Cirrus@Austlit

'I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant, C. D. 1843.

'The most famous miser of all misers – and there are a lot of misers out there! – is Ebenezer Scrooge. Caught in the great grind for money, he forgets to live a shared life – until one Christmas night when something utterly, famously un-money happens to the old bastard…

'A Christmas Carol is one of the all-time most wonderful stories of redemption and awakening. All of us are Scrooge in some way: holding on to things. Given the chance to step back from our lives we would see how much is meaningless and inconsequential. This show is about having a second chance. It is about how precious the life we have left is. It is about finding joy in those around us. Joy!' (Production summary)

'Yesterday, she was a boat person.

'Today, she is our brightest and most controversial success story.

'Rock Surfers team up with Melbourne stalwarts and Sydney newcomers The Hayloft Project, to bring you an irregular maritime arrival that will not be stopped.

'The Boat People is a black comedy about our desire to decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come. From a leaky boat on the high seas, via Bondi beach, to the most powerful office in the lucky country. Throw your preconceived notions overboard and take refuge on the shores of this world premiere comedy from writer/director Benedict Hardie.

'Life vests not included.' (Production summary)

Partially adapted from "Arden of Faversham", The Hayloft Project's latest mash-up of classical renovation leaves the Greeks and the Russians on the shelf. Taking an anonymously conceived play from 1592, Arden v Arden pulls the ruff off Elizabethan verse and rebirths it for the here and now. Contemporary characters and language clash with ye olde bloody murder in a brazen experiment that compares our past with our present, finding light and darkness in both. This is an ambitious production of a true crime story that refuses to die, from an independent company that refuses to sit still.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Two performers stand before you and tell all. A man is blinded. A woman loses her brother. A man becomes a woman, who becomes a man. A city falls into civil war. A corpse lies unburied. The earth opens up.They have seen it. They have acted as messengers. They are on the margins. Scribbled in the margins. Unable to intervene.

Through contemporary dialogue and raw narration, 'By Their Own Hands' is a stark opus on ancient Greek myths and contemporary humanity. The audience is taken on a journey through an epic yet utterly recognisable world, seen through the eyes of people on the sidelines.

Now, as then, these stories are real.' (Source: Melbourne Theatre Company website)

'A black comedy about white terror, 'Delectable Shelter' is a no-holds-barred portrait of the privileged, facing the end of the world as they know it.

'In a bunker deep within the earth, five survivors plan a utopian society. Their dreams are lavish, their visions grand and their aspirations (somewhat) noble. But saving the world is the easy part; the hard part will be learning to share it with those they thought were beneath them.

'Taking cues from Moliere, Brecht and Chris Morris, 'Delectable Shelter' lampoons the prejudice ingrained in our prosperous Western society as it declines from dominance in the 21st Century in a grotesque comedy of the not-too-distant future.

'A new play from multi-award winning theatre renegades The Hayloft Project and Critical Stages, 'Delectable Shelter' is a laugh-out-loud funny production that speaks directly to our modern society in a sharply clever way.' (Publisher's blurb)

'They dream of changing the world. Until they wake up.

They've got no plans. There is no revolution. They're between projects. They're between sheets. They've had too much to think and they're dripping with an irony that no one enjoys.

In a rambling house, a restless rabble live, fight, dance, pray, drink, love and try to find a way out.'

Source: The Hayloft Project website, www.hayloftproject.com (Sighted: 15/12/2010)