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| 48 SHADES OF BROWN [Philip Dean] Dan is on a steep learning curve. It is not just that he is in his final year of school. When his parents go to Europe he moves in with his 22-year-old, bass-playing aunt Jacq and her friend Naomi. He should be concentrating on calculus and the fish-tank scene in Romeo and Juliet, but in a desperate bid to impress Naomi, Dan secretly starts memorising some more obscure information. Adapted from Nick Earls' award-winning novel, this is a gently comic tale of intimacy, ornithology and fresh pesto (2 male; 2 female). { 120pp, 155x230mm, February 2002; PB, £9.99, 0868196525:9780868196527 , Currency Press } |
| ACTOR'S AUDITION MANUAL, VOLUME 1 : The Australian Handbook for Every Actor Fully Revised with 150 New Speeches [Dean Carey] The first edition of The Actor's Audition Manual quickly became known as the 'red audition manual', denoting its status as the essential guide. Now revised and extended, it once more brings together a wealth of practical advice and a fresh, diverse range of speeches for both men and women that will help to make your audition powerful and effective. { 254pp, 135x210mm, July 1998; PB, £14.50, 0868195162:9780868195162 , Currency Press } |
| ADAPTATIONS : A Guide to Adapting Literature to Film [Denise Faithfull & Brian Hannant] Turning a 250-page novel or a two-and-a-half-hour stage play into a 90-minute film means leaving out much of the original and changing most of what’s left. So why does it remain recognisably the same story? What is the slippery essence that transfers, unaltered, from page to screen? In "Adaptations", Denise Faithfull comprehensively and systematically addresses the thorny issues of choosing your source and type of adaptation, whether a liberal appropriation, a free-flowing intersection, a variation or a faithful translation. She illuminates questions of structure, character, dialogue and visualisation, and includes a checklist for the adaptor. Brian Hannant's introductory chapter discusses the history of Australian film, the basic principles of filmmaking and screenwriting, and a guide to correct screenplay layout. Drawing from dozens of Australian films including Così, Lantana, Hotel Sorrento, The Boys, Dead Heart, Death in Brunswick and Head On, "Adaptations" navigates the treacherous waters of the adaptation process, showing us what works … and what doesn’t. For anyone who's ever read a novel, seen a play or heard an incredible true story and thought, 'Now, that would make a great film', "Adaptations" is the ultimate on how to make it happen. { 276pp, 140x215mm, February 2007; PB, £19.50, 0868197920:9780868197920 , Currency Press } |
| ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT : New Edition [Philip Brophy] 'A road movie in a frock' is one way this much acclaimed, award-winning movie has been described. Three showgirls with a difference set off in a bus across the Australian desert to play a cabaret engagement in Alice Springs. As they cut a swathe of satin and tulle across the country, there are chance encounters, some disappointments, a surprise revelation and much hilarity. { 87pp, 135x190mm, February 2008; PB, £9.50, 0868198218:9780868198217 , Currency Press } |
| AFTER DINNER [Andrew Bovell] A black comedy set in a suburban pub-bistro on a Friday night. 5 single people set out in pursuit of a good time, determined to forget their 9--5 routine (2 acts, 2 men, 3 women). { July 1997; PB, £11.99, 0868195189:9780868195186 , Currency Press } |
| AFTER JANUARY [Philip Dean] Alex has eighteen days until he finds out if he got into Arts Law, a week in Caloundra to sleep, swim and watch the cricket, and a mother with a keen interest in his sex life. Fortuna keeps bees, has a nose-ring, and a father who likes to do pottery in the nude. When this unlikely pair meet, the results are both hilarious and heart-warming. And for both of them it means that things will never be the same after January. Adapted by Philip Dean from Nick Earls' award-winning novel, After January is a play for people of all ages about what happens when someone stops waiting for life to happen and begins instead to live it. (1 act: 2 women, 2 men) REVIEW: "A play for all ages about what happens when someone stops waiting for life to happen and begins to live it..." -- DAWN (Journal of the Drama Association of Wales), Autumn 2001. { 114pp, 135x210mm, March 2001; PB, £9.99, 0868196363:9780868196367 , Currency Press } |
| AFTER THE BALL [David Williamson] Stephen and Judy live on opposite sides of the world. Their lifestyles and outlooks could not be further apart. But they are brother and sister and when they are reunited at the bedside of their dying mother, family memories painfully and mercilessly return. David Williamson has created a family scenario that is frighteningly recognisable. At times hilarious, at times tortuous, this is a frank, critical look at Australian suburban life from the 1960s to the 1990s (2 acts, 3 men, 6 women). { January 1997; PB, £11.99, 0868195375:9780868195377 , Currency Press } |
| AFTERSHOCKS [Paul Brown] This play documents the cataclysmic Newcastle earthquake and its aftermath. Based entirely on taped interviews, this is the dramatic presentation of real oral history, as told by the staff and friends of the Newcastle Workers Club. In unvarnished tones, sometimes funny, sometimes terrified, they show the after-effects of the tragedy on the lives of ordinary people. (7 male, 9 female). { 60pp, 140x210mm, September 2001; PB, £10.50, 0868196509:9780868196503 , Currency Press } |
| ALIWA! [Dallas Winmar] Based upon the Davis family, this is the incredible story of three Aboriginal sisters, who held together by their mother's love and determination, battle ignorance, prejudice, ad patronising interference. Both playful and tender, 'Aliwa!' is an inspirational tale of a family's struggle to stay together while the fingers of the Australian Government tried to reach in and prise them apart (3 women). { 86pp, 105x160mm, October 2002; PB, £7.50, 0868196886:9780868196886 , Currency Press } |
| ALL IN GOOD TIMING [Henri Szeps] Henri Szep's passion for acting is infectious. Here Henri, who is well known for his role as Robert in Mother and Son, lays before the reader thirty years of acting experience and divulges his personal view on what good acting is all about. { 163pp, 150x230mm, January 1996; PB, £13.50, 0868194840:9780868194844 , Currency Press } |
| ALL SOULS [Daniel Keene] All Souls, or the Day of the Dead, is when the dead return to the world of the living. All Souls evokes a vision of our dreams and nightmares. The writing is poetic, without compromise and a truly remarkable work (2 acts, 2 men, 5 women). { December 1995; PB, £10.50, 086819431X:9780868194318 , Currency Press } |
| ALMOST A DINOSAUR [Jill Morris] Story about Rosi, her search for self-discovery and adventures along the way (6 men, 1 woman). { December 1988; PB, £7.50, 0868192090:9780868192093 , Currency Press } |
| AMIGOS [David Williamson] In a moment of glory at the 1968 Olympics, the four Amigos, an Australian rowing team, won a bronze medal. It was lifetime bond material. But 35 years later, only two of the four Amigos keep in touch. Jim is a banker, with money, an expensive house, and a young and beautiful wife. It seems he has it all, but his friend Dick, a heart surgeon, has something that Jim wants: a sterling reputation. The two mates, and their wives, meet up in Port Douglas with competing personal agendas. And then a Steven, the third amigo, turns up, ready to expose all about their past. And so the games begin... 'Amigos' is a savagely funny play that exposes the subtle violence and unacknowledged dependencies of male friendship -- and the angst and irritation it causes their wives. Here David Williamson, Australia's most popular and successful playwright, looks at what happens when mateship and mating collide. (2 acts, 3 male, 2 female). { 65pp, 135x210mm, June 2004; PB, £11.99, 0868197467:9780868197463 , Currency Press } |
| ANGEL BABY [Michael Rymer] An international critical and film festival hit., Angel Baby is a tragi-comic love story set at the border of psychosis and sanity. When Harry meets Kate at a drop-in centre for the mentally ill, love blossoms. Guided by Astral the oracle, who speaks through the Wheel of Fortune, they strike out defiantly to create a home and a family in the outside world. { 97pp, 140x210mm, January 1996; PB, £11.99, 0868194573:9780868194578 , Currency Press } |
| ANNA BISHOP : Adventures of an Intrepid Prima Donna [Richard Davis] Anna Bishop, the rebellious wife of the English Mozart, Henry Bishop, eloped in 1839 with the dissolute French harpist Nicholas Bochsa and began an adventure lasting forty years. She and her lover survived snow and jungle, shipwreck and impassable mountains, bandits, cholera outbreaks and civil wars. She sang in the great opera houses and in makeshift venues in the outposts of civilisation. Hers was a life that cannot even be imagined today. Extensively researched and generously illustrated the book is introduced by Richard Boynge. { July 1997; HB, £16.50, 0868194859:9780868194851 , Currency Press } |
| ARTS, MINISTER? : Government Policy & the Arts [Justin MacDonnell] Using the public statements and private records of eight ministers, from Gorton to Cohen, MacDonnell untangles the mystery and draws some radical conclusions from the experience of the nineties. Written with a clear reading of the sub-text, this is an entertaining insight into the private life of the political process. { 436pp, October 1992; HB, £16.50, 0868192961:9780868192963 , Currency Press } |
| ASYLUM [Kit Lazaroo] Lally Black is a psychiatrist who struggles to keep the lid on her doubts about her own funds of compassion. Yu Siying is a Chinese woman who has caught HIV in Australia. Afraid of China's judgement, Siying has one last chance to claim asylum, and believes Lally is the key to her appeal. Lally finds herself enticed into an imagined China, unfolding in the gulf between herself and Siying, causing her to acknowledge the threads that run between complacency and brutality. { 54pp, 140x210mm, March 2008; PB, £10.50, 0868198293:9780868198293 , Currency Press } |
| AUDITIONING FOR MUSICALS [Peter Mapleson] Advice for actors, singers and dancers planning to audition for any musical. { 170pp, 135x210mm, May 1994; PB, £14.50, 0868193828:9780868193823 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN CINEMA : The First 80 Years [Brian Adams] Chronological coverage of the making of a film industry which only achieved international recognition in the 1980s. { 325pp, 140x215mm, June 1989; PB, £14.99, 0868192325:9780868192321 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN GAY & LESBIAN PLAYS [Bruce Parr (ed)] This collection of Australian plays is a first: it is a celebration of homosexuality and its diversity in Australian theatre. It provokes a rethinking of the nature of gay and lesbian drama, and ranges from established works in the Australian repertoire to plays first seen in Mardi Gras festivals (various cast). { 384pp, 135x210mm, February 1997; PB, £17.99, 0868194557:9780868194554 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN PIANO MUSIC, VOLUME 1 [Sally Mays (ed)] Contains 41 short compositions and presents a range of pieces suitable for levels equivalent to grade three in standard. { 51pp, 230x305mm, July 1990; PB, £11.99, 0868192716:9780868192710 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN PIANO MUSIC, VOLUME 2 [Sally Mays (ed)] This is the second volume of an exciting and innovative series on Australian piano music for young pianists, teachers or performers wishing to expand their repertoire and knowledge of Australian composers and their piano music. All the pieces included are of minimal difficulty and explore a wide range of styles, techniques and the colourful sounds possible on the piano. This volume contains works by Barry Anderson, Edwin Carr, Ann Carr-Boyd, Ross Edwards, Michael Hannan, Wendy Hiscocks, Don Kay, Sally Mays, Rosalind Page, Peter Sculthorpe, Larry Sitsky, and Lawrence Whiffin. { 60pp, 225x305mm, April 1995; PB, £17.99, 0868193186:9780868193182 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN PIANO MUSIC, VOLUME 3 [Sally Mays (ed)] This is the third volume of an exciting and innovative series on Australian piano music for young pianists, teachers or performers wishing to expand their repertoire and knowledge of Australian composers and their piano music. { 60pp, 230x305mm, July 1997; PB, £17.99, 0868194875:9780868194875 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN PIANO MUSIC, VOLUME 4 [Sally Mays (ed)] This is the fourth volume of an exciting and innovative series of books on Australian piano music for young pianists, teachers and performers wishing to expand their repertoire and knowledge of Australian composers and their piano music. The pieces are at grades five and six AMEB levels, and full of humour, stylistic variation, pathos and expression. They can be played in any performance concert and are a wonderful window into the pianist's musicianship. This volume consolidates the lessons and technical topics introduced in the first three volumes. { 72pp, 225x310mm, August 2000; PB, £17.99, 0868195545:9780868195544 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN VIOLIN MUSIC : Concert Pieces [Philippa Paige (ed)] Provides an excellent collection of concert pieces for the professional, student or amateur violinist. A much needed book, the colourful works published here represent a wide range of styles from a broad cross-section of Australian composers. The editor has selected music which can be played by the intermediate and advanced violin student. At the same time the professional or accomplished musician will find that this book is a valuable resource of Australian compositions suitable for any recital. For the teacher, this collection provides a useful and enjoyable means to introduce various modern violin techniques which may not have been encountered elsewhere in the teaching repertoire. Careful editing and detailed performance notes will facilitate preparation. { 80pp, 225x310mm, April 1998; PB, £26.99, 0868195243:9780868195247 , Currency Press } |
| AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S DRAMA : Text & Feminisms [Peta Tait & Elizabeth Schafer (eds)] For nearly three decades women playwrights have been making a significant contribution to the repertoire of Australian drama. This book is the first representative collection of this work and features some of Australia's most widely performed and well respected women dramatists (various cast). { 286pp, 150x240mm, July 1997; PB, £17.99, 0868194972:9780868194974 , Currency Press } |
| AWAY [Michael Gow] Three Australian families set out separately but are driven together by a storm (5 acts, 6 men, 4 women). { December 1988; PB, £11.99, 0868192112:9780868192116 , Currency Press } |
| BABES IN THE WOOD [Tom Wright] A splendid and terrible tale of two innocents who wander too far from home. In a desperate attempt to escape the evil intentions of Aunty Avaricia and her two not so faithful sidekicks Flapgherkin and Boingle, these pure young Australians find themselves accosted by an amazing and colourful array of characters, including a foreigner in a fez, a convict ghost, and a suave genie. This pantomimic tale of the birth of a nation is a triumph of rhyme over reason: part salute to a lost tradition, part banner to the future. (2 acts, 2 male, 5 female). { 50pp, 140x215mm, February 2004; PB, £10.50, 0868197092:9780868197098 , Currency Press } |
| BALI ADAT [Graham Sheil] Deals with the universal themes of: honour, conflicting values of Hinduism and Christianity, materialism and diplomacy (2 acts, 7 men, 1 woman). { January 1991; PB, £11.99, 0868192406:9780868192406 , Currency Press } |
| BAND IN A WAISTCOAT POCKET : The Story of the Harmonica in Australia [Ray Grieve] Grieve spent 10 years researching this book. It took him around Australia interviewing players, collecting records, searching archives and conducting an extensive correspondence. He has made a complete collection of all known commercial recordings made in Australia from 1908--1941 and field recordings of champion players over this period. { 124pp, 183x248mm, October 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868194476:9780868194479 , Currency Press } |
| BARRY MCKENZIE MOVIES [Tony Moore] When "The Adventures of Barry McKenzie" burst onto the Australian screen in 1972 it created a furore. With 'Bazza' (Barry Crocker), the chundering, Fosters-sucking innocent abroad, Barry Humphries and Bruce Beresford created a foil for the poms and an Australian hero despised by film snobs but loved by audiences. The movie triggered a riotous sequel, "Barry McKenzie Holds His Own", and a wave of comedies that celebrate and critique the Australian national character. With irrepressible humour and sharp-witted insight Tony Moore explores the subversive satire of the films, their influence on his generation, and what they have to say about who we are today. Included is a glossary of Bazza-isms written by Barry Humphries. { 86pp, 135x190mm, December 2005; PB, £9.50, 0868197483:9780868197487 , Currency Press } |
| BARUNGIN (SMELL THE WIND) [Jack Davis] A powerful culmination of the dramatic history of Aboriginal life from the arrival of the white man 200 years ago (2 acts, 6 men, 4 women). { October 1989; PB, £11.99, 0868192481:9780868192482 , Currency Press } |
| BASTARD BOYS [Sue Smith] "Bastard Boys" is the story of the fight that stopped the nation -- the 1998 battle for Australia's waterfront. More than just a dispute over reform, it became a campaign for the hearts and minds of all Australians. Controversial, all-consuming and combative, it forced people to pick a side and fight for their beliefs. Political thriller, war film, buddy movie, love story and courtroom drama all rolled into one, this is the story of the people behind one of the most significant events in Australia's recent past. Iconic Australian actors Jack Thompson and Colin Friels lead an outstanding cast that includes: Geoff Morrell, Dan Wyllie, Justine Clarke, Rhys Muldoon and Lucy Bell. "Bastard Boys" has been written with the co-operation and participation of all parties to the dispute. It is the first time participants such as former Patrick CEO, Chris Corrigan and ACTU Secretary, Greg Combet have agreed to tell their stories. 4 acts, 8 male, 3 female. { 216pp, 155x230mm, April 2007; PB, £17.99, 0868198099:9780868198095 , Currency Press } |
| BEAUTIFUL LIFE [Michael Futcher & Helen Howard] Brisbane 1992: A boy, Amir, sees his parents on the news, under arrest for protesting at the Iranian Embassy in Canberra against atrocities in their homeland. Amir forces Hamid and Jhila to tell their story, believing that a hostile Australian pubic will understand their 'terrorist' actions which shows the bigger picture of their past. Revitalising memories of his wrongful imprisonment and torture in a Tehran jail, Hamid confronts an oppressive secret which has blighted his beautiful new life in Australia. As his lengthy trial continues, it is clear he has exchanged one nightmare world for another. Yet even in the face of another jail term, Hamid praises the Australian justice system... This play explores the often unforgettable histories of refugees. It is a haunting account of prejudice, injustice and brutality, tempered by a celebration of human kindness and indomitable hope. (2 acts: 6 men, 2 women) { 128pp, 135x210mm, November 2000; PB, £11.99, 0868196053:9780868196053 , Currency Press } |
| BEAUTIFUL WORDS [Sean Riley] An epic chronicle of the refugee experience, "Beautiful Words" weaves together three very different stories of survival, told through the eyes of three children in different times and places. The outcome is heart-rending, humorous, and surprising by turns. From the horrors of Auschwitz Concentration Camp in the final days of World War II, to Taliban-ruled Kabul, to present day Australia, this enthralling play presents a rich tapestry of human experience, overlapping lives, and the bonds that unite generations. Over three hours, with some 20 characters, "Beautiful Words" tells an engaging story with poignant comedy and unashamed feeling. (3 acts, 6 male, 3 female). { 90pp, 140x215mm, April 2008; PB, £9.99, 0868198323:9780868198323 , Currency Press } |
| BEHIND THE BEAT [Darrelyn Gunzberg] The Cold Courage band has two great gigs lined up but their new drummer is drinking his way through rehearsals (7 men, 6 women aged 14-20). { December 1992; PB, £9.99, 0868193321:9780868193328 , Currency Press } |
| BENEATH THE SEQUINED SURFACE : An Insight into Sydney Drag [Carol Langley] Drag is an integral part of Australian culture, and Sydney drag -- which is highly creative and immensely professional -- is said to be the best in the world. This book captures the colour and vibrancy of this art and gives a rare insight into the reality of this often-stereotyped scene. { 156pp, 290x200mm, April 2006; PB, £26.50, 086819767X:9780868197678 , Currency Press } |
| BETWEEN EARTH & AIR : Guitar Prelude No.1 [Richard Vella] This is the first of three preludes for guitar by Richard Vella. It was commissioned by Ken Burns for the 1991 Australian Guitar Competition with financial support from the Australia Council. Since its premiere it has been widely performed and recorded. Between Earth and Air was originally edited by Ken Burns and it has been revised for publication by Timothy Kain in collaboration with the composer. The work is structured in sections, the exciting finale combining and developing rhythmic and melodic thematic material from earlier sections. Between Earth and Air can also be played in an abridged version as A-C-B and A-B-C-D. { 22pp, 210x295mm, November 2000; PB, £11.50, 0868195405:9780868195407 , Currency Press } |
| BIG PICTURE [Jennifer Compton] 'Seriously funny' is how Jennifer Compton describes the lives of her three heroines. 'If you don't laugh you gonna cry.' Fran, Mandy and Joy, single mothers living at the end of the road in some neglected country town, support each other with jokes about Tupperware and faithless men, fighting with hope the realisation that they are trapped in a cycle of poverty and despair. Compton writes these women with the love and familiarity of lifelong friends, sometimes mocking, sometimes heartbroken, weaving comedy from tragedy. { 82pp, 135x210mm, August 1999; PB, £11.99, 0868195944:9780868195940 , Currency Press } |
| BIRTHRIGHTS / SOULMATES : Two Plays [David Williamson] 'Birthrights' tells the story of two sisters who compete for their child's love. At 29 years of age, Helen has a vital operation that stops her from having what she desperately wants, a child. Her younger sister Claudia gives her a wonderful gift and bears a child for her. However years later when Claudia finds out that she and her husband Martin can't conceive she realises that the only baby she will ever bear is Kelly, the child she had for her sister. (2 male, 4 female). In 'Soulmates' David turns the tables on his own kind and applies his merciless humour to the literary world in a play about the slippery business of books, authors, their work, and the readers who love them. When Katie Best, ex-pat Australian and Chick Lit Queen, receives an acerbic review from Danny, a Melbourne critic, she vows to take her revenge. (4 male, 3 female). { 154pp, 135x210mm, August 2003; PB, £13.50, 0868196983:9780868196985 , Currency Press } |
| BLABBERMOUTH [Mary Morris] Rowena Batts has no voice, but she is the world's biggest blabbermouth. She's just started at a new school so life's a bit of a challenge, her new friend Amanda is Pretty cool, but that Darryn Peck is a total pest. Rowena's dad is an apple farmer and aspiring country and western singer, but he just can't seem to pull his head in when he needs to. Her new teacher, Ms Dunning, seems to be taking a shine to him, maybe love is in the air. On the other hand, maybe love sucks, could it turn out to be the worst day of her life (2 acts, 2 men, 3 women). { December 1996; PB, £9.99, 0868194212:9780868194219 , Currency Press } |
| BLACKROCK [Nick Enright] It's Toby Ackland's birthday party down near the surf club -- and that means heaps of grog, drugs and good clean fun. But by the morning, a young girl is dead -- she's been raped and bashed with a rock. Who is responsible? The boys? The girl? Or the whole town? (2 acts, 6 men, 5 women). { December 1996; PB, £11.99, 0868194778:9780868194776 , Currency Press } |
| BLAK INSIDE : 6 Indigenois Plays From Victoria Contains six plays. ENUFF by John Harding is a frightening and funny play about an Australian future where black patience has run out. A violent uprising is planned for Reconciliation Day -- will retribution or forgiveness prevail? I DON'T WANNA PLAY HOUSE by Tammy Anderson is the moving story of her childhood. A truly remarkable account of the triumph of the human spirit. BELONGING by Tracey Rigney recounts the taunts and temptations of a school girl, and her personal struggle to remain true to her culture, and herself. CASTING DOUBTS by Maryanne Sam is a funny, and at times heart-wrenching, play about an actors' casting agency with more colour charts than a paint shop, and the problems that Indigenous actors face. CROWFIRE by Jadah Milroy is the story of a young, urban Indigenous Australian woman, and a man from a desert community lured into the city. The moving story of a search for identity and the need for reconciliation. CONVERSATIONS WITH THE DEAD by Richard J Frankland is a poetic and savage play that takes you into the aching sorrow of deaths in custody. { 287pp, 155x230mm, May 2002; PB, £13.50, 0868196622:9780868196626 , Currency Press } |
| BLIND GIANT IS DANCING [Stephen Sewell] Allen, a social economist, is a man of idealistic and principled origins and a committed worker for the left -- but he has familial poison running in his veins. As his struggle with the leader of his party's dominant right faction drifts helplessly from the political to the personal, Allen becomes increasingly controlled by the cold and unyielding anger passed on to him by his steelworker father. This is distinctive Sewell territory, where individual lives are equally at the mercy of powerful external forces as they are of scarcely understood drives within (3 acts, 10 men, 6 women). { July 1997; PB, £11.99, 0868194921:9780868194929 , Currency Press } |
| BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE & THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD [Robert Hewett] An adulterous husband, a meddlesome neighbour and a dropped ice-cream cone are among the circumstances that combine to shatter the life of suburban housewife Rhonda Russell. Everyone has their own story to tell about the day that Rhonda went berserk in the shopping centre. And who's to know where the truth lies? With the best friend who might have egged her on? With the husband who denies responsibility? Or with the victim's family whose lives were changed forever? And then there's the story of the vengeful redhead herself, but she's probably the least likely to know what really happened. In this gripping adventure, the world is turned upside down in a disastrous and comic sequence of events. As the intrigue unfolds, seven different characters give a fresh twist of perspective -- all played by one multifaceted performer. 2 acts, 1 female. { 79pp, 105x160mm, March 2007; PB, £7.99, 0868198064:9780868198064 , Currency Press } |
| BLUE MURDER : The Screenplay [Ian David] Set in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s, 'Blue Murder' is the story of the friendship between drug dealer and robber Arthur Stanley 'Neddy' Smith and Detective Sergeant Roger 'The Dodger' Rogerson -- and the pot of gold and broken lives that friendship produced. Ian David, the writer of 'Police Crop', 'Joh's Jury' and other TV dramas, researched the story extensively. He met with Neddy Smith and conducted hundreds of interviews as well as consulting published works such as 'Darren Goodsir's Line of Fire' and Neddy Smith's own autobiography 'Neddy'. The result is a powerful and frightening story about police corruption and Sydney's underworld. REVIEW: "The story of the friendship between drug dealer, robber and detective, and the pot of gold and broken lives that friendship produced" -- Dawn, Spring 2005. { 114pp, 170x240mm, January 2003; PB, £13.50, 0868196304:9780868196305 , Currency Press } |
| BOYCE TRILOGY : The Woman with Dog's Eyes / The Marvellous Boy / The Emperor of Sydney [Louis Nowra] After an extensive period of writing for film, Louis Nowra returns to the stage with "The Boyce Trilogy", an epic saga about the Boyce family, a family made wealthy through property development. The trilogy starts with The Woman with Dog's Eyes which introduces us to the Boyce family as they gather to celebrate the parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Inspired by events that traumatised Sydney’s Moran family, the play explores the universal themes of family, love and disappointment. The second part of the trilogy , "The Marvellous Boy", unwraps the story of this notorious Sydney family. Malcolm Boyce is dying at a time when his biggest building project -- and so his whole empire -- is threatened by protesters. He hires an important criminal, the charismatic Ray Pollard, to threaten his enemies. Malcolm gets his son, Luke, to liaise with Ray. Luke not only falls under Ray's spell but also finds himself involved with his father's mistress. The results are tragic. This story follows Luke from detachment into an emotional involvement that will be liberating and then shattering as the consequences of his and his father's moral duplicity emerge. In the final instalment of the trilogy, "The Emperor of Sydney" , the three sons fight for control of the company as their father lays dying in the master bedroom above the huge Beauchamp mansion living room. The company is near bankruptcy because of a huge stalled project (their father's personal vision) and they are facing a criminal investigation into the father's role in the suspicious death of the project's outspoken critic. { 174pp, 140x215mm, April 2007; PB, £17.99, 086819798X:9780868197982 , Currency Press } |
| BODY & SOUL : A Musical Play [Richard Tulloch] A group of exceptional young athletes from all over the country have been selected for training at Challenge Camp Australia. Who will make the final cut to win a Scholarship to the Australian Sport Academy and maybe a shot at Olympic gold in Sydney in 2000? All have potential, but now their physical and mental capacities are to be tested to the max. Stakes are high, competition is fierce and relationships are tested as tensions surface within the group. And the tasks set by their eccentric coach, Rasputin, are becoming increasingly bizarre. Body and Soul is fast-paced and funny with a punchy musical score. It can adapted to suit the special talents of young performers in both secondary school and community-based drama groups. { 104pp, 135x210mm, December 1998; PB, £9.99, 0868195588:9780868195582 , Currency Press } |
| BOYS : The Screenplay [Stephen Sewell] A frightening and unflinching analysis of the violence that lurks in the heart of Australian society. Unemployed, without hope and prospects, Brett's inner resources are drawn from a different well. Returning home from prison, he sets about re-establishing control over his wayward brothers. { 96pp, 135x210mm, September 1998; PB, £11.99, 0868195693:9780868195698 , Currency Press } |
| BOYS [Gordon Graham] An important play which raises many issues which need discussion in the 1990's. It paints a powerful picture of a family without moral, material, aesthetic or imaginative resource, each of them victims of a cycle of deprivation from which they can see relief only through money and physical power. The vicious murder of a woman is the culmination of the frustrated expression of anger by the men, who are, nonetheless, loved and cared for by their own women. This is a disturbing piece of writing which seems to reflect the fears of many: that society is failing its citizens -- both victims and perpetrators (2 acts, 3 men, 4 women). { December 1994; PB, £11.99, 086819381X:9780868193816 , Currency Press } |
| BRAN NUE DAE [Jimmy Chi] Willy and Old Uncle Tadpole flee the city to embark on a journey of personal discovery and outrageous adventures back to their Aboriginal homeland (2 acts, 5 men, 3 women, + ensemble). { May 1991; PB, £13.50, 0868192937:9780868192932 , Currency Press } |
| BRILLIANT LIES [David Williamson] To survive the 90s you've got to be lucky, rich or able to tell Brilliant Lies (2 acts, 4 men, 3 women). { October 1993; PB, £11.99, 0868193712:9780868193717 , Currency Press } |
| BRUMBY INNES / BID ME TO LOVE [Katharine Susannah Prichard] Two plays of 1927. Brumby Innes deals with the turbulent relations between the sexes and the races in NW Australia (3 acts, 9 men, 6 women), and Bid Me to Love with 'advanced' ideas on marriage (3 acts, 4 men, 4 women, children). { December 1983; PB, £12.99, 0868190861:9780868190860 , Currency Press } |
| BURNING TIME [Nicholas Flanagan] A compelling portrait of a talented, affluent Melbourne family and their friends. Beneath the glittering fun is a heartfelt cry that urges us to confront the forces which threaten what is left of the Australian family in the 1990s (2 acts, 6 men, 6 women). { May 1996; PB, £10.50, 0868194646:9780868194646 , Currency Press } |
| CALL [Martin Flanagan; Adapted by Bruce Myles] Tom Wills grew up in Western Victoria in the 1840's, where his childhood friends were local aborigines. He played their games and learnt their language. Sent to an exclusive English school, where he made a name for himself playing cricket for Cambridge, he returned in 1856 with a rallying cry that revolutionised sport in Australia: 'Let’s have a game of our own!’ It was Tom Wills who opened the door to an indigenous code of football with its own rules, humour and history. Sport became Australia's second language. His crowded life found him in the middle of a land war, surviving a massacre of his family and coaching an Aboriginal cricket team for Australia’ s first tour of England. Snubbed by the big end of town, this driven and passionate man was dead at 44. What killed Tom Wills? The answers add a revealing chapter to our hidden history. Don Watson said that Martin Flanagan could describe a heart-beat and this spirited collaboration (with Bruce Myles) fulfils that promise. (1 Act, 3 male, 2 female). { 56pp, 135x210mm, November 2004; PB, £10.50, 0868197386:9780868197388 , Currency Press } |
| CAPRICORNIA [Louis Nowra] Xavier Herbert's classic novel of racial conflict during the 1930s (3 acts, 15 men, 13 women). { January 1992; PB, £11.99, 0868193135:9780868193137 , Currency Press } |
| CARER [Alan Hopgood] George Parker's wife has recently died with Alzheimer's. He took early retirement to care for her, and is now adjusting to his new life without her. This story celebrates George's love for his wife and his struggle to overcome adversity with warmth, integrity, and an infectious sense of humour. (2 acts, 1 male). { 54pp, 105x160mm, May 2004; PB, £7.50, 0868197424:9780868197425 , Currency Press } |
| CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH [Henry Reynolds] Set in central-western New South Wales in the 1890s, Fred Schepisi's film of Thomas Keneally's award-winning novel is a powerful and confronting story of a black man's revenge against an unjust and intolerant society. Raised by missionaries, Jimmie Blacksmith, a young half-castle Aboriginal man, is poignantly caught between the ways of his black forefathers and those of the white society to which he aspires. Exploited by his boss and betrayed by his [white] wife, he declares war on his white employers and goes on a violent killing spree. "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" was one of the most significant films of the 1970s 'renaissance'. It was the first Australian feature in which the whole story is told from an Aboriginal perspective and it broke new ground in dealing with one of the most tragic aspects of Australian history: the racist treatment of the Aboriginal population. The spectre of the violent and vengeful black had barely been touched upon and the depth of rage that the film put on screen was unprecedented in Australian film at the time. { 80pp, 135x190mm, March 2008; PB, £9.50, 0868198242:9780868198248 , Currency Press } |
| CHAPEL PERILOUS (1971) [Dorothy Hewett] Sally Banner tries through schooldays, lovers, marriage and politics to extract a meaning from the environment into which she has been born (2 acts, 3 men, 2 women, chorus and musicians). { December 1981; PB, £10.99, 0868190888:9780868190884 , Currency Press } |
| CHILDREN OF THE BLACK SKIRT [Angela Betzien] Three lost children discover an abandoned orphanage in the bush. They become trapped in this timeless world, haunted by spirits of the past and perpetually tormented by the ominous Black Skirt, the cruel governess who floats up and down the orphanage corridors wielding her enormous scissors. Soon, the children begin to listen to the stories of these restless spirits and by doing so, they find a light that will lead all lost children home. This new gothic fairytale for young people tells a history of Australia through the eyes of children, from convict times, to early white occupation to the vast era of the Stolen Generation to World War Two and beyond. A visually and aurally evocative play exploring themes of history, reconciliation and the cathartic power of storytelling. This is Roald Dahl meets Charles Dickens under the harsh Australian sun. (1 act, 7 male, 15 female). { 61pp, 135x190mm, April 2005; PB, £8.99, 0868197602:9780868197609 , Currency Press } |
| CHILLING & KILLING MY ANNABEL LEE [Aidan Fennessy] When a body is found in a disused ice-works and a man confesses to killing his lover, two detectives are caught in a labyrinth of clues starting with the phrase: 'my beautiful Annabel Lee'. Set in a seedy nether-world, Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee explores the nature of crime and guilt, both real and figurative. This ingenious play of mystery and murder is inspired by classic film noir and the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Spun around the confessions of a writer and his muse fatale, this is a world of seductive and compelling stories of betrayal, loss and lust. The author puts a humorous and contemporary spin on a highly intriguing plot that will have you guessing right to the last page (2 acts, 4 men, 4 women, 1 body). { May 1999; PB, £10.50, 0868195847:9780868195841 , Currency Press } |
| CHINA [William Yang] Photographer-storyteller William Yang returns to a motherland he never knew -- the Australian-born Chinese a stranger in his homeland. Yang takes his audiences from the streets of Beijing, where electronics superstores jostle with echoes of the Cultural Revolution and the Ming Dynasty, to the sacred mountain Huang Shan, a must-climb for every Chinese pilgrim-tourist; from a wild night in a Mongolian herdsman’s hut, to the apartments of ordinary Chinese, a few months after the Tiananmen Square incident. Part social documentary, part personal observation, China creates a meditative space, a journey of reflection on the meaning of culture and belonging, for performer and audience alike. { 54pp, 210x140mm, February 2008; PB, £9.99, 0868198277:9780868198279 , Currency Press } |
| CHOPPER : The Screenplay [Andrew Dominik] Chopper is inspired by the books of Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, arguably Australia's most infamous former criminal. An original screenplay, Chopper draws on police records, court transcripts, news coverage and interviews with prisoners, police and prison workers who knew Chopper Read. It is not a bio-pic, but a multi-sided examination of the pathology of a complex and violent man who has become a cult figure. This controversial film has earned the director criticism and praise in its dispassionate account of Chopper's life -- his time in the infamous H-Division of Pentridge Gaol and, on the outside, his idiosyncratic relationship with both police and criminals. As well as stills from the film the publication includes many illuminating scenes that did not make the final cut. { 88pp, 135x210mm, July 2001; PB, £11.99, 0868196428:9780868196428 , Currency Press } |
| CIRCUIT [Kelly Lefever, Dot West, Mitch Torres & Beck Cole] In the outback, the law is never black and white. Drew is a young Aboriginal lawyer fast-tracking his way from Perth to a policy job in Canberra via Broome. A stint as a public defender with the Kimberley Circuit Court offers him the street cred he needs in the Federal scene -- plus a chance to 'put something back'. 'The Circuit' turns out to be a tumultuous tour of the wildest parts of the far north, grappling with the often impossible contradictions between traditional and whitefella law. In the whirlwind of the travelling courtroom, cases are decided in minutes, with repercussions that go on for years. Drew has no idea what's hit him. Then there is the legacy of his own long-forgotten family history. A compelling, funny and thoughtful drama series starring Aaron Pedersen , Kelton Pell , Tammy Clarkson , Marta Kaczmarek and Gary Sweet as the Magistrate, The Circuit screens on SBS TV in July 2007. { 350pp, 155x230mm, July 2007; PB, £17.99, 0868198129:9780868198125 , Currency Press } |
| CIVILISING THE COLONIES : Pioneering Opera in Australia [Alison Gyger] The history of opera in Australia is often considered to date from the arrival of the impresario W. S. Lyster in 1861 yet, as Alison Gyger shows in this book, regular opera performances in Australia began much earlier. Starting in the 1830s, Gyger takes us through the full range of performances showing how each of the early decades had its own distinctive character. In the 1830s, English operas predominated, while the following decade saw the arrival of some Italian operas which were performed in English. It was not until the 1850s that, with the arrival of overseas stars, Italian operas were sung in Italian in Australian theatres. In the second half of the book, Gyger also looks in detail at the period from Lyster's arrival in 1861 through to the 1880s. The detailed wealth of information which the author has assembled from the major newspapers of the day, challenges the conventional picture of the beginnings of opera in Australia. { 285pp, 160x240mm, March 2001; HB, £29.50, 0949697397:9780949697394 , Currency Press } |
| CLASSIC SAX : For Alto Saxophone & Piano [Mark Walton] A collection of carefully selected pieces for classical saxophonists seeking music to develop their lyrical playing. The book has been designed for the serious recitalist, students taking grade exams and for the general teaching of the instrument by a performer and teacher with long experience in the field. { 72pp, 220x305, November 1996; PB, £17.99, 0868194891:9780868194899 / PB, £17.99, 0868194905:9780868194905 , Currency Press } |
| CLOSE TO THE BONE [Ned Manning] Deals with the forced adoptions of Aboriginal children taken from their families to live as white children. In the 1960s before the referendum on full citizenship rights for Aboriginal people in 1967, a little girl is taken from her mother. In the 1990s as a young woman, she discovers by chance that she is adopted and Aboriginal. The play relates to one aspect of Aboriginal history in a moving and sympathetic way, using humour to highlight the story (2 acts, 1 man, 9 women). { January 1996; PB, £11.99, 0868193895:9780868193892 , Currency Press } |
| CLOUDSTREET [Adapted by Nick Enright & Justin Monjo] A sprawling stage adaptation of Tim Winton's enormously successful novel of the same name. A huge success at the 1998 Sydney and Perth festival, the story follows the fluctuating fortune of two families who inhabit a rambling old house in Perth. Both the novel and stage adaptation have proven to be major works and have each left an indelible mark on the Australian arts scene (3 acts, 20 men, 13 women, extras). { July 2001; PB, £10.50, 0868195898:9780868195896 , Currency Press } |
| CLUB [David Williamson] About the hangers-on, the end of loyalty, the coming of professionalism... about each and every club in the League and about soccer, rugby and baseball too (2 acts, 6 men). { December 1978; PB, £11.99, 0868190136:9780868190136 , Currency Press } |
| COLLECTED PLAYS, VOLUME 1 [Dorothy Hewett] This Old Man Comes Rolling Home (9 men 9 women), Mrs Porter and the Angel (7 men 6 women), The Chapel Perilous (3 men 2 women, chorus, musicians), and The Tatty Hollow Story (6 men 2 women). { October 1992; PB, £17.99, 0868191663:9780868191669 , Currency Press } |
| COLLECTED PLAYS, VOLUME 1 [Patrick White] Ham Funeral (6 men 4 women), Season at Sarsaparilla (9 men 7 women), A Cheery Soul (10 men 18 women), Night on Bald Mountain (5 men 4 women). { February 2003; PB, £17.99, 0868191248:9780868191249 , Currency Press } |
| COLLECTED PLAYS, VOLUME 2 [Jim McNeil] How Does Your Garden Grow (7 men 2 women), Jack (4 men), The Chocolate Frog (3 men) and The Old Familiar Juice (3 men). { December 1987; PB, £17.99, 0868191477:9780868191478 , Currency Press } |
| COLLECTED PLAYS, VOLUME 2 [Patrick White] Shepherd on the Rocks (8 men 6 women), Big Toys (2 men 1 woman), Netherwood (6 men 6 women), and Signal Driver (2 men 2 women). { August 1994; HB, £17.99, 0868193054:9780868193052 , Currency Press } |
| COLLECTED PLAYS, VOLUME 2 [David Williamson] A Handful of Friends (2 men 3 women), The Club (6 men), The Perfectionist (3 men 2 women), and Travelling North (3 men 4 women). { January 1993; PB, £17.99, 0868192872:9780868192871 , Currency Press } |
| COLLITS' INN [T Stuart Gurr] Collits' Inn really did (and does) exist in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, though it is doubtful it is has ever had a landlord's daughter who could sing as well as Mary Collits, or a handyman as comically outrageous as Dandy Dick. With Gladys Moncrieff and George Wallace Snr in the leads, not even the financial depression of the 1930s could stop Collits' Inn from smashing box office records in Melbourne -- and even doing quite nicely in Sydney as well. A charming musical romance, this is one of the forgotten triumphs of Australian theatre and is published her for the first time with the songs and music included, and with its remarkable stage history remembered in an introduction by John West. (3 acts, 8 men, 3 women, extras). { 66pp, 150x220mm, January 1996; PB, £11.99, 0868192678:9780868192673 , Currency Press } |
| COLONIAL EXPERIENCE [Walter Cooper] A conspiracy involving an heiress, a braggart fortune hunter, a new chum and a pragmatic jackeroo makes a vigorous and stylish comedy (3 acts, 9 men, 2 women). { December 1979; PB, £11.99, 0868190241:9780868190242 , Currency Press } |
| COLOSSEUM [Ross Mueller] Ben and Liam are importers who accidentally receive a shipment of religious statues, unaware of what is hidden inside. Rich works at the docks and is tied up in too many deals. Sonia, his flatmate, is an usher at the cinema, cleaning up after people like Samantha, a final year medical student who spends more time at the movies than at her books. Samantha studies mechanics with Belinda, a cleaner who believes in self-improvement and dreams of becoming a pop star. She cleans houses with Peta, who smokes Cuban cigars and yearns for the revolution. Between talk of engines and ecstasy, between fantasies of New York and the Virgin Mary, fifteen lives intersect as this multi-layered story explores life's infinite possibilities. (5 male, 10 female). { 113pp, 140x215mm, August 2003; PB, £9.99, 0868196932:9780868196930 , Currency Press } |
| COMMUNITY THEATRE IN AUSTRALIA [Richard Fotheringham] Documents professional theatre activity, now known as community theatre. { 200pp, 140x210mm, March 1993; PB, £11.99, 086819333X:9780868193335 , Currency Press } |
| COMPANION TO THEATRE IN AUSTRALIA [Philip Parsons with Victoria Chance] This authoritative alphabetical reference work covers every major development and significant figure in the history of Australian theatre, from the earliest colonial times to the present day. { January 1994; PB, £26.99, 0868193577:9780868193571 , Currency Press } |
| COMPANY WE KEEP : An Intimate Celebration of Opera Australia [Annarosa Berman] Writer Annarosa Berman and photographer Bridget Elliot invite readers to join them on a fascinating exploration behind the scenes as they follow a selection of Opera Australia's productions in Sydney and Melbourne and go on tour with OzOpera in Tasmania. This book presents a lively and informative account of everything that goes into bringing an opera production to the stage, from concept to final dress rehearsal. The text is complemented by intimate black-and-white photographs that evoke a frenetic creative world, showcasing the working lives of musicians and principal artists, chorus members and vocal coaches. We also meet the designers and directors responsible for creating distinctive productions and the talented team that puts them together -- including costumiers, wig makers and mechanists -- as well as those who drive the business of opera. Published in celebration of Opera Australia's 50th-anniversary, "The Company We Keep" is a compelling account of the people, and the range of expertise and talent they contribute to the company's success; and also serves as a reminder of some of the challenges that confront the arts in Australia and as a tribute to those who provide the support required to ensure opera's survival in the next 50 years. { 246pp, 230x260mm, July 2006; PB, £26.99, 0868197866:9780868197869 , Currency Press } |
| COMPETITIVE TENDERNESS [Hannie Rayson] Dawn Snow has a fierce reputation, she reformed the prison system in Uganda. Now, with local government reform high on the political agenda, she is called upon to perform a similar task within the city of Greater Burke. Competitive Tenderness is a topical, satirical and even a little anarchic, but most of all it is very, very, funny (2 acts, 4 men, 4 women). { January 1997; PB, £10.50, 0868194603:9780868194608 , Currency Press } |
| COMPOSING VENUS [Elaine Acworth] Set in Charaters Towers, a faded gold mining town and home to the ore-crushing Venus Battery, in 1957 on the day that Sputnik was launched. Like a latter day comet, the man-made satellite acts as a catalyst for a host of transformations. This play spans three decades, in flights of fantasy, poetic phrasing and sombre soliloquy, to tell the story of three generations of women living in outback North Queensland (2 acts, 2 men, 5 women). { January 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868194077:9780868194073 , Currency Press } |
| CONCISE COMPANION TO THEATRE IN AUSTRALIA [Philip Parsons] The huge research into the history of Australian theatre assembled in Currency's authoritative Companion to Theatre in Australia has here been concentrated into a handy reference guide for the theatre lover and student. Every aspect of theatre is still covered: old traditions and new forms; major performers, directors and playwrights and designers; theatre buildings, management, stage effects, industrial relations, criticism; drama, musicals, circus, puppetry and vaudeville. Forty new artists have been added and new material to provide an up-to-date reference to the end of the 1990s. { 320pp, 140x200mm, May 1997; PB, £17.99, 0868194999:9780868194998 , Currency Press } |
| CONJURERS [Alana Valentine] A hauntingly evocative play about two magicians touring their show along the Great Ocean Road of south-western Victoria. The further down the coast they travel, the more they are drawn into a mystical world of self-realisation and discovery; about one another and the nature of the country around them (2 acts, 1 man, 2 women). { April 1997; PB, £10.50, 0868195103:9780868195100 , Currency Press } |
| CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN FLUTE, VOLUME 1 [Mardi McSullea (ed)] These two volumes, present 8 twentieth century Australian flute and piano compositions. The pieces demonstrate a wide diversity of styles and techniques from the quasi modal harmonies of Dorian Le Gallienne's Sonata to the sparkling intertwining lines of Julian Yu's Scintillations III; from the simple but beautiful little Haiku pieces of Meta Overman to the spontaneous freshness of the three movement Fantasy by Helen Gifford; from the brilliant Scherzo waltz for piccolo by William Lovelock to the finely wrought Six Scenes by Allan Walker; and from the aggressive melodic interplay of Phyllis Batchelor's Sonata to the wild arabesques of Brenton Broadstock's Aureole. Technically the pieces vary in difficulty so that while flute teachers will find material suitable for students at intermediate to advanced levels, seasoned performers will discover a number of show pieces for concert performance. { 46pp, 225x310mm, January 1998; PB, £17.99, 086819526X:9780868195261 , Currency Press } |
| CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN FLUTE, VOLUME 2 [Mardi McSullea (ed)] These two volumes, present 8 twentieth century Australian flute and piano compositions. The pieces demonstrate a wide diversity of styles and techniques from the quasi modal harmonies of Dorian Le Gallienne's Sonata to the sparkling intertwining lines of Julian Yu's Scintillations III; from the simple but beautiful little Haiku pieces of Meta Overman to the spontaneous freshness of the three movement Fantasy by Helen Gifford; from the brilliant Scherzo waltz for piccolo by William Lovelock to the finely wrought Six Scenes by Allan Walker; and from the aggressive melodic interplay of Phyllis Batchelor's Sonata to the wild arabesques of Brenton Broadstock's Aureole. Technically the pieces vary in difficulty so that while flute teachers will find material suitable for students at intermediate to advanced levels, seasoned performers will discover a number of show pieces for concert performance. { 46pp, 225x310mm, January 1998; PB, £17.99, 0868195278:9780868195278 , Currency Press } |
| CONTEMPORARY INDIGENOUS PLAYS [Vivienne Cleven et al] Five plays from around Australia which illustrate that the rich tradition of indigenous storytelling is flourishing in contemporary Australian theatre. Adapted from her award-winning novel, Vivienne Cleven's "Bitin' Back" is a 'zany and uproarious black farce'; "Black Medea", Wesley Enoch's richly poetic adaptation of Euripides Medea, blends the cultures of Ancient Greek and indigenous storytelling to weave a bold and breathtaking commentary on contemporary experience; The acclaimed "King Hit" by David Milroy and Geoffrey Narkle, strikes at the very heart of the Stolen Generations, exploring the impact on an individual and a culture when relationships are brutally broken; Set in the 1950s on the fringe of a country town, "Rainbow's End" by Jane Harrison creates a 'thought-provoking and emotionally powerful' (Age) snapshot of a Koori family to dramatise the struggle for decent housing, meaningful education, jobs and community acceptance; And David Milroy's "Windmill Baby" is set on an abandoned cattle station in the Kimberley landscape, combines the poetry of a campfire story with the comedy of a great yarn. { 228pp, 140x215mm, February 2007; PB, £19.50, 0868197955:9780868197951 , Currency Press } |
| CONVERGING REALITIES : Feminism in Australian Theatre [Peta Tait] Looks at the work of women theatre practitioners who express feminist ideas through their use of form. Peta Tait identifies how women's work in comic and physical styles, performed in unusual spaces, necessitates a redefinition of feminist theatres. Addressing both theoretical and practical issues, this volume contains contributions from Venetia Gillot, Julie Holledge, Anna Messariti, Lydia Miller and Mary Moore. { 276pp, 135x210mm, August 1994; PB, £13.50, 0868193763:9780868193762 , Currency Press } |
| COSI : Filmscript [Louis Nowra] Lewis, a young, first-time director, is hired to direct a variety show as part of a therapeutic programme at a state-run psychiatric institution. Whilst he's not exactly equipped for the job he's willing to give it a go -- Lewis is drifting and needs some direction in his own life. { 116pp, 140x210mm, June 1996; PB, £11.99, 0868194751:9780868194752 , Currency Press } |
| COSI [Louis Nowra] Lewis arrives fresh from university to direct a play at a mental institution. Roy demands Cosi Fan Tutte. An affectionate look at madness and mayhem (3 acts, 5 men, 3 women). { August 1994; PB, £11.99, 0868194034:9780868194035 , Currency Press } |
| CRAZY BRAVE [Michael Gurr] It is Melbourne, it is now. A desperate group, with no faith in mainstream politics, has embarked on a program of urban disruption. Their guerilla tactics create havoc within the well-oiled machine of the city. Now they face the prospect of taking their actions to a new level of danger. Ever brave, do they have what it takes to become Crazy Brave? This is a fiercely passionate story about the collision between great ideals and human frailty. It is told with dizzying momentum and piercing wit by the winner of four major literary awards. (2 women, 4 men.) { 58pp, 135x210mm, July 2001; PB, £10.50, 0868196150:9780868196152 , Currency Press } |
| CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES : Eight Award-Winning Arts Critics [Katharine Brisbane] Reviewing art, says Joanna Mendelssohn, is like taking apart a clock -- the pieces don't always fit back together. For film critic Sandra Hall you start by stumbling in the dark. In these frank confessions by eight art journalists, all of whom have won the Pascall Prize for Criticism, we gain a unique insight, not only into their way of thinking but into how contrary are the worlds they inhabit. Other writers reflect on reviewing food (Alan Saunders), music -- both classical and pop -- (Roger Covell and Bruce Elder), recordings (Cyrus Meher-Homji), literature (Marion Halligan) and theatre (John McCallum). { 208pp, 140x210mm, December 1997; PB, £15.50, 0868195022:9780868195025 , Currency Press } |
| CURRENCY COMPANION TO MUSIC & DANCE IN AUSTRALIA [John Whiteoak & Aline Scott-Maxwell (eds)] This book is unique in its comprehensiveness and its recognition of cultural diversity and community. In Dr Whiteoak's words: "Instead of taking a 'Who's Who' approach it will emphasise the what, when and how of music and dance in Australia as a more effective way of revealing the breadth, complexity and rich variegation of these related performance cultures. In creating a contents list that expresses this breadth and diversity, we considered the fact that all forms of music and dance activity in Australia have cultural significance or commonly appreciated meanings for one group or another." The book not only covers the history of concert music, opera and ballet in Australia; of music teaching, composition, instruments, venues, union activity; of Aboriginal music and dance and its appropriation, and all forms of popular and folk music and dance, but embraces the wide variety of immigrant influences from Europe, America and particularly the Pacific; sound art, computer music and electroacoustics; belly dance, debutante balls, subcultures, music videos -- and much more. Over 200 researchers contribute to each volume -- academics, practitioners and private researchers from all parts of Australia and beyond. The general editors are respected Melbourne musicologists. Dr Whiteoak's field is the history of popular music-making; and Dr Scott-Maxwell's doctoral thesis was in Asian and Pacific musical influences. { 736pp, 180x260mm, August 2003; HB, £64.99, 0958121311:9780958121316 , Currency Press (Currency House) } |
| DAGS [Debra Oswald] A delightful and compassionate look at adolescence and all that it entails (4 men, 6 women). { December 1987; PB, £9.99, 0868191809:9780868191805 , Currency Press } |
| DANCE HALL & PICTURE PALACE : Sydney's Romance with Modernity [Jill Julius Matthews] This book paints Sydney between the depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s as a prosperous city riding an international wave of modernism. In the pub, parlour and pulpit, people clashed over the significance of moving pictures, jazz, new dance crazes, the radio, gramophone records and cheap magazines. Conventional accounts of the Australian film industry at the beginning of the twentieth century focus on the impact of Hollywood on local production. But in this vibrant history, the author shows how moving pictures captured the imagination of Sydney’s people and transformed how they thought about the world. Jill Julius Matthews describes how in Sydney, as elsewhere, young flappers came to embody both glamour and decadence in modern city life. She uncovers entrepreneurs bribing politicians as they aggressively pursued profits for their American patrons and reveals the innovative marketing techniques that provoked cultural elites to deplore commercialisation. { 342pp, 150x230mm, February 2005; PB, £18.99, 0868197556:9780868197555 , Currency Press } |
| DAVID WILLIAMSON : A Writer's Career [Brian Kiernan] Playwright and screenwriter David Williamson is Australia's best known and most popular dramatist. This authoritative account of Williamson's phenomenal career, draws on his early writings, unpublished drafts, letters and journal entries; as well as recollections off friends and colleagues. { December 1996; PB, £10.99, 0868194824:9780868194820 , Currency Press } |
| DAVID WILLIAMSON'S JACK MANNING TRILOGY : A Study Guide [David Moore] This guide has been prepared specifically to help teachers to use David Williamson's community conferencing plays featured in 'The Jack Manning Trilogy' more effectively in the classroom, whether it be from a literary, theatrical or counselling perspective. The plays in the trilogy are: A Conversation; Charitable Intent; and Face to Face. They all focus on the process of bringing together the victims and perpetrators of a crime to attempt some kind of reconciliation. The guide is written by a founding director of Transformative Justice Australia, the Sydney-based company that inspired Williamson's trilogy. { 96pp, 105x160mm, December 2003; PB, £7.99, 0868196975:9780868196978 , Currency Press } |
| DAYLIGHT SAVING [Nick Enright] Felicity and Tom both have busy lives and demanding careers. Tom is travelling when Felicity receives a call from an American boyfriend from her past (2 acts, 3 men, 3 women). { March 1991; PB, £11.99, 0868192651:9780868192659 , Currency Press } |
| DEAD HEART [Nick Parsons] Portrays some of the complex issues facing both black and white Australians in the 1990s. Winner of the 1993 NSW State Literary Award for Best Script (10 men, 2 women). { March 1994; PB, £11.99, 0868193771:9780868193779 , Currency Press } |
| DEAD HEART : Screenplay [Nick Parsons] The screenplay adaptation of Nick Parsons' successful stage playa bout the clash between white law and tribal lore on an Aboriginal reserve. An all star cast includes Bryan Brown and Ernie Dingo. { January 1996; PB, £11.99, 086819459X:9780868194592 , Currency Press } |
| DEAD WHITE MALES [David Williamson] Postmodernism versus Liberal Humanism (2 acts, 4 men, 7 women). { December 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868194433:9780868194431 , Currency Press } |
| DEPARTMENT [David Williamson] A staff meeting in a College of Advanced Education dissects the workings of bureaucracy and the absurd politicking needed to support it (2 acts, 8 men, 2 women). { December 1988; PB, £11.99, 0868190225:9780868190228 , Currency Press } |
| DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND [Christos Tsiolkas] Fred Schepisi's film, 'The Devil's Playground' is an intimate portrait of Tom, a thirteen-year-old struggling in spirit and body with the constraints of living in a Catholic seminary. It is also the story of the Brothers and how they cope with the demands of their faith. Made in 1976, this semi-autobiographical films established Schepisi as one of Australia's most talented directors and was one of the first Australian films to be selected for Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Christos Tsiolkas invites you into his twenty-five year journey of viewing, reviewing and re-imaging the film. He remembers his first illicit experience of the film at the age of thirteen and describes how his views of it changed in later years. As he chronicles the impact of 'The Devil's Playground' on the development of his sense of self and of his love of cinema, he also explores the film in terms of sexuality, politics, history and aesthetics. Tsiolkas' account of what 'The Devil's Playground' said and didn't say to him is a passionate tribute to the power and possibilities of cinema. { 82pp, 135x190mm, November 2002; PB, £9.50, 0868196711:9780868196718 , Currency Press } |
| DINKUM ASSORTED [Linda Aronson] Comedy, full of laughter, tension, comradeship, and 7 highly singable songs (2 acts, 15 women). { November 1989; PB, £11.99, 086819249X:9780868192499 , Currency Press } |
| DIRTY DEEDS : The Screenplay [David Caesar] Sydney -- 1969. Crime is cool, cops are crooked and 20 bucks buys you a whole night out. For Barry life is sweet. He runs the girls, the clubs and the illegal casinos, and not even crooked Detective Ray dares to stand in his way. Barry's wife wears the pants, his mistress Margaret wears him out and his wide-eyed nephew Darcy is learning just how cosy business can be. When the Mafia dispatch two Chicago hoods to muscle in on his action, Barry's life takes a dramatic turn. His mistress starts making eyes at Darcy, his wife becomes suspicious and the yanks won't take no for an answer -- BIG MISTAKE. Barry decides to give the yanks a lesson in outback hospitality. 7 male, 3 female. { 92pp, 140x215mm, June 2002; PB, £11.99, 0868196835:9780868196831 , Currency Press } |
| DIVING FOR PEARLS [Katherine Thomson] A glossy resort grown in place of the old community of steel workers and two ordinary people make some incongruous attempts to adjust to the new world (2 men, 2 women). { December 1992; PB, £11.99, 0868193232:9780868193236 , Currency Press } |
| DOGS PLAY / A FEW ROOS LOOSE IN THE TOP PADDOCK [Tee O'Neill] Presented together, the vigorous contrasts of these two short plays create an innovative evening of comic, anarchic, physical theatre. Dogs are unleashed in all their loving, libidinous energy upon Jenna, a woman with an uncertain past and a dangerous future. Kangaroos are the sentinels, guardians of the land upon which Suzy and Pete build their dream lives. Both stories focus upon the desires of contemporary women -- one urban, the other suburban. As actual onstage characters, the dogs and roos are both feral and spiritual -- vaudevillian troupers providing comfort, laughter and inspiring passions in their human companions. { 100pp, 135x210mm, August 1999; PB, £10.50, 0868195871:9780868195872 , Currency Press } |
| DOLL TRILOGY, REVISED EDITION : Kid Stakes, Other Times, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll [Ray Lawler] A special edition published to coincide with the Sydney Theatre Company's 1985 production, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll; this Trilogy tells the full story of the seventeen-year romance which ended in tragic disillusion. Plays featured: Kid Stakes, Other Times and Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll. (Kid Stakes: 3 women, 3 men; Other Times: 4 women, 3 men; Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll: 4 women, 3 men.) { 300pp, 150x230mm, July 2001; PB, £16.50, 0868196495:9780868196497 , Currency Press } |
| DON'S PARTY [David Williamson] Since its first burst on the Australian stage in 1971, Don's Party has become widely recognised as one of David Williamson's finest comedies. Set during an election night party, Don's guests pursue the rituals of courtship and sexual competitiveness as a means of coping with the insecurities of their own empty lives. Williamson's brilliant satire examines a society on the threshold of emerging from a generation of comfortable, conservative political and social values (2 acts, 6 men, 5 women). { January 1997; PB, £11.99, 0868195308:9780868195308 , Currency Press } |
| DON'T TELL ME, SHOW ME : Directors Talk About Acting [Adam Macaulay] This is a collection of 'informal' interviews with Australian directors of stage, film and TV, talking about actors and acting. The author poses two basic questions: "from your point of view (as a director) what makes a good actor good?" and "what skills and attitudes make a good actor good to work with?". The result is an intelligent and enlightening commentary on acting in Australia today. This is not a 'how to act' book nor a series of profiles on the personal and/or professional life of the directors interviewed. The book is primarily aimed at aspiring actors and students of acting to help them to develop their craft, undertake training and revise ideas/ideals as required. Hopefully this book will also be part of the ongoing dialogue in the performing arts on 'how we do what we do and how we might do it better'. { 224pp, 155x230mm, June 2003; PB, £16.50, 086819669X:9780868196695 , Currency Press } |
| DOROTHY HEWETT : The Feminine as Subversion [Margaret Williams] Williams gives a critical perspective on a highly individual and varied body of playwriting by one of Australia's leading writers. { 161pp, 140x210mm, October 1992; PB, £11.99, 0868193208:9780868193205 , Currency Press } |
| DRAMA JOURNEYS : Inside Drama Learning [Mary Mooney & Jennifer Nichollas (eds)] This is a practical and invaluable reference book for primary school teachers, and offers a range of approaches to be used in the teaching of drama. The book explores the artistic and teaching conventions of various drama forms inspiring a hands-on approach to facilitating vibrant and innovative drama experiences in the primary school classroom. The authors are experienced teachers, practitioners and academics, and each author discusses their own journey inside drama learning by featuring the drama forms most accessible to young people: improvisation, movement, mime, storytelling, puppetry, screen drama and playbuilding. Other chapters explore: working in role, Indigenous perspectives in drama, using texts in drama, incorporating technology in the drama classroom, appreciating drama and programming for drama across the curriculum. { 204pp, 170x245mm, August 2004; PB, £16.50, 0868196967:9780868196961 , Currency Press } |
| DRAMA SKILLS FOR LIFE [Lesley Christen] A handbook for secondary school teachers that presents a practical synthesis of creative drama techniques. The series of lessons combine creative play and improvisation with mime, the study of myths, literature and language. { 134pp, 200x280mm, October 1992; PB, £14.99, 0868193283:9780868193281 , Currency Press } |
| DREAMERS [Jack Davis] This is a 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' (2 acts, 5 men, 2 boys, 1 woman, 1 girl, 1 male dancer). { January 1982; PB, £11.99, 0868194549:9780868194547 , Currency Press } |
| DREAMERS & VISIONARIES : Adelaide's Little Theatres from the 1920s to the Early 1940s [Thelma Afford] From the 1920s to the 1940s, there was a diverse flowering of amateur theatres in Adelaide which were experimental, creatively inventive and ahead of their times. Other Australian capital cities had their own Little Theatres during this period, but some of the Adelaide theatres were unique in anticipating later creative theatre movements, including overseas ones. These Little Theatres helped to form the basis of Adelaide's reputation as 'the city of culture' and also laid the groundwork for the later development of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. Certainly the subsequent landscapes of the Australian theatre scene would have been very different without Adelaide's Little Theatres of the 1920s to 1940s. { 240pp, 140x215mm, November 2004; PB, £16.50, 0868197505:9780868197500 , Currency Press } |
| DROWNING BRIDE [Michael Futcher & Helen Howard] In the wake of her grandmother’s death, young Brisbane artist, Ellen Burton, discovers tantalising threads of a hidden story from her family’s past. Consumed with grief and guilt, Ellen’s only solace is to uncover the truth. She must travel to the US to meet with the man her family abhors, her grandfather Valdis. This man abandoned Ellen’s grandmother in war-torn Latvia, collaborated with the SS to round up Jews and escaped the penalties of Nuremburg. She expects to hate him, but in Grandad Valdis there is a seductive amalgam of charisma and cruelty which blurs the border of hate and love for Ellen. Grandma is dead. Which of them is to blame? Ellen and Valdis take their first tentative steps in a dance to the death. Helen Howard and Michael Futcher’s latest play is inspired by the true experiences of their friend, Elise Parups. (2 acts, 2 male, 2 female). { 91pp, 140x215mm, May 2005; PB, £11.99, 0868197734:9780868197739 , Currency Press } |
| DUST [Stephen Sewell] Interspersed with scenes from a staged historical drama of savage conquest, a tense family drama is played out in a setting of modern desolation. Actor, Doug, on stage playing warrior leader Avenal, who seeks to build a Christian world away from the battlefield, 'off-stage' seeks his estranged and distraught daughter, Julie. Fighting mental disorder, Julie is also seeking security and solace in faith, sometimes helped by her bewildered but devoted husband's dead brother, Joe. As Sewell draws the audience into this investigation of human nature and the intimate environment of these personal relationships, the edges blur between the theatrical and the real, and big questions confront us (3 acts, 11 men, 9 women). { February 1997; PB, £11.99, 0868194964:9780868194967 , Currency Press } |
| ELOCUTION OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN / WHEN THEY SEND ME THREE & FOURPENCE [Steve J Spears] The author is at his best in these two comedies, with the tragi-comic heroes, gallantly fighting to keep reality at bay. Elocution of Benjamin Franklin (2 acts, 1 man); When They Send Me Three And Fourpence (2 acts, 4 men, 2 women). { September 1989; PB, £13.50, 0868192171:9780868192178 , Currency Press } |
| EMERALD CITY [David Williamson] A commentary on contemporary urban mores and morals, and rivalries and passions encountered on the road to success (2 acts, 3 men, 3 women). { December 1987; PB, £11.99, 0868191701:9780868191706 , Currency Press } |
| ESSINGTON LEWIS : I AM WORK (1981) [John O'Donoghue] A dramatic reconstruction of the life of the legendary mastermind behind the building of the steel empire BHP (2 acts, 6 men, 2 women, musicians). { December 1987; PB, £11.99, 0868191647:9780868191645 , Currency Press } |
| EUROPE / ON TOP OF THE WORLD [Michael Gow] Europe: A young Australian travels in pursuit of a middle-European actress (2 acts, 1 man, 1 woman). On Top of the World: an elderly man, isolated by his daughter, is visited by his son and an old woman (2 acts, 2 men, 2 women). { December 1987; PB, £13.50, 0868191582:9780868191584 , Currency Press } |
| FALLING FROM GRACE [Hannie Rayson] A play about women in medicine, in the media and in the office -- power and authority in female hands. They are 40 and their friendship is about to be tested (2 acts, 2 men, 5 women). { December 1994; PB, £10.50, 0868193879:9780868193878 , Currency Press } |
| FALLING PETALS [Ben Ellis] Something strange in the country town of Hollow: a syndrome that seems to strike only at the young. The town is quarantined, schools are closed and fences go up. With guards at new borders, denial runs deep. Three vulnerable school-leavers are caught in this changing world. Success in their final exams may be their passport out of a country town with no future. As the mysterious outbreak reaches epidemic proportions, friendship and alliances are stretched to breaking point. Part sci-fi, part satire, this is a darkly humorous fable about the consequences of a culture of disposable youth. (2 male, 3 female). { 92pp, 135x210mm, August 2003; PB, £10.50, 0868197068:9780868197067 , Currency Press } |
| FAMILY [Jill Shearer] Sarah, newly appointed to Internal Investigations, is an intelligent and principled graduate policewoman. She uncovers a long-buried case that implicates her police officer father as an accessory to police corruption. Thirty five years of denial and guilt have left heavy scars beneath the skin of the family and she has to decide whether to pursue an investigation that will bring disgrace upon her father and possibly destroy her mother (2 acts, 3 men, 4 women). { January 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868194484:9780868194486 , Currency Press } |
| FAT BOY [Tony Ayres] Trevor's just a lonely boy looking for love. But love's made a detour around him. Is it because he's fat, gay and squeals like a girl? Whatever the reason, everything he touches turns to crap. However, throughout it all, Trevor bumbles on. (2 acts, 3 male, 3 female) { 74pp, 140x210mm, May 2003; PB, £10.50, 0868197041:9780868197043 , Currency Press } |
| FLATFOOT [David Williamson] Flatfoot (aka Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus) pops up in the 21st century, enraged to find his ideas have been plundered through the ages by everyone from Shakespeare to sitcom writers. To prove his point, he takes us back to Ancient Rome, where he must convince his producer, Crassus Dives, that his new play will be a hit, won't offend the Roman Censor, and won't give servants ideas above their station. The trouble is the play hasn't been written, so Plautus must act it out before the cynical producer, making it up as he goes along. Pandemonium lurks just around the corner as, with a little help from Cleostrata, his Greek wife, ex-dancer and seductress extraordinaire, they tackle all ten roles between them. This is a boisterous comedy for all ages from Australia's best-loved playwright. (2 acts, 2 male, 1 female). { 50pp, 135x190mm, June 2004; PB, £10.50, 0868197351:9780868197357 , Currency Press } |
| FLOATING WORLD [John Romeril] Investigates the ambivalent feelings behind the camaraderie of international trade relations. A rich, ironic study of Australian xenophobia (1 act, 6 men, 1 woman). { December 1982; PB, £11.99, 0868190640:9780868190648 , Currency Press } |
| FORTUNE [Hilary Bell] Set in the Australian goldfields of the 1860s -- a world of travelling freak shows, grave robbing, convicts, angels of retribution and Chinese opera -- Fortune tells the story of Chang the 'Tartar Monster'. Eleven years old, 7 feet tall and alone in the world, Chang is enslaved to the cruel Reinhardt, who sells his appearance, at fourpence a time, for souvenir snapshots. Into his life comes Kathleen, Irish, newly free, determined and a passionate survivor. Finally treated as a human being, Chang begins to turn the tables. Showing how readily society's oppressed embrace the role of oppressor. Through richly wrought prose and controlled flights into non-naturalistic realms, Bell probes the complexities of racial prejudice and cultural difference, whilst unsentimentally scrutinising the universal surge for survival (2 acts, 2 men, 3 women). { October 1995; PB, £11.99, 086819400X:9780868194004 , Currency Press } |
| FORTUNES OF RICHARD MAHONY [Michael Gow] This is an adaptation of Ethel Florence Lindesay Robertson's three-part novel of the same name. Born and educated in Melbourne, Ethel Robertson was one of Australia's first woman novelists, writing as Henry Handel Richardson. She tells of a nation's turbulent adolescence by drawing deeply on her father's struggles with survival, identity and sanity. With one foot in the old country and a toe-hold in the new, Richard Mahoney's life gallops alongside the great events of the 19th century. A family saga of fortunes won and lost, it is a story of great social reach and enormous emotional power. This great sprawling story has been superbly adapted by Michael Gow (1 act, 6 men, 4 women, extras). { 66pp, 140x210mm, October 2002; PB, £10.50, 0868196789:9780868196787 , Currency Press } |
| FOSSILS! [Manuel Aston] Homo parentithicus. Found in most urban parts of Australia. Usually roams in pairs. Over-protective to off-spring. Parents. Fossils takes a look at the relationship between parents and teenagers (1 act, 1 man, 2 women). { January 1995; PB, £9.99, 0868193992:9780868193991 , Currency Press } |
| FRAIL MAN [Anthony Crowley] Steven Saken made his first million at the age of eighteen. Now, on the cusp of the biggest business merger of his career, he is struck down with an inexplicable illness. On the night he became sick, a Muslim woman was savagely murdered outside his house, and logic dictates he was a witness to the crime. Meanwhile, two ghosts of Australia's convict past set out to stake a claim on the land, and a mysterious donation of seven million dollars is made to a Catholic priest. Is Saken's illness real, or is he merely a symptom carrier for a frightened nation? (2 acts, 5 male, 3 female). { 104pp, 135x210mm, April 2004; PB, £10.50, 0868197327:9780868197326 , Currency Press } |
| FUNERALS & CIRCUSES [Roger Bennett] In a small town in South Australia the white policeman's daughter marries an Aboriginal artist. From the starting point, this play takes a searing look at black-white relations. Roger Bennett has created a piece of promenade-style theatre which begins in the foyer, confronting the audience as they arrive with the day-to-day ugliness of racism. Through the performance the audience moves both physically and emotionally through the rites of a country town where racial tension is rife (2 acts, 7 men, 5 women). { January 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868193801:9780868193809 , Currency Press } |
| FURIOUS [Michael Gow] Roland is summoned to an old people's home to collect a box left for him by a stranger. It is full of newspaper clippings about him and his career as a writer (19 characters -- can be played by 3 men and 2 women). { April 1994; PB, £10.50, 0868193623:9780868193625 , Currency Press } |
| GAP [Anna Broinowski] Broinowski's succinct funny and elegantly told story... is also a quietly moving exploration of the mind-sets that separate two cultures (1 act, 2 women). { January 1995; PB, £11.99, 0868194123:9780868194127 , Currency Press } |
| GARDEN OF GRANDDAUGHTERS [Stephen Sewell] A comedy about the cut and thrust of life in this Jewish family (2 acts, 7 men, 2 women). { July 1993; PB, £10.50, 0868193461:9780868193465 , Currency Press } |
| GARY'S HOUSE [Debra Oswald] Gary has failed in everything he has attempted. But when he inherits a block of land, he gets an urge to build a nest with Sue-Ann, h |