y separately published work icon Dreams in an Empty City single work   drama   - Three acts
Issue Details: First known date: 1986... 1986 Dreams in an Empty City
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Notes

  • Originally commissioned by Aubrey Mellor and John Bell for the Nimrod Theatre in the mid-1980s, but the Nimrod company folded before a production could take place.
  • Dedication: To my heart Anna Russell In memory of my friend Fay Mokotow

Production Details

  • First produced by the State Theatre Co., Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, 1 March 1986. Season directed by Neil Armfield.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press ; State Theatre Company of South Australia , 1986 .
      Extent: 88p.
      Note/s:
      • Author's note: The text published here is the complete version used towards the final weeks of rehearsal and does not include any subsequent revisions or cuts made by the author.
      • Includes programme from the State Theatre Company of South Australia production.
      ISBN: 0868191442
      Series: Current Theatre Series Currency Press (publisher), 1983- series - publisher 'Current Theatre Series consists of Australian plays published with the program inserted and sold during theatre seasons. The aim of the series is to promote and encourage new dramatic writing and make it accessible to theatregoers and the public. The text is presented at the first day of rehearsal and does not contain changes which the author may choose to make after the play has commenced its present season - these will be incorporated into any new edition published by Currency.' Currency Press.
    • s.l.,: s.n. , 1987 .
      Extent: 103 leavesp.
      (Manuscript) assertion

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: H2193

Works about this Work

Dreams in an Empty City : A Strikingly Prescient Morality Tale about Banking 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 12 July 2018;

'There is no single event foreshadowing the darker mood of the 1980s, as the election of the Whitlam Labor government presaged the expansive atmosphere of the 1970s. Margaret Thatcher, “the Iron Lady”, became UK Prime Minister in 1979. The neo-conservative Ronald Reagan was elected US President in 1981. Thereafter came a firestorm of social and economic changes: the deregulation of financial markets; the rise of Islamic fundamentalism; the dismantling of trade barriers; the collapse of Eastern bloc communism; the re-opening of China to the West; Fukuyama’s End of History.'

Dreams of Australia Sewell Stephen Sewell , 2014 single work essay
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 74 no. 3 2014; (p. 15-20)
'My play, Dreams in an Empty City, a story set in the murderously ruthless world of Australian property finance, was first produced in 1986, just a few months before the international crash of 1987, which was, at that point, the greatest market crash since 1929. And, according to the standard economic theory still taught in schools, impossible.' (15)
Stephen Sewell and the State of the Nation Denise Varney , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Radical Visions 1968-2008 : The Impact of the Sixties on Australian Drama 2011; (p. 239-266)
Dark Heart Beats in the Emerald City Clare Morgan , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 September 2005; (p. 13)
Twenty years after being written, Stephen Sewell's Dreams in an Empty City receives its first Sydney production by the graduating class of the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Re-Reading Stephen Sewell's Traitors : Ideology and Gender in 'the Australian Play' G. K. H. Ley , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Modern Drama , Spring vol. 48 no. 1 2005; (p. 108-117)
Untitled P. Ward , 1986 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 March 1986; (p. 11)

— Review of Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell , 1986 single work drama
Sewell Take the Attack to Britain 1988 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian Magazine , 17-18 September 1988; (p. 14)

— Review of Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell , 1986 single work drama
Untitled Michael Billington , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian , 10 September 1988;

— Review of Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell , 1986 single work drama
Untitled Georgina Brown , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: Independent , 14 September 1988;

— Review of Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell , 1986 single work drama
Untitled Michael Coveney , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: Financial Times , 10 September 1988;

— Review of Dreams in an Empty City Stephen Sewell , 1986 single work drama
Re-Reading Stephen Sewell's Traitors : Ideology and Gender in 'the Australian Play' G. K. H. Ley , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Modern Drama , Spring vol. 48 no. 1 2005; (p. 108-117)
Dark Heart Beats in the Emerald City Clare Morgan , 2005 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 29 September 2005; (p. 13)
Twenty years after being written, Stephen Sewell's Dreams in an Empty City receives its first Sydney production by the graduating class of the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Views of the Harbour : The Empty City in Contemporary Australian Drama Peter Fitzpatrick , 1992 single work criticism
— Appears in: Populous Places : Australian Cities and Towns 1992; (p. 48-57)
Stephen Sewell and the State of the Nation Denise Varney , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Radical Visions 1968-2008 : The Impact of the Sixties on Australian Drama 2011; (p. 239-266)
Breaking Through With Hate Leonard Radic , 1988 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Age , 24 December 1988; (p. 9)
Last amended 6 Jan 2009 08:42:46
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