holocaust-survivor grandmother. It would all be fine if she just knew how to be, without feeling the pull of expectation, the fear of disappointing others (men, friends, her parents, humanity), and that pesky problem of being attracted to all the wrong people (according to her parents, anyway).

'By endlessly trying to please everyone around her, Naomi can't seem to figure out what she wants for herself, or how to get it. With echoes of the dead and dying all about her, in objects, in story, in her grandmother's firm grasp, Naomi isn't quite sure she knows how to be a normal person, but she is going to try.

'This fiercely honest, funny and fearless novel is a deep dive into the complex questions that surround culture, identity politics and generational trauma in contemporary Australia. Both a sadly affectionate and brilliantly unsparing examination of the glorious, awkward, messiness of life.' (Publication summary)

'A clever twist on Charles Dickens’s classic Christmas morality tale, A Very Jewish Christmas Carol is a funny and delightful journey of discovering who we are and remembering the things that unite us.

'Caulfield baker Elysheva Scroogeavitz is determined not to let anything get in the way of fulfilling customer demand for her Bubby’s famous Polish gingerbread. Not her family’s impending Chrismukkah celebrations; not her contractions and imminent labour; and certainly not the ghosts who’ve suddenly shown up in her kitchen. But the Rein-Dybbuck of Chrismukkah Past, Gingerbread Golem and Lilith Claus have other ideas, and Ely’s about to get an unexpected lesson in the importance of making time for the ones we love.'

Source: Production blurb.

'After a triumphant debut in 2022, garnering wide acclaim, four Green Room Awards and numerous five-star reviews—Malthouse is proud to present a return season of Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s Yentl. This new stage adaptation of Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer’s iconic short story is the first since the 1975 Broadway play and Barbra Streisand’s iconic 1983 musical film. 

'Yentl is the journey of a young woman who defies the Jewish orthodox tradition that forbids females from studying religious scripture. When her father dies, Yentl emancipates herself by dressing in male guise, determined to live as a man to continue her studies. Religion, gender, sexual politics, and traditional Yiddish culture collide as Yentl finds her truth through faith and love.' (Production summary)

'1938. Europe burns. Young Jewish couple Hans and Alice Herskovics mount a dangerous escape from Nazi-occupied Vienna.

'Half a world away, after a lifetime advocating for the rights of his own people, Yorta Yorta leader William Cooper leads a deputation to the front door of Melbourne's German Consulate. His message - the persecution of the Jewish people must stop.

'Nearly eighty years later, two playwrights come together on page and stage to explore the legacy of their ancestors in a unique cross-cultural collaboration.

'What makes a hero?

Who can pull off the best 80's flashback?

Whose dog is smartest?

Whose oppression largest?

'From Austria to Australia, from a Deb Ball in Benalla to a Brighton Bat Mitzvah, Bright World is a genre-bending trip into the heart of our history-making.' (Production summary)

'Mik and Lana are best friends and new arrivals in Babyland. Their expectations, joys and fears are all explored in this comedic portrayal of motherhood.

'Revealing the deeply personal truths that are never really talked about, it shatters the myths and stereotypes about motherhood from the delivery room to the home front. From Here to Maternity’s journey through the first year of parenthood is a hilarious and cathartic show for anyone who has ever been on a trip to Babyland.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Wolf and Clara, Max and Lotte.

'These guys know how to costume party.

'Clara is a butterfly and a singer.

'Lotte a witch.

'Max a king amongst men.

'Wolf, well, a bit of a Wolf.

'Refugees with no homeland to return to, they ‘party’ in an effort to band together, maintain hope, and save their faltering sanity. Caught in a cruel limbo between past and present and striving to find their place in a new land, they fall under the increasingly sinister surveillance of The Suits as they attempt to gain safety and security.

The Mesh is a haunting and timely allegory filled with dancing, original songs and a rich musical score. Inspired by the story of Elise Hearst’s grandparents, Austrian Jews who fled Europe after the German occupation, daringly escaping and making the long journey to begin a new life in Melbourne. St Kilda-based Hearst is one of the most interesting young playwriting voices in Australian theatre, whose previous work includes The Sea Project (Griffin Theatre) and Dirtyland (The New Theatre).' (Production summary)

'Nine people. Three carriages. One accident. Where this train is headed, nobody knows. Or everyone knows, but nobody is saying. But the pigs are on the loose. So you'd better make sure you have your ticket.'

Source: Author's website.

'Things are washing up on the shore: suitcases, spectacles, hair - and then Eva. She has lost all but the memory of her name and how she takes her tea. And she's missing a finger.

'When Bob finds Eva on the beach it's not long before she is in his kitchen and he's falling in love. But Eva is haunted by a past she can't remember. Who is she and why does she scream in the night? When the mysterious rogue Maciek appears, Bob is terrified he'll steal Eva away. Eva is terrified of what he may reveal.

''The Sea Project' is an evocative, unique story of migration, memory and desire. It reunites two of Australia's hottest new theatre talents, writer Elise Hearst and director Paige Rattray, who first teamed up for 2011's explosive 'Dirtyland'.

(Source: Griffin Theatre website)

'Billy and Paula have lost their mother. And now they're lost too. Reason and logic have disappeared out the window, around the corner and deep into the woods. Life without Mum is weird and nonsensical, and grief has thrown these two grown-ups back into the world of their strange, strange childhood. The two attempt to find definition in each other, in their history together, and in the re-living of their past, as they rebuild, from the chaos of loss, their own selves.

'Sandwiches is the inaugural production by The Melbourne Town Players. It is an experiment in theatrical composition that smashes two strongly contrasting writing styles up against each other, and in so doing, reveals the very distinct inner and outer workings of grief on the psyche. It draws together a beautiful, haunting, and often hilarious world that feeds on the simultaneous terror and comfort of childhood, and the bizarre fallout that the recently departed can sometimes leave behind for us.

'Part Hansel and Gretel, part Alice in Wonderland, part Lynchian nightmare, Sandwiches takes you along the garden path, into the undergrowth, down the rabbit hole, and into the strange, dark, and silly world of Billy and Paula.'

Source: Australian Stage website, http://www.australianstage.com.au/
Sighted: 28/01/2009

'In July 2006 I was reading the Guardian when I came across an image of "Christina's World", a painting by American artist Andrew Wyeth - it depicts a girl sitting in the middle of a field facing a house in the distance. It triggered something and I began writing Dirtyland with a field at its physical and emotional centre. In the play, the field becomes the site of a massacre and its action takes place in the aftermath.

About the same time, I had been reading about a massacre that occurred at Jedwabne, Poland in 1941. While the play is informed by this event, I made the decision to fictionalise the setting. Poland, Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Australia. Massacre is a cruel and inexplicable phenomenon which recurs in time and place. While the setting is fictional, living in Europe while writing this work had an inevitable impact. Europe is the birthplace of a history (and of a violence) that constitutes a core part of my world view. I am fascinated by the lingering impact war leaves behind; the silences between generations, the joy of first love, the meaning of exile, the relentlessness of desire, and the moral dilemmas of survival. Most of all I am compelled by the human determination to survive at any cost - and determination is what binds these elements together.' - Elise Hearst

Source: www.nationalplayfestival.org.au/ (Sighted 20/01/2009).