AustLit

'A man kneels by his dive gear. It’s late afternoon on the Limestone Coast. He has a story to tell. It starts in the water.

'A powerful, visceral and form-busting new work by award-winning South Australian born playwright Caleb Lewis, Cathedral is a thriller, a family drama and an epic journey of self-discovery.

'From Mount Gambier to Thailand to the North Sea, from soaring first love to shattering loss to ultimate hope, this powerful story ponders a diver’s life shaped by the ocean, and its power to both upend and heal.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'This is angry.

'This is personal.

'This is not what you think.

'Playwright Elena Carapetis (The Gods Of Strangers, Gorgon) brings the first heroine of western drama raging into the 21st century in this cheeky, anarchic and subverted take on one of the world’s most revered classic plays.

'Carapetis takes us from Ancient Greece to the modern-day in a kaleidoscopic collection of vignettes that will make your head spin and leave your jaw on the floor. This is a rejection of the patriarchy, a love letter to girls and pop princesses, and a tribute to every Antigone reincarnated, from Malala to Emma to AOC to Greta.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'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.

'YES is an investigation into the dynamics of power, consent, knowledge, truth and the complexities of one seemingly simple word. From acclaimed feminist theatre makers THE RABBLE, YES is set within an ever-changing physical space, occasionally erupting with manufactured weather events, in which an audience watches two performers answer hundreds of questions.

'Shifting between rite of passage, public debate and personal memoir, YES is an unpredictable onslaught that blurs the line between instruction, permission, philosophy and confession.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Young Martin is a misfit. Bullied at school and misunderstood at home, his only comfort comes from sneaking off to the family coal shed to bond with his German Shepherds, Major and Rex.

'When things reach breaking point, the 13 year old runs away from his home in Limerick, Ireland, and finds himself taken in by a new family – a pack of stray dogs. As they dodge trains, steal meals and fight for survival, Martin finds himself on the road he was always meant to take.

'Based on the best-selling memoir, this rough-and-tumble tale, starring acclaimed Irish actor Bryan Burroughs, fuses shadow puppetry, swinging Irish music and stunning physical performance to bring Byron Bay ‘Dog Man’ Martin McKenna’s epic true story to the stage for the first time.

'Beautifully adapted by Irish playwright Amy Conroy, The Boy Who Talked To Dogs is a magical and mischievous tale of transformation, redemption, and what happens when the underdog finds his pack.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'It’s the year 2030 and there is an immediate climate crisis. With little choice remaining, world leaders make a collective, pragmatic decision to save the planet. For an entire year, all 8.5 billion humans on Earth will hibernate.

'Gas will be launched into the atmosphere and the human population will be immediately plunged into a deep sleep, leaving the natural world to reset. The reset of the human world is not what was expected.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'A deserted industrial town where the desert meets the sea. Two sisters, the last inhabitants of the once thriving town, defiantly refuse to leave their home on the outskirts.

'DRY is a dystopian western inspired by the desert town of Port Augusta and its tough inhabitants. Set in the past, present or future this fierce small cast play exposes our relationship to the land, the First People, refugees and each other.'

Source: State Theatre Company of South Australia.

'Meg is busy and she'd rather not be. But sometimes she can't help it. She’s holding a town meeting and her ex-student Ethan is there. He hasn't got a job...he can't help that either. She wants to start a new festival to celebrate everything their little country town has to offer. It’s going to be called “Euphoria”, which means “happiness”. And they should be happy, shouldn’t they?

'With the festival barrelling towards them, Meg and Ethan come face to face with the darkest parts of themselves as the past collides with the present. Based on real conversations between playwright Emily Steel and regional South Australian communities, Euphoria is a gently moving new work that will see audiences come together for a town meeting they’ll never forget.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'They were writers, dreamers and free spirits. In the 1950s, Australian authors Charmian Clift and George Johnston fled halfway across the world to the idyllic Greek island of Hydra, determined to carve out a bohemian living as artists.

'As they revel in their picturesque community, far off the world’s literary map, inspiration for the great Australian work strikes. But a many-headed monster of jealousy, infidelity, illness and alcoholism also rises from the crystal blue waters of their sun-kissed island home.

'Award-winning Sue Smith weaves the original writings of two of Australia’s literary icons into a moving relationship drama. She conjures the passion and intensity of the near mythical ‘King and Queen of Hydra’ as they follow their dream, only to end up in a Greek tragedy of their own making.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'“Because revolution is better at night.”

'What would it actually take to stop climate change dead in its tracks? Guns? Revolution? A pumping soundtrack?

'Kill Climate Deniers centres on a militant cell of eco-activists that takes the audience hostage during a concert at Parliament House. Led by charismatic spokeswoman Catch, they demand Australia immediately cease all carbon emissions and coal exports—or they’ll start executing their 1,700 hostages.

'But they’re not the only ones to take the title literally. Between scenes of bloody action and banging ’90s tunes, writer David Finnigan discusses the outrage the play’s title provoked from Andrew Bolt and his cabal of conservative bloggers. The original production was shut down in the ensuing shitstorm, leading Finnigan to eventually fold the scandal into the play.'

Source: Theatre's blurb.

'She's from the right sort of country, she makes excellent tea, and she's desperately polite. But behind closed doors she's just desperate. She's homesick and lonely and bored out of her skull. Her baby won't sleep and her partner won't listen. Her neighbour on one side is crazy and the family on the other are (probably) terrorists. The guy downstairs thinks she walks too loud, and there are cracks appearing in the walls and in her sanity.

'Rabbits asks: How can we live together? What does it mean to be 'hom? And what if you took your worst thoughts about the people around you, and said them out loud?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'The Price family appear to be living the Australian dream—a loving household in a solid brick house on a quarter acre block where the passing of time is measured by the seasonal changes in working class patriarch Bob’s beloved roses. The four kids have grown up and spread their wings, with only the youngest, Rosie, still at home. As the seasons turn, their story becomes darker and more difficult. But, with complexity comes richness, resolution and meaning.' (AusStage)

'Two young women meet face to face for the first time across the bed of a dying man. Strangers to each other but bonded by blood and grief. Sisters. They break the cold silence of the hospital room to start a difficult conversation. About the past and secrets. About the women who were their mothers. And about why this man, their father, abandoned one family to make another. When the past is dying and can’t say sorry, how do you move on?

Sista Girl is an exploration of the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, via the story of two women who share a white father. Co-written by Elena Carapetis (Gorgon) and Alexis West (Echoes …. of Knowing Home), the play will speak directly to audiences about questions of identity, grief and the complex nature of family.' (Production summary)

'Brutality in the workplace, rage in the streets, seething in the home. The vulnerability of political parties when they’ve forgotten why they’re there. The intellectual torpor of modern Australia. How power corrupts.

'Stephen Sewell’s play is an angry and tender depiction of an idealist who becomes so embroiled in a party power struggle that he loses sight of what’s at stake. When it premiered in 1983, The Blind Giant is Dancing felt like a sharp slap in the face. And in an age of ICAC, Union credit cards, speculative housing bubbles, a pulverised working class, vapid leadership… it’s definitely time for another look at this Australian classic.

'Artistic Director Eamon Flack begins his tenure with a company of twelve of the country’s great actors and one of the country’s great plays.'

Source: Belvoir 2016 production summary.

'Night on Bald Mountain has been called Patrick White's attempt at the first Australian tragedy. A new nurse has arrived to take care of the notorious Mrs Sword at the house on Bald Mountain. Despite best intentions, she finds herself swept up in the machinations and preoccupations of a cast of restless oddities. Ultimately, the flaws of human nature soon emerge as forces beyond all control.'

Source: Malthouse Theatre (2014 season).

The Shifting Heart is set in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood on Christmas eve, 1956. It explores the tensions between three sets of neighbours: the Bianchis, the Pratts, and the Fowlers, who represent different aspects of Australian culture of the time. Racism and the changes brought by immigration are the central themes of the play.