Cirrus@Austlit

'Pope Emeritus John XXIX to Pope Pius XIII: Holiness, when I became pope, almost the first word the Curia taught me was ‘ricatto’. Blackmail. Think Agatha Christie in the Vatican. God, mammon, faith, ambition, corruption, sex, incense and Gregorian chant. Not to mention extraordinary revelations. And surprising deaths. The cardinals have secrets, and the walls have ears. And the audience is a fly on this most eternally concealed of walls! Electrifying intrigue by award-winning Australian playwright, Melvyn Morrow.'

Source: Hunters Hill Theatre.

'Melvyn Morrow’s play, Vice, looks at an accusation of sexual assault in an exclusive North Shore private boys’ school.

'In the context of the shameful and criminal tragedy of sexual assault in private schools, Vice looks at the disturbing maze of motivations swirling around the underworld of staff and students in the fictional St Mark’s College on Sydney’s North Shore.

'Truth, like quicksilver, can be slithery, and Vice lies somewhere between a Whodunit and a Whodunwhat.

'Vice begins with the Vice-Principal of St Mark’s College applying for the principal ship. Immediately, common room, classroom, playground, sports field, co-curriculum and trustee politics become murkily - and surprisingly comically - intertwined, with personality clashes building to a potential tsunami of destruction. The way this dramatic situation plays out illustrates how there are many twisted strands to the hangman’s noose.' (Production summary)

Sons and Daughters explores the dramatic incidents in the lives of the wealthy Hamilton family and the working-class Palmer family. The premise that underpinned the show's early years concerned the character John Palmer, on the run from the Melbourne police, who suspect him of murder. He travels to Sydney and falls in love with the wealthy Angela Hamilton, but they are later revealed to be twins who were separated at birth and raised separately: John raised by the wise former prostitute Fiona Thompson before returning to live with his father and Angela raised by her mother, who subsequently married into money. More wealth later arrives through the introduction of the Morrell clan, who have managed to marry their way into the Hamilton family.