Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'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).
Production Details
-
A staged reading at the 2009 National Play Festival, Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania, 2 and 4 April 2009.
Produced at New Theatre, Newtown, 14 April - 4 May 2011.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Coming up Out of the Earth, the Rot of Humanity
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 April 2011; (p. 10)
— Review of Dirtyland 2009 single work drama -
Trust the Crowd to Raise Funds for Creativity
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4 April 2011; (p. 9) Adam Fulton reports that New Theatre is using 'crowd funding' to raise money for its production of Elise Hearst's 'Dirtyland'. The approach requires that a certain amount of money be raised in a stipulated time-frame in order for a production to proceed. -
Heroic Acting in the Stalls
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 53 no. 12 2009; (p. 68-70) 'Amateur theatre is an indictment of the subsidised theatres and subsidised play publishing houses for, wanting good parts and paying customers, they seldom choose new Australian plays from the deadlands. In amateur theatre there is no rush to present plays that have just been on in Sydney or Melbourne, especially those that have elicited rave reviews wherein the smell of bullshit is unmistakable. Audience hatred does not play well in amateur theatre.'
-
Coming up Out of the Earth, the Rot of Humanity
2011
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 April 2011; (p. 10)
— Review of Dirtyland 2009 single work drama -
Heroic Acting in the Stalls
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , December vol. 53 no. 12 2009; (p. 68-70) 'Amateur theatre is an indictment of the subsidised theatres and subsidised play publishing houses for, wanting good parts and paying customers, they seldom choose new Australian plays from the deadlands. In amateur theatre there is no rush to present plays that have just been on in Sydney or Melbourne, especially those that have elicited rave reviews wherein the smell of bullshit is unmistakable. Audience hatred does not play well in amateur theatre.' -
Trust the Crowd to Raise Funds for Creativity
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 4 April 2011; (p. 9) Adam Fulton reports that New Theatre is using 'crowd funding' to raise money for its production of Elise Hearst's 'Dirtyland'. The approach requires that a certain amount of money be raised in a stipulated time-frame in order for a production to proceed.
