AustLit

'Bullying behaviour, tantrums and tough lessons are all part of a typical day at public-school St Jude’s – and that’s just in the staffroom!

'Creatures of habit, the tired teachers of St Jude’s find themselves jolted awake by the arrival of a young and enthusiastic new teacher, Anna Park, a recent graduate known as “the child whisperer”.

'Pat Novitsky, the school’s brilliant but bitter and longest-serving teacher, thinks Anna’s Masters of Neuroplasticity and new-age thinking has nothing on her 35 years of experience. Anna thinks Pat is stuck in the past. When the principal assigns school terror Hurricane Little to Anna’s class, the two teachers come head-to-head in a brutal smackdown of old versus new guard, exposing everyone’s darkest secrets.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Abigail (Catherine Văn-Davies), a teenager dealing with her parents’ messy separation, follows the mysterious young girl Beatie Bow (Sofia Nolan) back through time – from the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s The Rocks in the present day to the year 1873, when the suburb was full of struggling immigrant families, gangsters and a whole host of larger-than-life characters. With the help of Beatie, her wise grandmother, and the whole Bow family, Abigail goes on a wild adventure through twisting alleyways of history in a race to find her way home.

'This moving human story is set in and around the real-life suburb that STC calls home and will overflow with history, song and sparkling humour. Grandparents, parents and teenagers will all find something to love in this family story – a combination of Mulvany’s characteristic warmth and vivacity and Williams’ monumental vision.' (Production summary)

'Wonnangatta Station, 1918. Two men arrive at a dark and empty farmhouse looking for the manager, their friend Jim Barclay. No one’s heard from him for more than a month. Something’s amiss. Then a grim discovery sets the men off on a journey across the harsh Australian terrain, looking for answers, maybe for revenge.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Oscar Wilde’s century-old moral fable, packed with witticisms, is as devilishly wicked today as on its debut.

'Seeing himself in a dazzling new portrait, an exquisite young man makes a Faustian wish for eternal youth. Dorian Gray throws himself into a life of wanton luxury drifting from the pampered salons of Victorian London to the darkest recesses of the capital, and revelling in the splendour of his beauty which remains forever golden. Meanwhile, the portrait – banished to an attic – becomes more and more grotesque.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Prices are out of control – and so is Antonia. Riled by the rising cost of living, she agitates a riot in the local supermarket with an army of unruly housewives, leaving the place gutted. What follows is a wild and unpredictable caper, as Antonia and her friend Margherita attempt to outsmart the police, hoodwink their husbands, and ‘liberate’ more loot. This is high-wire farce.

'No Pay? No Way! (sometimes known as Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!) was written by Italian father of farce and Nobel laureate Dario Fo in 1974 and its ever-resonant themes of rising corporate greed, wage stagnation and the thrills of sticking it to the man have seen it staged around the world ever since.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Scotty has it all: a multimillion-dollar loft in downtown Manhattan, a high-flying Wall Street job, and he’s about to marry the perfect fiancée, who also happens to be loaded. But when he meets trans performance artist Dexie, he discovers he wants something more. A friend? A confidante? A lover?

'When the secret of their affair gets out, it’s sure to shock not only his dudebro Jase, his highly-strung mother Deb, and his lesbian activist sister Claire, but also a theatre audience strapped in for the ride of their lives.

'From the wickedly funny pen of Australian-born, New York-based playwright, comedienne and performer Glace Chase, this play is an hilarious, honest and emotionally affecting look at entitlement, hypocrisy, and the realities of love.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Two queens. One crown.

'One of history’s great rivalries. A battle of wits, blood and broken hearts, now reinvented for the stage in majestic scale – the iconic tale of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England.

'Caroline Brazier (Dinner, ABC’s Rake) is Mary and Helen Thomson (The Harp in the South) is Elizabeth. Two flawed and fascinating women locked in a monumental, murderous feud. The stakes couldn’t be higher. An empire is in jeopardy. A queen’s life hangs in the balance.

'This world premiere production is a finely-tuned spectacle. Guided by award-winning director Lee Lewis, the creative team bring outstanding female perspective and wit to this new adaptation by Kate Mulvany (The Harp in the South). Opulent period-inspired costume and ingenious design reveal both the grandeur and danger of Elizabethan England.

'With plot twists and political intrigue, Mary Stuart transcends its 16th century origins. Based in historical truth, the story is punctuated with an extraordinary and pivotal imagined event; a face-to-face meeting between the two queens. They are each other’s equal – smart, strong, sexy and determined to survive. These heroines were our feminist forbears.

'Following an uprising, Mary has fled Scotland only to be imprisoned in England. Elizabeth feels threatened – Mary is younger, more beloved, and with her own claim to the throne.

'In a world dominated by double-crossing men, these remarkable monarchs scheme and struggle to hold on to power. Do they have more in common than they realise? In another life, another time, the cousins might have been friends. The question now is whether Elizabeth will release Mary – or execute her.' (Production summary)

'Ish Madigan is a feminist academic writing a thesis on computer games. Jake Newhouse is a full-time management consultant and part-time pickup artist. They’re not exactly best friends.

'But when Jake’s latest crush – a brilliant Danish librarian – doesn’t respond to his usual seduction techniques, he knows he needs help. Jake asks Ish to coach him in feminist-friendly flirtation. He’ll pay. And Ish needs the money.

'So, what’s stopping her? Oh, you know, just ethics, morals and every fibre of her being.

'From the pen of Australian playwright and social commentator Van Badham comes this hilariously explicit new comedy. Banging Denmark is a swinging satire on the men who claim to understand the ‘female mind’ and the online culture that inspires them.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'Sex, lies and the balance of power

'An Aboriginal, an Asian and an Islander walk into a bar. It’s not the beginning of a racist joke, it’s the catalyst for a stinging satire on Australian politics from award-winning playwright Nakkiah Lui (Black is the New White).

'Vic, Zaza and Chris are political insiders hustling their way to the top. They want influence, they want change, they want to take over Parliament House. They leave that bar drunk on power, with a plan to take over the world. First step: find a likeable white guy to use as a political puppet. What could possibly go wrong?'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company.

'All Breythe ever wanted was to be an actor, but this isn’t how he imagined his first big television gig – as a young Aboriginal man, being the face of a disastrous misfire of an advertisement that will get him roasted by his mob.

'When a messenger bird suddenly brings Breythe tragic tidings from his family, it spurs him on a journey of grief and duty. Returning home to Kalgoorlie, he is thrust headlong into family conflict and the reality of what it means to be an Indigenous youth in today’s Australia.'

Source: Queensland Theatre Company.

'Whitening cream is the bestseller for cosmetic firm Clearday. When a leaked racist video goes viral, the millennial management team scramble to deal with the fallout. Casual blackmail, allegations of corruption and a clash of philosophies fuel this dark comedy about toxic ideas and the complexity of Pan-Asian relations.'

Source: National Playwrighting Festival program.

'Charlotte Gibson is a lawyer on the up. She won a landmark Native Title case, she’s making her parents proud, she could have her own TV show tomorrow. As her father Ray says, she could be the next feminist Indigenous Waleed Aly. But she has other ideas. First of all, it’s Christmas. Second of all, she’s in love.

'Charlotte's fiancé, Francis Smith, is not what her family expected. He's an unemployed experimental classical composer… and he's white! Bringing him and his conservative parents to meet her family on their ancestral land is a bold move. Will he stand up to the scrutiny? Or will this romance descend into farce?

'Love is never just black and white. It’s complicated by class, politics, ambition, and too much wine over dinner. But for Charlotte and Francis, it's mostly complicated by family. Secrets are revealed, prejudices outed and old rivalries get sorted through. What can’t be solved through diplomacy can surely be solved by a good old-fashioned dance-off. They’re just that kind of family.'

(Production summary: Sydney Theatre Company: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2017/black-is-the-new-white )

'Young Storm Boy lives a simple yet free life on the coastal wilds of the South Australian Coorong, combing the beaches with his reclusive father, Hideaway Tom.

'During a long summer, he makes two friends who will shepherd him from childhood into adulthood: the jester Fingerbone Bill, who teaches him about his country; and Mr Percival, an orphaned pelican who prepares Storm Boy for the wider world with a poignant lesson about love, loss and letting go.'

Source: Queensland Theatre Company.

'A mother and father celebrate. They thought they would never be happy again but today the best thing imaginable has happened: Eliza has returned.

'Abducted from her bed as they slept, Eliza has been missing for nine long months. Months during which the couple's days were filled with grief and an ever-present absence. Now she is home and neither parent cares that the little girl's return is as mysterious as her disappearance.

'That is until they begin to notice that she has changed: her face is puffy from exposure, she is taller, bigger, never throws tantrums and, most troublingly of all, refuses to speak.

'Unable to sleep at night, the man sits up watching his daughter. As he gazes down on her peaceful body, a splinter of doubt lodges in his mind. Is the girl lying in the bed really Eliza? If not, who is this usurper? And what have they done with Eliza?

'Inspired by the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw, the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Snow Queen and real life stories of abducted children, this new work by Australian playwright Hilary Bell is an emotional thriller about all consuming obsession, grief, childhood and identity.'

Source: Sydney Theatre Co. website.

'Australia, 1996. The winds of change begin to blow like a gale through the nation as a new government has taken the reins.

'"From now on people will have to make their own way in the world. People will no longer be rewarded for being weak. The madness is over... The people have spoken. This is what they want, this is what we voted for, and if you don't see it like me, then you are out of step. So get used to it."

'Nick's out of step; he's a writer. No writer has ever lived in Liberal Street before. And the residents are making sure he knows it.' (Publisher's blurb)

'Saturn has returned, and a moment of doubt changes everything. The universe conspires against Matt and Zara, and Zara is jettisoned into orbit.

'Sex on drugs has become sordid, but the allure of the threesome is still tempting. The prospect of having children is no longer odious, but mortgages and responsibility remain objects of contempt. It's time for lock down. But who's playing?

'Shifting perspectives on identity and Tommy Murphy's trademark comic flair combine to create a lively theatre of insight and ingenuity.' (Publisher's blurb)