image of person or book cover 838298966205504588.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Speaking in Tongues single work   drama   - Three acts
Issue Details: First known date: 1996... 1996 Speaking in Tongues
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Latest Issues

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Two couples set out to betray their partners...

'A lover returns from the past and a husband doesn’t answer the phone... A woman disappears and a neighbour is the prime suspect... Contracts are broken between intimates and powerful bonds are formed between strangers.

'In Andrew Bovell’s masterfully interconnected polyphony, an evocative mystery unravels at the same time as a devastating tale of disconnection between individuals, partners and communities.' (Production summary)

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Lantana Andrew Bovell , ( dir. Ray Lawrence ) Sydney : Jan Chapman Productions , 2001 Z900877 2001 single work film/TV thriller (taught in 6 units)

'A woman disappears. Four marriages are drawn into a tangled web of love, deceit, sex and death. Not all of them survive. LANTANA is a psychological thriller about love. It's about the mistakes we make, the consequences we suffer, and the attempts we make to fix things up.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 4/12/2013)

Production Details

  • First produced by Griffin Theatre Co., Stables Theatre, Sydney, 6 August 1996.


    New production by Griffin Theatre Company, Kings Cross, 4 February - 19 March 2011.

    Director: Sam Strong.

    Designer: Dayna Morrissey.

    Lighting Designer: Danny Pettingill.

    Sound Designer & Composer: Steve Francis.

    Cast: Lucy Bell, Caroline Craig, Andy Rodoreda, and Christopher Stollery.


    New production by Griffin Theatre Company, Sydney, 9 February 2011.


    Also produced by State Theatre Company of South Australia, Adelaide, July 2011.


    Presented by Black Swan Theatre Company at Heath Ledger Theatre, 23 August - 14 September 2025.

    Director: Humphrey Bower.

    Set and Costume Designer: Fiona Bruce.

    Lighting Designer: Mark Haslam.

    Composer and Sound Designer: Ash Gibson Greig.

    Cast: Alexandria Steffensen, Catherine Moore, Matt Edherton, and Luke Hewitt.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1996
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press ; Playbox Theatre , 1998 .
      image of person or book cover 838298966205504588.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 68p.
      Description: illus., port.
      ISBN: 0868194190
      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.
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2003 .
      image of person or book cover 3852327684037837595.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: [x], 69p.p.
      Edition info: Rev. ed.
      Note/s:
      • Author's note.
      ISBN: 0868197114
      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.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Nick Hern Books ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 5340780777518508962.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Book Depository
      Extent: 96p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 01 November 2010
      ISBN: 9781848420748
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2011 .
      image of person or book cover 3534545570842234939.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 80p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 14 January 2011
      ISBN: 9780868199030
Alternative title: Lantana: manchmal ist Liebe nicht genug
Language: German

Works about this Work

Trust Jan Chapman , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Andrew Bovell : The Alchemy of Collaboration 2015; (p. 17-20)
[Essay] : Speaking in Tongues Melissa Reeves , 2013 single work essay
— Appears in: Reading Australia 2013-;

'I have worked quite a bit with Andrew Bovell. We have collaborated on two (and a half) plays, and a movie, in a group of writers/theatre makers called Six. The four playwrights of the group, the other two being Patricia Cornelius and Christos Tsiolkas, have all learned much from each other. It is a privilege to see another writer’s process up extremely close, from the first seed of an idea to the final performance draft. You get to see how they manage the art of filtering the real world and the world of ideas, and shared avowed intentions into stories, characters, images—theatre. We all came into the group as experienced writers with our own voices, but when working with others who do what you do you can’t help comparing and contrasting; you admire, envy, and sometimes even pinch stuff, albeit unconsciously. I want a bit of that, you think. I want Patricia’s easy, lyrical, colloquial poetry. I want Christos’ morally confounding collisions between characters and ideas.' (Introduction)

Fitting Affair Speaks Volumes Peter Wilkins , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 8 May 2012; (p. 9)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
Tongue-Tied Couple Keep Peace in Birthday Play Ron Cerabona , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 5 May 2012; (p. 7)
Secrets and Lies Ron Cerabona , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 May 2012; (p. 9)
Timing, Tension and Ironic Humour Make Bovell Play Triumph Peter Wilkins , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 9 August 2003; (p. 10)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
Savour the Mystery Sarah St Vincent Welch , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Muse , July no. 230 2003; (p. 18)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
Untitled Malcolm Miller , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: Muse , September no. 232 2003; (p. 10)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
Adulterous Adventures Grip Like Lantana Jason Blake , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11 February 2011; (p. 13)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
Brilliant Cast Makes an Entertaining Meal of Tongues Diana Simmonds , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 February 2011; (p. 15)

— Review of Speaking in Tongues Andrew Bovell , 1996 single work drama
'Let's Get Her' : Masculinities and Sexual Violence in Contemporary Australian Drama and Its Film Adaptations Christine Boman , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , no. 76 2003; (p. 127-135, notes 246-247)
Explores the various strategies that playwrights and filmmakers employ to represent masculinities, especially in relation to acts of sexual violence, in a number of texts.
Speaking in Tongues 1998 single work column
— Appears in: State of the Arts , August - November 1998; (p. 105)
y separately published work icon Adaptations : A Guide to Adapting Literature to Film Denise Faithfull , Brian Hannant , Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2007 Z1361797 2007 single work criticism Adaptations discusses approaches to adaptations of various forms of literature using a range of Australian texts and films as examples.
Reverberations Emma Sloley , 2011 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 22-23 January 2011; (p. 6,8)
Discusses the revival of Bovell's 1998 play and the significance of this work for Bovell's development as a writer.
Secrets and Lies Ron Cerabona , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 2 May 2012; (p. 9)
Last amended 8 Oct 2024 15:26:54
X