AustLit
Texts
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y The Club 1976 (Manuscript version)x402003 Z1506538 1976 single work drama (taught in 14 units)
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y Collected Plays : Volume I Sydney : Currency Press , 1985 Z60895 1985 selected work drama (taught in 19 units)
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y The One Day of the Year 1960 (Manuscript version)x400866 Z525120 1960 single work drama (taught in 11 units)
'Undoubtedly one of Australia's favourite plays, the One Day of the Year explores the universal theme of father-son conflict against the background of the beery haze and the heady, nostalgic sentimentality of Anzac Day. It is a play to make us question a standard institution - Anzac Day, the sacred cow among Australian annual celebrations - but it is the likeability and genuineness of the characters that give the play its memorable qualities: Alf, the nobody who becomes a somebody on this day of days; Mum, the anchor of the family; Hughie, their son, with all the uncertainties and rebelliousness of youth; and Wacka, the Anzac, with his simple, healing wisdom.'
(Description from publishers website)
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y Cosi Sydney : Currency Press Belvoir Street Theatre , 1992 Z459111 1992 single work musical theatre (taught in 8 units)
— Appears in: コシ. ゴールデン・エイジ 2006;Play with music.
Loosely based on Nowra's own experience at producing a play (Trial by Jury) at Melbourne's Plenty Mental Home, Cosi has become a favourite with theatre companies and audiences alike since it premiered in 1992. Full of theatrical jokes and roles rich with Jonsonian humour, the play's use of a play rehearsal device also provokes images of the not-too dissimilar 'families' that come together in the professional theatre. Indeed, Nowra notes in the premiere season's programme notes that 'like the actual events of those days [the play] is, I hope, full of comedy and affection. Real madness and angst only occurred when I worked with professional actors'.
Set in 1971, Cosi takes an affectionate look at madness and mayhem in a world where institutions can be less limiting than ideology. The narrative is played out two locations, a mental institution and a suburban backyard. , Fresh from university, Lewis (a play on Louis) arrives to direct a play with the inmates, but is persuaded by Roy to stage his favourite opera, Cosi Fan Tutte. Lewis' problems don't end, however, with the fact that the other inmates are neither opera singers nor Italian-speakers. There is Ruth, troubled by the concept of a real illusion ; Zac, who insists on playing Wagner ; Doug, who is committed to the closed ward ; not to mention the sexual advances by Cherry and Julie. Lewis's world is no less complicated at home, where he has to contend with escaping pigs, exploding beer bottles and the pretensions of his politically correct friends.
The music incorporated into the narrative includes: 'Wild Thing' (by The Troggs), various songs from Cosi Fan Tutte, 'Purple Haze' (Jimmy Hendrix) 'Candy Says' (a Velvet Underground song, pre-recorded), and Wagner's 'The Ride Of The Valkyries'.
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y The Hope Sydney : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 1987 Z860102 1987 single work drama (taught in 6 units)
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y The Doll Trilogy 1977 Sydney : Currency Press , 1978 Z425903 1977 series - author drama (taught in 3 units)
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y Dimboola : A Wedding Reception Play (Manuscript version)x401376 Z1133391 1974 single work musical theatre humour (taught in 6 units)
Playfully vulgar, bawdy and boisterous, Dimboola plays out the wedding reception from hell, with the audience actively playing the roles of the guests. A celebration as much as a satire, the play joyously takes a familiar ritual and turns it uproariously on its head.
Source: Currency Press
(http://www.currency.com.au/search.aspx?type=author&author=Jack+Hibberd)
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y Bon-Bons and Roses for Dolly / The Tatty Hollow Story : Two Plays Sydney : Currency Methuen Drama , 1976 Z307781 1976 selected work drama musical theatre (taught in 6 units)
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y The Girl Who Saw Everything 1991 Paddington : Currency Press , 1993 Z263116 1991 single work drama (taught in 6 units)
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y The Dreamers Paddington : Currency Press , 1996 Z450251 1982 single work drama (taught in 18 units)
— Appears in: ドリーマーズ : ノー・シュガー 2006;'With humane irony the Western Australian poet, Jack Davis gives a painful insight into the process of colonisation and the transformation of his people.'
'The Dreamers is the story of a country-town family and old Uncle Worru, who in his dying days, recedes from urban hopelessness to the life and language of the Nyoongah spirit which in him has survived 'civilisation'.' (Currency Press website)
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y Contemporary Indigenous Plays Windmill Baby, Rainbow's End, King Hit, Bitin' Back, Black Medea Larissa Behrendt (editor), Vivienne Cleven (editor), Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2007 Z1366759 2007 anthology drama (taught in 12 units)
'Five plays from around the country which illustrate that the rich tradition of indigenous storytelling is flourishing in contemporary Australian theatre.' (Source: Australianplays.org)
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y Three Plays by Asian Australians Donald Batchelor (editor), Brisbane : Playlab , 2000 Z968616 2000 selected work drama (taught in 8 units)
'The three texts in this volume explore culture, myth, marriage, pilgimage, family and journeys from the mores of Old China to those of contemporary Australia.' (From the publisher's website.)
Degrees
Description
This unit explores Australian plays written since the 1960s. Students investigate how these plays have contributed to the development of a national theatre as well as a sense of national identity. In particular, the unit explores texts from the perspective of post-colonial theory in relation to ‘settler-cultures’.
UNIT CONTENT
- A selection of post 1960’s Australian plays.
- Exploration of the cultural and historical issues associated with the emergence of an identifiable national drama
- Reading and analysis of the texts and of their cultural, historical and social contexts using relevant theoretical perspectives.
Assessment
Grading Schema 1
Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant Board of Examiners.
On campus assessment
Essay/tutorial paper 1; group/individual dramatised reading 30%
Essay/tutorial paper 2 30%
Examination 40%