Download 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist

2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies
Playlist
The following plays have been selected for study in 2017. This playlist should be used in
conjunction with requirements set out in the VCE Drama Study Design 2014–2018 and VCE
Theatre Studies Study Design 2014–2018. Teachers should select play/s as required for VCE
Drama and Theatre Studies Units 3 and 4 and make bookings in a prompt and timely manner.
The playlist selection panel has taken into account the requirement for texts to be appropriate for
study by students in senior secondary schooling, and for texts to reflect community standards and
expectations. Teachers and school leaders are advised to consider carefully the information
provided about each of the plays on the 2017 playlist, which includes an indication of:
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dramatic merit
subject matter and themes
ways in which it supports rigorous and sustained study in relation to the key knowledge of the
Drama or Theatre Studies study design
advice that schools should take into consideration when selecting plays for study.
For VCE Drama Unit 3 and Theatre Studies Unit 4, students are not required to study the playscript
of selected performances. However, the playscript can be a valuable learning resource in these
units. Theatre companies are not obliged to provide copies of these playscripts.
For VCE Theatre Studies Unit 3, students must study the playscript and the performance identified
in this playlist. The only version of the playscript students are required to study for Theatre Studies
Unit 3 is the one used as the basis for the performance students will attend. In some cases this
playscript will be a ‘working’ or ‘rehearsal’ script.
Teachers should be aware that plays may be added to or withdrawn from the list. For 2017, VCAA
anticipates that an additional play will be included in the VCE Theatre Studies Unit 4 Playlist. An
update regarding this possibility will be provided at the earliest possible time. Further updates may
be provided during 2017 as, for example, production details are confirmed and/or as final scripts
become available.
All financial arrangements regarding attendance at playlist performances are a matter for schools
and the theatre company/organisation responsible for the production.
Selecting plays for study
While the VCAA considers all plays on this list suitable for study, teachers should be aware that in
some instances sensitivity might be needed where particular issues or themes that may be
challenging for students are explored. The information provided about each play is structured to
allow teachers and schools to make an informed decision about the play/s that are most
appropriate for study by their students. The entry for each play includes:
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Information about the play and the season, including, as appropriate, the play title, the
playwright/s’, detail of works the play is adapted from, the production company, season details
– dates, venues, performance times and duration, booking details and script availability
Annotations: Background information about the play and personnel involved in the production,
a description of the work’s dramatic merit and features of the production relevant for study
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
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Advice to schools: Identifies any aspects of the play/production that teachers and others
should be aware of in reviewing the text prior to selection.
The following strategies are suggested to assist teachers to select a play/s from the list:
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take note of the advice provided about specific plays
familiarise yourself with the themes, context and world of the play, with particular attention to
matters identified in the advice
read the playscript and, if available, information such as the director’s vision or creative
concept for the production
research the playscript, the work of the playwright, director and/or company
discuss issues of concern with the theatre company
if possible, attend a preview performance
discuss aspects of the script or performance that may be challenging for your students with
colleagues at your school
identify any issues that may require additional resourcing such as information about different
perspectives on controversial historical, social, cultural or political themes in particular plays
make your selection/s in consultation with school leaders.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
VCE Drama Unit 3 Playlist
The following plays have been selected for study in 2017. This list should be considered in
conjunction with the requirements set out in Unit 3 Outcome 3 in the VCE Drama Study Design
2014–2018 and the advice provided at the start of this document. Students will undertake an
assessment task for Unit 3 Outcome 3 based on the performance of a play on the Playlist.
Question/s will also be set on the performances of the plays in the end-of-year Drama written
examination.
1. AS TOLD TO ME BY THE BOYS WHO FED ME APPLES by R Johns
Theatre Company: La Mama Theatre
Season: 22 March–2 April
Venue: La Mama Courthouse Theatre, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton
Duration: 85 minutes plus post-show forum
Performance times: Wed matinee 1pm, Wednesday evening 6.30pm, Thu matinee 11am, Thu
evening 7.30pm, Fri- Sat evening 7.30pm, Sunday afternoon 4pm
Tickets: VCE ticket packages (including performance, program notes, post-show forum, published
copy of script) $30 per person, postage of scripts is extra; School tickets (including performance,
post-show forum) $20 per person.
Bookings: Maureen Hartley, Learning Producer, (03) 9347 6948 or [email protected]
As Told By the Boys Who Fed Me Apples had its first public reading in 2015, at the National
Gallery of Victoria as part of The Horse exhibition. Playwright Rosemary Johns received a 2015
Australian Government Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund Grant to create a theatrical piece
that gave a different slant to the broader community’s understanding of the issues and impact of
WWI on those who took part in the conflict. In November 2015, the play premiered as part of the
Big West Festival, at Beanland Theatre, Victoria University’s Footscray Nicholson Campus. In
2016 the script was nominated for an AWGIE Award in the Community and Youth Theatre
category.
The action of the play takes place in Gallipoli and Europe during WWI, and returns to Australia at
the end of the war. There are flashbacks to convey aspects such as recruitment, treatment of
warhorses and the soldiers’ nostalgia for home.
One of the main characters is a horse called Sandy. The play is based on a true story about a
horse that hauled bricks in Tallangatta before becoming a warhorse and the favourite of Major
General Sir William Throsby Bridges in Egypt. Sandy was the only horse, out of 136,000 that left
Australia, to finally be returned home at the end of the war. Bridges was the only soldier whose
body was repatriated.
Unlike the large-scale UK production War Horse (which also revolves around WW I horses), this
piece relies on just two actors, one of whom plays the horse, using mime and symbolic costume to
portray the animal. The performance style is non-naturalistic and the stage comprises a set of
duckboards, with a pit of earth. Sound and lighting are used for the transitions between scenes
and, as in Poor Theatre, the production relies on the audience’s imagination to create the scene as
interpreted by staging and acting. The text consists of three episodes, constituting three separate
monologues conveyed in Brechtian style.
Many of the boys who went to this war were the same age as today’s VCE students. This
production challenges the audience to think about the dreams of the returning soldier as well as
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
the meaning of war. Behind its horrors, we see how the human spirit is maintained through the love
between man and horse.
Advice to schools
Content: This production refers to animal cruelty and war zones.
2. CORANDERRK by Giordano Nanni (with additional scenes) by Andrea James
Theatre Company: Ilbijerri Theatre Company
Season: 17 March–3 June
Venues:
Castlemaine Festival: 17–26 March, http://castlemainefestival.com.au/
Her Majesty’s, Ballarat: Thu 20 April 7.30pm, www.hermaj.com/what-s-on/
Whitehorse PAC, Nunawading: Fri 21 & Sat 22 April 8pm, www.whitehorsecentre.com.au/
The Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool: Mon 24 April 1pm & 8pm,
www.lighthousetheatre.com.au/explore-all-shows-lighthouse-theatre
Wesley PAC & Cultural Centre, Horsham: Sat 29 April 8pm, www.horshamtownhall.com.au/
Ulumburra Theatre, Bendigo: Tue 2 May 8pm, www.ulumbarratheatre.com.au/Home
The Cube, Wodonga: Thu 4 May 8pm, www.thecubewodonga.com.au/whats_on/
Eastbank Centre, Shepparton: Sat 6 May 7.30pm, http://riverlinksvenues.com.au/whats-on
ESSO BHP Wellington Entertainment Centre, Sale: Tue 9 May 8pm, www.ebbwec.com.au/whatson
Latrobe PAC, Traralgon: Thu 11 May 8pm, www.latrobe.vic.gov.au/Our_Services/Arts_Recreation
_and_Leisure/Latrobe_Performing_Arts/Whats_On
Plenty Ranges Arts & Convention Centre, Whittlesea: Sat 13 May 8pm, http://www.pracc.com.au/
theatre/?nv=hpa
Cardinia Cultural Centre, Pakenham: Tue 16 May 8pm, www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/
page/page.aspx?Page_id=4188
Altona Theatre; Thu 18 May 11am & 7.30pm,
www.cardinia.vic.gov.au/page/page.aspx?Page_id=4188
Frankston Arts Centre: Sat 20 May 7.30pm, http://artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au/Whats_On__Buy_Tickets
Clocktower Centre, Moonee Valley: Wed 24 May 8pm, www.clocktowercentre.com.au/
Footscray Community Arts Centre: Thu 26 & Fri 27 May,
http://footscrayarts.com/events/category/event/
Kynetown Town Hall, Macedon Ranges: Tuesday 30 May 8pm,
www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/Arts_Sport_Leisure/Arts_Culture/Events_and_tickets
Geelong PAC: Thu 1 June 8pm; Fri 2 June 1pm & 8pm; Sat 3 June 1pm & 8pm,
https://www.gpac.org.au/find-a-show/box-office/
Duration: approx. 100 minutes
Tickets: Individual centres set the price. Please refer to venue websites for more information.
Bookings: Contact venues directly for details.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Coranderrk is produced by Iljiberri Theatre Company and Belvoir Theatre, in association with the
Minutes of Evidence Project. The production is a collaboration between researchers, performance
artists, community, and education experts. It is adapted from the Minutes of Evidence of the 1881
Coranderrk Inquiry and its journey since 2009 has seen extensive community consultations, each
contributing to the framing of the show. Coranderrk provides access to high-quality contemporary
Australian theatre from a leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre company. The
production also uses new and engaging materials including historical photographs for teaching the
history of Aboriginal Victoria in secondary schools.
In 1881 the men and women of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve in the Yarra Valley, north-east
of Melbourne, took on the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in a fight for justice, dignity and
self-determination. Coranderrk was a secular government controlled reserve established for
disposed people of the Kulin clans. This production brings back to life the voices of Coranderrk –
both black and white – through a theatrical re-enactment of their official testimonies before the
1881 government inquiry appointed to address Aboriginal peoples’ calls for land rights and selfdetermination.
Throughout this ensemble production, the actors undergo a number of character transformations,
playing the Indigenous residents of Coranderrk, the members of the Board for the Protection of
Aborigines and the European witnesses who provided testimony in 1881. The performers draw on
a range of expressive and performance skills. Drama students will also witness how the use of
stagecraft conventions, such as lighting and audiovisual projection, also contributes to the nonnaturalistic conventions of the piece.
Advice to schools
Content: Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander people should be aware that this production depicts
people who are deceased. It deals with real historical issues. The performers are all Indigenous
Australians.
3. THE LOST WWI DIARY by Damian Callinan
Theatre Company: Hey Boss
Season: 6–18 March
Venues:
Stratford Courthouse Theatre, Mon 6 March at 12.30pm & 7.30pm, (03) 5145 6790 or
www.stratfordcourthouse.com.au/
The Old Fire Station, Bendigo, Fri 10 March at 12.30pm & 7.30pm, (03) 5434 6100 or via
www.thecapital.com.au/Home
Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool, Tue 14 March at 12.30pm & 7.30pm, 1300 003 280 or via
www.lighthousetheatre.com.au/
Kew Courthouse Theatre, Kew Mon 6 March–Sat 18 March, 7.30pm daily & 12.30pm on Thu 16
March & Fri 17 March, (03) 9278 4770 or via www.hawthornartscentre.com.au/
Duration: approx. 75 minutes
Tickets: Individual centres set the price. Please visit the venue websites for more information.
Bookings: Contact venues directly.
The Lost WWI Diary is a solo performance by Damian Callinan, an award-winning actor, writer and
comedian best known to television audiences for Skithouse and Before the Game. The three-time
Barry Award nominee has written and toured 12 solo shows throughout his career. One of these,
The Merger, is currently in production as a feature film.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Callinan’s style of comedy often invites the audience to tackle thorny issues in a non-didactic
manner. The idea for this play came to Callinan from reading WWI diaries and he has created his
own celebration of the Gallipoli anniversary. The play is based on the folklore surrounding a
mystery family photo of two diggers. Callinan conducted extensive research in archives and
histories to write this script in the form of a diary.
The play is set in the Western District of Victoria and draws on stories from soldiers and battalion
histories of the 7th and 59th Battalions, which were recruited from that area. It is a deliberate
collision of theatrical styles. Using the starting point of interactive storytelling and stand-up comedy,
the audience is invited into the story so that when the pages of the diary are opened they are
inside the theatrical walls with the characters. From this point on, deft transformations and subtle
shifts in mood are used to non-naturalistically ease from one moment in time to the next.
Characters morph before the eyes of the audience using clear physicality and defined vocal
patterns to make the transitions.
The Lost WW1 Diary plays to Callinan’s strengths as a writer and performer: comedic storytelling,
physicality and characterisations. It nimbly leaps from absurdity to pathos, slapstick to tragedy, all
the while walking the line of black comedy that characterised the way Australian men coped on the
front during WWI. The production uses a minimal set and props to enable touring to a variety of
performance spaces. The opening scene features a sound-and-light war soundscape. After this
point, the war soundscape is abandoned to reflect the lack of aural accompaniment in a diary. All
emphasis turns to the storytelling, with occasional lighting changes to shift moods. A musical
transition (war songs from the era) accompanies the blackouts that denote changes in year.
Advice to schools
Content: This performance uses mildly offensive language and sexual references.
4. PARASITES by Ninna Tersman
Theatre Company: La Mama Theatre
Season: 19-30 April
Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton
Duration: approx. 75 minutes
Performance times: Wed matinee 1pm, Wed evening 6.30pm, Thu matinee 11am, Thu evening
7.30pm, Fri-Sat evening 7.30pm, Sun afternoon 4pm
Tickets: VCE ticket packages (including performance, program notes, post-show forum, published
copy of script) $30 per person, postage of scripts is extra; school tickets (including performance,
post-show forum) $20 per person.
Bookings: Maureen Hartley, Learning Producer, (03) 9347 6948 or [email protected]
Ninna Tersman is one of Sweden’s most successful theatre makers, particularly for young
audiences, and her skill is powerfully demonstrated in the script for Parasites. The writing is poetic,
sparse, and deeply human. It plays with theatrical form in many ways, asking the two young actors
(and their central teenage characters) to take on a number of roles. They play themselves, as well
as several adults who have had an impact on their lives.
The production captures Tersman’s playful approach to very serious, very tough issues. The play
takes place in an asylum-seeking processing centre and reveals the way in which two young
people got there. It explores their hopes and dreams and shows how their lives have been
compromised. This deeply fraught social issue is relevant all over the world and this production
deals with it in a way that does not alienate or marginalise any student in the audience.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Theatrically, both the script and the production keep moving as the characters find new ways of
expressing themselves and attempting to communicate their needs to each other. Non-naturalism
and stylised (Brechtian) techniques are employed to remind the audience that what they are
watching is a play, with the goal of having the students interact with the work on many emotional
and intellectual levels. Though confronting issues are discussed and played out, they are done so
in innovative ways. Although the scene remains constant, character transformation is used to bring
others into the world of the asylum seekers.
Advice to schools
The setting for this play, which deals with the topic of displacement, is ambiguous, alluding to no
particular nation or race. Rape and terrorism are referred to in the script. The play is performed by
actors whose backgrounds are not Anglo-Australian.
5. MELBOURNE TALAM by Rashma N Kalsie
Theatre Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
Season: 4–20 May at Southbank Theatre, Melbourne; 22 May–9 June regional tour
Metro Venue: Southbank Theatre, The Lawler, 140 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank; Duration:
approx. 70 minutes
Metro performance times: 10.30am, 1.30pm & 7pm
Regional Victoria Tour:
Tue 23 May, Mildura Arts Centre 1pm
Thu 25 May, Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool 1pm & 7.30pm
Tue 30 May, Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo 1pm
Wed 31 May, Eastbank Centre, Shepparton 1pm
Thu 1 June, The Cube Wodonga 1pm
Tue 6 June Geelong Performing Arts Centre 1pm & 7pm
Tickets:
Student: $26, one accompanying teacher free of charge per 10 students; additional
teachers/adults $44.
Regional Tour: Contact MTC Education for details.
Bookings: Please contact Mellita Ilich, Education Ticketing Officer on (03) 8688 0963 or
[email protected]
Rashma N Kalsie is an Indian writer and playwright based in Australia. She is the founder of the
Indian Diaspora Dramatics Association. Melbourne Talam is Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2017
Education Production and features the same high production values for audiences at regional
venues as presented at the metropolitan venue, The Lawler. Director Petra Kalive led the
development of the script in close collaboration with the playwright and MTC literary director Chris
Mead as dramaturg. Petra Kalive has extensive experience as a director and dramaturg, having
worked with Arena Theatre Company, Complete Works Theatre Company, St Martins Youth Arts
Centre and Monash University performing arts program.
Melbourne Talam is a play that exists both in imagination and on the streets, offices, hospitals,
apartments, tram stops and train stations of Melbourne and is painted as much through stage
action as the recesses of the mind. Melbourne is not only a city where protagonists live, but it is a
living character with many faces. The play uses elements of presentational and representational
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
theatre to tell its many stories, and the audience completes the play by putting together the pieces
of the puzzle. Melbourne Talam is a two-act piece for three actors playing multiple characters in
multiples locations across Melbourne and India. It tells the story of three Indian characters on three
different visa types – spouse, student and work – as they search for belonging in a foreign city.
Talam (Tamil) or tala (Sanskrit) is a term used in Indian music. Talam is the base on which the
notes of musical compositions and poetry rest. It is the rhythmic cycle of a musical composition. In
the context of the play, talam means the ‘rhythm of Melbourne’.
A train accident at Flagstaff Railway Station disrupts each character’s talam, redirecting the lives of
all three. The characters in Melbourne Talam face adversity in many forms, both external and
internal, and the conflict between their aspirations and the reality of the migrant experience drives
the play’s drama.
Inspired by real-life events, the dialogue includes use of three Indian languages. Set, sound and
lighting are used to transform time and place to transport the audience to Chandigarh, Delhi and
Hyderabad. The production incorporates disjointed sequences, fragmentation, narration and direct
audience address. The play follows the lives of three central characters taking the audience to
multiple locations in Melbourne and India. We travel between the past and present, and meet
myriad other characters who offer a wide range of perspectives. Their conflicts are used to build
their resilience. Three actors play all the parts. The production is highly non-naturalistic,
incorporating Brechtian storytelling and conventions of epic theatre. The design reflects aspects of
Grotowski’s ‘poor theatre’. The production also incorporates performance, movement and dance
from Indian performance traditions and practice.
Advice
Three Indian languages and English are used in this production. Characters contemplate suicide
and self-harm, and one character is injured by a train. Teachers are advised to read the script and
discuss the advisability of selecting this play with school leadership before making a booking.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Theatre Studies Unit 3
The following plays have been selected for study in 2017. This list should be considered in
conjunction with the requirements set out in Unit 3 Outcome 3 in the VCE Theatre Studies Study
Design 2014–2018 and the advice provided above. Students will undertake an assessment task for
Unit 3 Outcome 3 based on the performance of a play on the Playlist. Question/s will also be set on
the performances of the plays in the end-of-year Theatre Studies written examination. For Theatre
Studies Unit 3, students must study the script identified for each production and the interpretation
of that script in performance to an audience.
1. TWELFTH NIGHT by William Shakespeare
Theatre Company: Australian Shakespeare Company
Season: 20 December–11 March
Venue: Royal Botanical Gardens, Melbourne
Duration: approx. 150 minutes
Performance times: Tue to Sun 8pm
Tickets: Student $25 (one complimentary teacher ticket per 10 student)
Bookings: Please contact Isobel McNamara: [email protected]
Script: Any recognised edition, information about script adaptations available from Australian
Shakespeare Company
The Australian Shakespeare Company (ASC) has been producing high-quality performances of
Shakespeare’s classics in the Botanical Gardens since 1987. These have often featured on the
VCE Play lists.
Twelfth Night is a very old play, but the ASC consistently, throughout its body of work, strives to
remind audiences of the timeless humanity and continued relevance of Shakespeare’s works.
Historically, Twelfth Night – the twelfth day of Christmas, the Feast of the Epiphany – was a feast
of misrule, a riotous festival of eating and drinking and revelling. Illyria is a mythical world of
madness and dream, where fantasies come true for many or, in fact, where some are punished for
daring to have fantasies at all. A world well recognised and, perhaps, well frequented and desired
by young people.
In direct reference to the social and political contexts of these fast-changing and uncertain times,
the ASC’s interpretation of Twelfth Night embraces a contemporary setting, climate and timeframe
that are immediately and inherently accessible, recognisable and meaningful to the young people
of today. Notwithstanding this, the production addresses all the traditional and accepted
conventions of the Shakespearean performance style for VCE students to study. These include a
range of archetypes, heightened language (blank verse and prose), balance of high and low
comedy, comic conventions, influence of commedia dell’arte, song and soliloquies.
The ASC’s outdoor productions are influenced by Peter Brook’s ‘rough theatre’, staged in informal
and ‘rough’ settings – a ‘popular’ theatre form that is more down-to-earth and creates a strong link
between audience and performers.
Advice to schools
The staging of this play includes bawdy humour in language and action.
2. FAITH HEALER by Brian Friel
Theatre Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Season: 4 March–8 April
Venue: The Sumner, Southbank Theatre, Southbank Boulevard, Melbourne
Duration: approx. 100 minutes
Performance times: Previews (4–8 March) 8pm; Mon & Tue 6.30pm; Wed 1pm & 8pm; Thu & Fri
4pm & 8pm, Sat 4pm and 8.30pm
Tickets: Students $27, one accompanying teacher free of charge per 10 students; additional
teachers/adults $44.
Bookings: Please contact Mellita Ilich, Education Ticketing Officer: (03) 8688 0963 or
[email protected]
Script: Any recognised edition.
Irish, British and American theatre critics agree that Brian Friel is one of the greatest dramatists of
the late 20th century. His play Faith Healer has been repeatedly revived on English-language main
stages, including a critically and commercially successful production on Broadway in 2006 starring
Ralph Fiennes. Donmar Warehouse’s recent revival on the West End earned four- and five-star
reviews and it was last presented in Australia as part of the 2009 Sydney Festival.
Faith Healer focuses on the subtleties, complexities and emotive power of English language in live
performance. The play role-models a style of theatre that focuses on the actor’s craft and is free of
theatrics. This production features three of Australia’s most accomplished stage actors, Colin Friels
(Skylight), Alison Whyte (Summer of the Seventeenth Doll) and Pip Miller (Death of a Salesman).
The director, Judy Davis (The Dressmaker), is one of Australia’s foremost stage and screen actors.
In Faith Healer, students will have an experience of storytelling theatre. Three characters deliver
four monologues in direct address to the audience. The staging is naturalistic, the setting appears
to be in the recent past, and the characters speak conversationally with the audience. They speak
with specified accents – two Irish, one cockney. They use classic tropes of storytelling, voicing
differently other characters who appear within their narration, subtly physicalising different
characters, re-enacting events with minimal movement and gestures.
The production design initially locates the play in a specific and recognisable time and place. The
script specifies a few key set and prop elements – empty chairs, a poster advertising ‘Fantastic
Francis Hardy’. Over the course of the play, the lighting, sound and performances at various times
introduce an atmosphere of otherworldliness. These increasing intimations of the spiritual and
metaphysical worlds encourage the audience to consider the reality of the world created by the
characters.
On the page, Faith Healer looks and reads like a first-person narrative novella or collection of
interrelated short stories. However, close analysis of the script’s content and format provides
students with ample opportunity to consider the role of actors and a director in building a live
performance from words on a page, with few clues in stage directions or character notes. Brian
Friel notes in the script, ‘Stage directions have been kept to a minimum. In all four parts the
director will decide when and where the monologist sits, walks, stands, etc.
Advice to schools
In this production there is occasional use of strong language, reference to alcoholism and
depression, and an offstage death.
3. THE SEVEN STAGES OF GRIEVING by Wesley Enoch & Deborah Mailman
Theatre Company: Queensland Theatre Company
Season: 10 & 12 May
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Venues:
The Memo, Healesville (Wed 10 May), http://ach.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Whats_On/Performances
Geelong Performing Arts Centre (Fri 12 May), http://gpac.org.au/find-a-show/
Duration: 70 minutes
Performance times: Healesville 10.30am & 1.30pm; Geelong 1pm & 7pm.
Tickets: Check venue websites.
Bookings: Check venue websites.
Script: The Seven Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, Playlab
Productions, available from australianplays.org
The Seven Stages of Grieving is an enduring masterwork of Australian Indigenous theatre, penned
20 years ago by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman. It is a one-woman piece following the
journey of an Aboriginal ‘everywoman’ as she tells poignant and humorous stories of grief and
reconciliation.
Structurally, the play is based around seven different aspects of grief (rather than chronological
stages) telling seven different tales, encompassing family funerals, black displacement, the impact
of European wars, and other stories ranging from tragedy to jubilant celebration. This new adaption
of The Seven Stages of Grieving is a Queensland Theatre and Grin & Tonic Theatre Troupe coproduction. The original script has been skillfully updated to reflect the contemporary political
climate, including the addition of current political references making it relevant to a contemporary
audience. The refreshed version of the play also reflects the changing attitudes of Australian
people. It is directed by Jason Klarwein, artistic director of Grin & Tonic, and showcases the talents
of emerging Indigenous performer, Chenoa Deemal.
The text provides the opportunity to study and explore Indigenous histories and cultures as well as
their theatrical interpretation. Enoch says, ‘This play has been performed, toured, studied and kept
alive through reinterpretation for two decades because it speaks of universal themes. It is not
autobiographical, though it borrows from Indigenous lives. It is not a traditional piece of storytelling,
though it focuses on the evolution of traditional cultural practices.’
The play’s structure is episodic, drawing together 24 short scenes, each with its own complication.
It challenges the traditional ‘western’ concept of a play’s realistic format because it does not drive
towards a climax and resolution. The dramatic structure allows the audience to connect to the
themes of grief and loss, rather than a central narrative. It enables the storyteller and audience to
jump between past, present and future as well as shifting between different places – all without
relying on a change of set. The text provides a wide range of material that is rich with opportunities
for students to explore time, place, mood, tension and role.
Advice to schools
This production explores adult concepts of death, grief and discrimination and contains mildly
coarse language. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that the production does
not make direct references to actual people who have died.
4. AWAY by Michael Gow
Theatre Company: Malthouse Theatre Company
Season: 3–28 May
Venue: Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Sturt Street, Southbank
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes (no interval)
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Performance times: Preview: Wed 3 May 7.30pm; Opening: Thu 5 May 7.30pm, Season: Fri 5 &
Sat 6 May 7.30pm; Tue 9 May 6.30pm TTT (Time to Talk); Wed 10 May 7.30pm; Thu 11 May
12.30pm* & 7.30pm; Fri 12 May 7.30pm; Sat 13 May 3pm & 7.30pm; Sun 14 May 5pm; Tue 16
May 6.30pm; Wed 17 May 7.30pm; Thu 18 May 12.30pm* & 7.30pm; Fri 19 May 7.30pm; Sat 20
May 3pm & 7.30pm; Sun 21 May 5pm; Tue 23 May 6.30pm; Wed 24 May 7.30pm; Thu 25 May
12.30pm* & 7.30pm; Fri 26 May 7.30pm; Sat 27 May 3pm & 7.30pm, Sun 28 May 5pm
*VCE Matinee (followed by VCE post-show discussion)
Tickets: Students: metro $24.50, non-metro $22.50; no charge for up to two teachers per school;
additional teachers $40.
Bookings: Complete the Schools Booking Form online, www.malthousetheatre.com.au, or email
[email protected]. Contact Vanessa O’Neill, Education Program Manager on
(03) 9685 5164
Script: Away by Michael Gow, Currency Press
Away was written in 1986 by Australian playwright Michael Gow and is widely regarded as an
Australian classic. This multi-award-winning play, set in the late 1960s, explores themes of loss,
loneliness and coming of age that are as relevant for audiences today as they were when the play
was first produced.
Malthouse Theatre’s production of Away (co-produced with Sydney Theatre Company) is directed
by Artistic Director Matthew Lutton and features the same creative team that worked on Night on
Bald Mountain. It is a continuation of Matthew Lutton’s commitment to revisit and reimagine works
from the Australian literary canon, such as his recent production of Picnic at Hanging Rock. The
cast includes Marco Chiappi, Glenn Hazeldine, Natasha Herbert, Heather Mitchell, Liam Nunan,
Naomi Rukavin, Julia Davis and Wadih Doha.
Away is a sharply observed, clever, funny and poignant play that begins with a school performance
of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and concludes with a school performance of King Lear. The work
combines an investigation of three Australian suburban families in the late 1960s with many of the
features of these Shakespeare plays: a spectacular storm, a shipwreck, other worldly
transformations and reconciliation. These contrasting elements give the piece a dynamic mix of the
familiar and the strange, the domestic and the poetic. This production explores and highlights the
interplay of different theatrical styles within this work, offering students insight into a range of
forms. Michael Gow’s text will remain the same. Liberties will be taken in the staging, but no new
text will be added.
For students studying the interpretation of the playscript in performance, there is much to
investigate throughout Away in relation to the cultural and social contexts of the late 1960s in
Australia, including the impact of the Vietnam War on families, immigration, the rise of materialism
and the emergence of the women’s rights movement.
Advice to schools
Content: this script contains medium-level coarse language. The themes explored in the play
include sexual awakening, depression and extra-marital affairs.
5. SHRINE by Tim Winton
Theatre Company: The Kin Collective
Season: 24 May–18 June
Venue: 45 Downstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Duration: 90–100 minutes
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Performance times: 8pm plus school matinees (dates tbc)
Tickets: Student $25, 1 teacher ticket provided per 10 students
Bookings: [email protected]
Script: Shrine – A play in one act, Penguin Plays
Shrine is the third in a series of plays written by Australian literary icon Tim Winton, which brilliantly
captures the loss of a child through senseless tragedy. The Kin Collective formed in 2011 after its
members participated in a master class conducted by acclaimed acting coach Larry Moss. The
ensemble is made up of some of Australia’s most well-known and respected actors, including Noni
Hazlehurst, Michala Banas, Ally Fowler and Marg Downey. Their last production, The Leenane
Trilogy, by Martin McDonough, was nominated for three Green Room Awards.
Shrine throws a spotlight on the heartbreaking effects of a family shattered by the death of their
son, while also subtly exploring the many economic and societal divisions within Australia today.
Tim Winton’s soul-stirring text, set within the breathtaking beauty of the Australian landscape,
conjures up a surreal and fragile world in which lies the possibility of finding solace from the most
unlikely of people.
Winton plays with form, ranging from the direct address of Shakespeare, and devotion to language
of a more formal theatre, to bursts of energy that are less formal. There are shifts in style,
moments of expressionism and heartfelt confrontations. The play is both naturalistic and nonnaturalistic in equal measure. The lead character freely transforms from one character to another
and back, negotiating changes in time, place and space.
Shrine addresses the all too recognisable issues of the Australian drinking culture, in particular the
devastating consequences of the choices made by young people, and addresses the waste of so
many of our younger population dying in automobile accidents. The play speaks with simple
honesty about grief, and the propensity of the Australian male to suppress emotions. It provides
VCE students with the opportunity to analyse the ways in which these issues are addressed
through theatrical performance.
Advice to schools
This production contains strong language and references to self-harm and sexual assault. The
dramatic action centres on the aftermath of the death of a young man in a road accident.
6. THE YELLOW WAVE by Jane Miller
Theatre Company: 15 Minutes from Anywhere & La Mama Theatre
Season: 10–21 May
Venue: Courthouse Theatre, Drummond Street, Carlton
Duration: approx. 75 minutes plus post-show forum
Performance times: Wed matinee 1pm, Wed evening 6.30pm, Thu matinee 11am, Thu evening
7.30pm, Fri-Sat evening 7.30pm, Sun afternoon 4pm
Tickets: VCE ticket packages (including performance, program notes, post-show forum, published
copy of script) $30 per person, postage of scripts is extra; school tickets (including performance,
post-show forum) $20 per person.
Bookings: Maureen Hartley, Learning Producer, (03) 9347 6948 or [email protected]
Regional tour: Produced by Regional Arts Victoria, 24 April–5 May. For all details, see
www.rav.net.au/whats-on/education-and-families
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Script: A copy of the script will be available to each student/teacher as part of the VCE ticket
package provided by La Mama or Regional Arts Victoria.
Note: The original novel is available as an ebook to be read online or downloaded to a device. Visit
https://archive.org/details/TheYellowWave. The novel should be used as a reference and resource.
It is not the playscript and there is no requirement for students to read or study the novel.
The Yellow Wave (subtitled ‘A romance of the Asiatic invasion of Australia’) is an adaptation of a
19th-century novel by Kenneth Mackay, telling the story of the invasion of Australia by a Russianled Mongol force. Director Beng Oh has worked with a range of collaborators, including the two
lead actors, to develop it into a theatrical production with the resulting script adapted by playwright
Jane Miller. The production has had two successful seasons, the first as part of the inaugural
Poppy Seed Independent Theatre Festival, the second at the Butterfly Club, and it was a recipient
of a 2015 Green Room Award nomination for outstanding ensemble.
Some of the issues explored in the production include, but are not limited to, the impact of
immigration, engagement of international workers, gender and racial stereotyping, equality and
notions of what is ‘other’ or ‘alien’. The production uses humour to explore these issues. This is
reflected in the choices made by the director in relation to performers and performance style.
Critical to the subversion of stereotypes is the decision to feature two Asian-Australian actors
playing all of the roles within the show, regardless of age, gender or nationality. Neither actor
changes costume for the duration of the piece, despite transforming continuously into different
characters; nor do they use any props. The production relies exclusively on the performers using
their physicality, and vocal and performative skills as the foundation of their different
characterisations. Students will have ample opportunity to analyse the ways in which the two
actors interpret a wide range of people and places.
The performance style of The Yellow Wave is neither naturalistic, nor does it attempt realism. A
narrator fills in the story elements as the narrative shifts across years and continents. The
production uses minimal lighting states, set and sound design; there are two single props and one
set of costumes. This is a deliberate stylistic choice and demonstrates an application of stagecraft
where the presence of the performers in the space suggest location, context, character and sound.
Advice to schools
Study of this playscript will require teachers to discuss the populist ‘invasion’ conspiracy theories
prevalent in 19th-century Australia. Teachers should support this discussion by providing support
material about the theatrical/literary device of stereotyping and information about attitudes to
cultural diversity in 19th-century Australia. The discussion may also compare these views to those
held by contemporary Australians. Please refer to the Additional information and resources
provided on the VCAA website’s Theatre Studies webpage.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Theatre Studies Unit 4
The following plays have been selected for study in 2017. This list should be considered in
conjunction with the requirements set out in Unit 4 Outcome 3 in the VCE Theatre Studies Study
Design 2014–2018 and the advice provided earlier in this document. Students will undertake an
assessment task for Unit 4 Outcome 3 based on the performance of a play on the playlist.
Question/s will also be set on the performances of the plays in the end-of-year Theatre Studies
written examination.
1. NOISES OFF by Michael Frayn
Theatre Company: Melbourne Theatre Company
Season: 8 July–12 August
Venue: The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, St Kilda Road
Duration: approx. 180 minutes
Performance times: Previews Sat 8 July–Tue 11 July 8pm, Mon & Tue 6.30pm; Wed 1pm & 8pm;
Thu & Fri 8pm; Sat 4pm & 8.30pm
Tickets: Students $27; one complimentary teacher per 10 students; additional teachers $45.
Bookings: Please contact Mellita Ilich, Education Ticketing Officer on (03) 8688 0963 or
[email protected]
Noises Off has been a resounding success in all its productions since British playwright Michael
Frayn wrote the play in 1982. New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company most recently presented
it on Broadway, to critical acclaim, as part of the company’s 2015–2016 season.
Noises Off is a coproduction between the Melbourne Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre
combining the artistic, technical and organisational resources of both. Noises Off requires a highly
technical production and these two state theatre companies have the resources to execute this. It
is a modern classic that both entertains and draws empathy for the human characters in the
drama.
This is a fast-paced farce that celebrates the dual magic and madness of theatre. The audience
witnesses rehearsals and performances of a play-within-a-play, Nothing On, experiencing both the
on-stage antics and the comic chaos behind-the-scenes with love triangles, missing actors and
sardines, summed up in the (on-stage) director’s line: ‘That’s farce. That’s theatre. That’s life.’
Several different performance styles are apparent in Noises Off, including elements of commedia
dell’arte, Restoration comedy and farce within the Nothing On play-within-a-play. Aspects of epic
theatre and eclectic theatre permeate the production, as well as the conventions of musical
theatre. Students will be able to analyse many areas of stagecraft, particularly the set, because the
script calls for it to be turned 180 degrees in Act 2 so that the audience are watching the action
from behind. The lighting, costume, make-up, properties and sound are highly theatrical, and
students will be able to discuss how the ‘backstage’ world is contrasted with the ‘on-stage’ world.
Similarly, they will engage in discussion about how the stagecraft area of acting is manipulated to
create the ‘actor’ characters and the Nothing On characters.
The unique formatting of the playscript for the second act of Noises Off is particularly interesting for
Theatre Studies students to analyse, as it features both dialogue and stage directions for the playwithin-the-play as well as dialogue and stage directions for the ‘backstage’ shenanigans. The script
as a whole includes clever wordplay, repetition and heightened language. The stage directions
offer lots of non-verbal language to study.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Advice to schools
This script contains sexual innuendo and a few instances of strong language.
2. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE by William Shakespeare
Theatre Company: Bell Shakespeare
Season and venues: Tue 11 July Lighthouse Theatre Warrnambool; Wed 12 July Her Majesty’s
Theatre Ballarat; Sat 15 July Esso BHP Billington Wellington Entertainment Centre Sale; Tue 18
July–Sat 29 July at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne; Sat 19 August Frankston Arts Centre;
Tue 29 August Ulumbarra Theatre Bendigo
Duration: approx. 180 minutes
Performance times: Check with venues.
Tickets: Arts Centre only – student matinee $30 (one complimentary teacher per 20 students),
check with venues for other ticket prices.
Bookings: [email protected] or 1300 305 730
Bell Shakespeare has been producing and touring William Shakespeare’s plays since 1990, along
with its successful education program. Anne-Louise Sarks directs this production, working with
some of Australia’s finest stage actors and new talent, plus a team of leading creative designers.
The script remains as in Shakespeare’s original text, with some minor edits.
The Merchant of Venice uses comedy to tackle universal themes of prejudice, tolerance, greed and
love. The central drama of the play is the bond between Antonio (on behalf of Bassanio) and
Shylock. It climaxes in a court scene where the two main groups of the play meet for the first time.
This production does not shy away from the brutality of the courtroom scene. Students will be able
to compare and contrast a range of historical interpretations of the play, looking at how time and
context affect performance styles, characterisation and creative decisions.
This production provides ample opportunity for students to analyse the characters’ status,
motivation and characteristics. It questions who has freedom and who does not, and it highlights
how having money does not always equate to having power or freedom in society. Almost all the
characters in the play have to deal with these issues. Portia is constrained by her father’s will. She
will be married to a man not of her choosing, despite being an independent, intelligent, strong
young woman. She must find a way to establish equality in her relationship. Shylock and Jessica
and Tubal are all treated differently because of their religious beliefs. Antonio is a man in love with
another man, but clearly afraid to name it or directly act upon it.
In this production the director highlights the extreme views of both groups in the courtroom scene
and there are no winners at the end of the play. Shylock is robbed of his money, his religion and
his daughter. The lovers Portia and Bassanio, Nerissa and Gratiano, who we want to respect and
celebrate, have revealed a hatred at their core. It is uncomfortable. It is a complexity that we are
often denied in our narratives.
Although Shylock has no further text after the court scene in The Merchant of Venice, in this
production we see him again as a broken man, recently baptised a Christian; robbed of his Jewish
garb and completely alone. This highlights the emotional costs of the trauma he experiences and
the lack of freedom he is allowed. One new aspect in this production is the journey of Jessica,
Shylock’s daughter. She is constrained by her father and her religion and in the end rejects both,
running away to be with her love, Lorenzo. In deciding to be with this man Jessica must convert to
Christianity. In the final scene Jessica hears of the forced baptism of her father and his defeat. She
hears this from her new friends and family, the supposedly victorious Christians. Jessica must find
a way to reconcile their actions and her own in this scene.
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
Advice to schools
This production highlights the theme of anti-Semitism already existent in the original script and is
intended as a springboard for discussion. Teachers are advised to guide students through
information about the play and directorial approaches to the content. Please refer to the Additional
information and resources provided on the VCAA website’s Theatre Studies webpage.
3. THE WAY OUT by Josephine Collins
Theatre Company: Red Stitch Actors Theatre
Season: Previewing Tue 22 August, closing Sat 23 September
Venue: Red Stitch Actors Theatre, Chapel Street, East St Kilda
Duration: approx. 80 minutes
Performance times: 8pm plus school matinees at 11am or 1pm
Tickets: Students $25 (one complimentary teacher per 10 students)
Bookings: Please contact Kirsty Hillhouse: [email protected].
Red Stitch Actors Theatre is an established artist-driven company with a reputation for presenting
contemporary works from around the world. The Way Out, by Josephine Collins, is an entertaining
and relevant new Australian play developed through the company’s acclaimed writing program,
INK, and directed by award-winning Penny Harpham in collaboration with audio-visual expert
Michael Carmody.
The Way Out uses humour and finely drawn relationships to tackle significant ethical questions and
urgent environmental themes. In a distinctly Australian context, it presents a community
constructed in the aftermath of atrocity. Under the extreme conditions of post-civil war, the denial of
culpability has become a tool for survival.
Set in a small family-run pub in regional Victoria, a local civil war veteran sells moonshine to a
broken town, struggling to survive in a poisoned landscape. His daughter believes in a different
future and sees a way out, but nobody is listening. Then a government inspector arrives on the
same day as a black-market salesman.
The script provides an excellent source for thematic study of family, war, power and corruption,
change versus tradition, man versus nature, heroism and patriotism in a specifically Australian
context, using the near future as a lens through which we can imaginatively explore our own
contemporary reality. Students can analyse ways in which the production explores these themes.
The design for the production transforms the Red Stitch stage into what may look at first glance
like a normal little country-town pub, with the use of materials and technical elements underpinning
the themes. Throughout the play these components gradually build unease and undermine an
audience’s sense of where they are. The materials used for set and costumes are man-made and
unnatural, to contrast with a later scene in the play where relics of a former life are presented,
bringing a sense of the past and nature returning to the world of the play. Sound and lighting are
used metaphorically to contrast between the warmer, natural moments with harsh, technological
and bright moments. The overall effect is that of a world existing uneasily in a present in which the
past is both longed for and turned from, and there is no real vision for the future.
Australian colloquialisms blend with unusual and unfamiliar idioms in the mouths of the characters
in The Way Out, providing an opportunity to investigate the way language is used to create a
world; a song also features in the play. The performance styles are contemporary Australian
realism and heightened naturalism.
Advice to schools
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2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist
In this play, coarse language is used infrequently. The language use is consistent with the use of
colloquial ‘Australian English’, which is a feature of this play. The opening scene includes some
language that students may find confronting.
4. PIKE STREET by Nilaja Sun
Theatre Company: Epic Theatre Ensemble & Arts Centre Melbourne
Season: Melbourne season 12–17 September; Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, St Kilda
Road, Southbank; Geelong season: Geelong Performing Arts Centre, 6–9 September.
Duration: approx. 90 minutes
Performance times: In Melbourne: School matinee performances with post-show Q&A (Nilaja Sun
in conversation with Daniel Clarke), Thu 14 September at 1pm, Fri 15 September at 1pm, Tue 12
September to Sat 16 September at 8pm, Sun 17 September at 5pm. In Geelong: 6–9 September
at 8pm (post-show Q&A on Thu 7 September), also matinee on Sat 9 September at 1pm.
Tickets: Melbourne students $26 [tbc] (one complimentary teacher per 10 students); Geelong $18
(one complimentary teacher per 20 students).
Bookings: In Melbourne contact Hannah Schneider, Schools Programs Coordinator, and Bronwyn
Hill, Schools Programs Assistant: (03) 9281 8582 or [email protected]
(please note that tickets for this performance will go on sale from Mon 5 December 2016). In
Geelong, contact Kelly Clifford, Education Manager: (03) 5225 1207 or [email protected] (please
note that tickets for these performances will go on sale from Thu 1 December 2016).
Nilaja Sun returns to Melbourne after her successful, sell-out seasons of No Child in 2012 and
2013. This Obie Award–winning solo piece was a critically acclaimed international success. In Pike
Street, directed by Ron Russell, Sun portrays a host of characters living in Manhattan’s Lower East
Side, ‘bringing each to life with a radiant grace that makes her virtuosity seem as natural as
breathing’ (Charles Isherwood, New York Times).
Pike Street is written like a play, with dialogue between characters moving the action forward and
telling the story, rather than a traditional monologue text. The show consists almost entirely of
scenes between two or more characters. Each scene comes to life as naturally as an ensemblebased performance. However, all the roles are played by Sun, who transforms, physically and
vocally, to create a vast array of characters, conversing, arguing, and singing. This is an
opportunity for students to study the use of expressive skills in interpreting a wide range of
characters.
The play uses a minimalist set with the focus firmly on the performer in the space. The audience–
actor relationship is established from the moment the audience enters the space. Sun starts her
performance as Candace, a teenager incapacitated by a brain aneurysm. She sits in a chair as the
audience enters and the sounds from a local news station reporting on a storm fill the space. Her
body is gnarled and her stare is intent. The focus of the performer in these opening moments
absorbs the audience and sets up the world of the play.
The performance style has been described as ‘transformative theatre’. The play uses elements of
magical realism, physical theatre and contemporary performance styles. The minimalist staging,
sound design and direction provide excellent scope for student analysis, refection and evaluation.
The interrelationship between performance, direction and design is evident in the thoughtful use of
space, the building of tension and the creation of setting, time and location.
Advice to schools
This production uses strong language and refers to drug use, racism and exploitation. There are
sexual innuendos.
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