AustLit

Billed as 'a new musical of the 40s,' Red White and Boogie is a substantially re-written adaptation of Battye and Pinne's 1968 musical, It Happened in Tanjablanca.

Lawson is Oriel Gray's first full-length play, and is based on the stories of Henry Lawson. These stories include 'Past Carin', 'At Dead Dingo', 'Arvie Aspinall’s Alarm Clock','‘The Man Who Forgot', 'Pretty Girl in the Army', 'Water them Geraniums' and 'Steelman’s Pupil'.

The narrative begins with Wilson, Macquarie and Lawson yarning round a campfire beside a drover’s track. Lawson is the group’s chief storyteller. As each story materialises, the fire and the figures around it fade out and a spotlight thrown on the opposite side of the stage illuminates each new set of characters.

Characters 

Act 1 Scene 1

THE BALLAD SINGER

JOE WILSON 

MACQUARIE

LAWSON 

BOBBY 

MITCHELL 

ORACLE

CONSTABLE 

SCOTTY 

THE LITTLE MAN 

SMITH 

BOSS 

SERVANT GIRL 

MRS. ASPINALL 

AGENT 

BILLY 

CHINNY

DRUNK 

MARGE 

BILL 

JIM

ACT 2 SCENE 1 

GENT 1 

GENT 2 

STEELMAN 

MARY WILSON 

DORIE SPICER 

MRS. SPICER 

FLOWER GIRL

JACK MOONLIGHT 

BOYS

THE ARMY

OFFICER 

LASSIES 

HANNAH

MATRON 

RATTY WOMAN

CAPTAIN

Chamber musical.

Set in Melbourne in the 1890s, The Ballad of Angel's Alley concerns that era's 'push' or larrikin gang wars. The narrative is peopled with thieves, cut-throats and riff-raff, and the action is presented in several locations, including Angel's Alley, the Thieves Kitchen and Melbourne gaol (both inside and outside). The story concerns the rivalry between two street gangs, one led by Tiddler and the other by Bill Fiddler. When Tiddler dies from influenza rather than in battle his gang is shamed, giving its enemy the upper hand. Matters turn back in their favour, however, when Tiddler's daughter, Maria, arrives on the scene and leads them with great success.

The authors have attempted to capture the quality of the old ballad melodramas by writing it in a mock-serious style.