Cirrus@Austlit

'It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll has a front row seat. Well, she’s hiding under the sorting table, anyway. As her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go, Esme collects the discarded (often gendered) scraps to compile her own far more radical, far more magical dictionary.

'A sweeping historical tale in the spirit of The Harp in the South, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of the First World War.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Playwrights crafting work from real-life sources have heightened links with both the affective subject material of such work, and the sources themselves, particularly when the life stories derived from such sources are traumatic in nature. Being drawn to and dealing with difficult individual, social, historical and political stories implies a complex writing process of reflexive iterations of responsibility to sources and subject. Such a process requires ethical sensitivity to the concept of ‘truth’ as an amalgam of subjectivities and attention to ‘authenticity’ as a complex and accurate encapsulation of that truth. Creativity demands ongoing highly conscious self-knowledge to develop and strengthen both practice and product. This essay explores the point of view and experience of an artist-practitioner working with traumatic subject matter. Drawing on theory from theatre studies and trauma studies and discussing the process and centrality of ethics in relation to creative methodology, the essay reflects on the personal impact of the making of fraught work, and the uncovering, sharing and responsible transformation of fraught stories for a wider audience. It offers an outline of this experience that is relevant for other, similar artist-practitioners and researchers.' (Publication abstract)

'This is Phuoc Tuy Province, South Vietnam, August 1966. This is a rubber plantation called Long Tan.

'This is blood and mud and sweat-sodden heat. It’s gunfire, mortars and pounding rain. It’s 108 Australians and New Zealanders and 2,500 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army soldiers locked in a ferocious battle. For the young men fighting through the raging monsoon, it’s something like the end of the world.

'After the battle, 17 Australians (plus another lost later from wounds) and more than 245 Vietnamese would lie dead. Many more would carry enduring physical and emotional scars of their experiences that day.

'Verity Laughton’s intense and moving semi-verbatim play is composed from interviews with the surviving Australian soldiers, Vietnamese contributors, and the family and friends of those who died. More than a recounting of one battle, it is an exploration of the trauma of war, the fractures in collective memory, and the need to forgive.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Australians involved in the first World War could only communicate via letters when seeking news of their missing or injured loved ones on the front. These letters were sent to the Red Cross Information Bureau and the collection kept at the State Library of South Australia. The correspondence, coordinated by the Bureau, included accounts from military commanders, medical staff, volunteers, soldiers, and mates who fought alongside those lost or wounded.

'Based upon the collections held at the State Library of South Australia, 'The Red Cross Letters' is a performed reading of a selection of these letters sent to the South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau.

''The Red Cross Letters' evolved from an ongoing project involving the digitisation of 8000 enquiries made to the Bureau during ,WWI by relatives including parents, wives and sisters. It's part of a major commitment by the Library to digitise many South Australian WWI records and photographs for the Centenary of the War

'The performance will be based around 20 selected enquiry letters and the replies, assembled and edited by Playwright Verity Laughton, and directed by Geordie Brookman from the State Theatre Company. It will feature a cast of Adelaide's best actors, as well as a live score performed by Matthew Gregan.' (Source: Library of South Australia newsletter, August 2013)

'Sarah is trapped in her parents' story. Now she's fled to New Zealand after the sudden death of her father, leaving the grief stricken remains of her family behind. Teetering out of balance she finds herself falling in love and lust with Jim, a relationship that will change everything, forever.'

Source: Belvoir Street Theatre website, http://www.belvoir.com.au/
Sighted: 01/11/2010

'Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of all of China, lies dying of mercury poisoning which he has taken in a misguided attempt to make himself immortal.

'He is responsible for the building of the Great Wall of China. Two ghosts of men who died during its construction head up an unearthly army waiting to greet him on the other side. He is immortalised in his legacy of the Great Wall, visited in the second part of this play by Liz, who has been an invalid since childhood, with the assistance of Sharpie, who so far in life has not amounted to much. An Angel guides them to top of the Wall, the fulfilment of Liz's life-time ambition.'

Source: ABC Radio National website, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/
Sighted: 04/08/2008

'When Davy's new brother is born, Davy tries to take on extra responsibilities. He wants everyone to be happy - his mother, his half-sister Junie, even his step-father Trev. But Davy's understanding of what constitutes happiness is flawed by his condition.

From the perspective of adulthood Davy relives the events, but his logic is still the same and the outcome cannot be changed. This powerful and moving play brings to life some of the consequences of foetal alcohol syndrome.'

Source: ABC Radio National's Airplay website, http://www.abc.net.au/rn/airplay/
Sighted: 26/05/2008

The story of Maru-Chan a child created out of paper. Maru-Chan explores the three planes (earth, sea and sky), their multiple inhabitants (birds, insects, animals and objects) and the four elements (air, water, earth and fire) of her world of paper, beautifully reflecting the importance of paper in traditional and contemporary Japanese art and life. (Adapted from program)

'Joanna works on a 2000 year-old body of a druid, sacrificed during the Roman invasion. Marks hints that the druid is only apparently dead. As Joanna discovers more about the world of Celtic mythology, she begins to understand how this might be true, and her own life takes an unexpected turn.'

Source: ABC Radio website, http://www.abc.net.au/radio/
Sighted: 15/10/2007