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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: 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 Teachers should be aware that plays may be added to or withdrawn from the list.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: © VCAA 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 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: 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. © VCAA Page 2 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. © VCAA Page 3 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 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/ National Theatre, St Kilda: Tue 18 April 1pm & 7.30pm, www.nationaltheatre.org.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: Thu 27 April 1pm & 8pm, www.lighthousetheatre.com.au/explore-all-shows-lighthouse-theatre Horsham Town Hall, 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/ WestSide Performing Arts Centre, Riverlinks, Shepparton: Sat 6 May 7.30pm, http://riverlinksvenues.com.au/whats-on ESSO BHP Billiton Wellington Entertainment Centre, Sale: Tue 9 May 8pm, www.ebbwec.com.au/whats-on 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.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/Arts-ampLeisure/Venues/Altona-Theatre Frankston Arts Centre: Sat 20 May 7.30pm, http://artscentre.frankston.vic.gov.au/Whats_On_-_Buy_Tickets Drama Theatre, Monash University: Tue 23 May 1pm & 7.30pm, http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/mapa/locations/drama-theatre/ Clocktower Centre, Moonee Valley: Wed 24 May 8pm, www.clocktowercentre.com.au/ © VCAA Page 4 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist Footscray Community Arts Centre: Thu 26 & Fri 27 May, http://footscrayarts.com/events/category/event/ Kyneton Town Hall, Macedon Ranges: Tuesday 30 May 8pm, www.mrsc.vic.gov.au/Arts_Sport_Leisure/Arts_Culture/Events_and_tickets Geelong Performing Arts Centre: 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 (70 minute show and 30 minute forum) Tickets: Individual centres set the price. Please refer to venue websites for more information. Bookings: Contact venues directly for details. 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, northeast 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 self-determination. 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 non-naturalistic 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: 16–18 March Venues: Stratford Courthouse Theatre, Mon 6 March at 12.30pm & 7.30pm, (03) 5145 6790 or www.stratfordcourthouse.com.au/ © VCAA Page 5 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 16 March–Sat 18 March, 7.30pm daily & 12.30pm on Thu 16 March & Fri 17 March. Tickets and enquiries: [email protected] 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. 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 soundand-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. © VCAA Page 6 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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. 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. Nonnaturalism 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. © VCAA Page 7 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 Venue: Metro: Southbank Theatre, The Lawler, 140 Southbank Boulevard, Southbank; Duration: approx. 75 minutes Performance times: Metro 10.30am, 1.30pm & 7pm Regional 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: Tickets: Metro performances: students $27, one accompanying teacher free of charge per 10 students; additional teachers/adults $43. Contact regional venues for bookings. Bookings: Please contact Mellita Ilich, Education Ticketing Officer on (03) 8688 0963 or [email protected] Rashma N Kalsie is an Indian writer-playwright based in Australia. She is the founder of the Indian Diaspora Dramatics Association. Her play Melbourne Talam is Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2017 Education Production and features the same high production values for audiences at regional venues as presented in The Lawler (metro). 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 had 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 - a city where protagonists live, but also a living character with many faces. Kalsie says, ‘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.’ This central idea of rhythm in the play is reflected in the characters as they at times struggle and stutter in their attempts to hit their stride in this seemingly smoothrunning city. 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 types of visas – spouse, student and work – as they search for belonging in a foreign city. A train accident at Flagstaff 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. © VCAA Page 8 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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. © VCAA Page 9 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–4 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. © VCAA Page 10 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 2. FAITH HEALER by Brian Friel Theatre Company: Melbourne Theatre Company 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. © VCAA Page 11 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 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 11am and 7.30pm; 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 co-production. 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 © VCAA Page 12 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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) 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, © VCAA Page 13 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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. Malthouse Theatre advises that for this production of Away, director Matthew Lutton has chosen to use the Alternative Final Scene, written by Michael Gow. The main difference is that the final lines of the play are spoken by Meg instead of Tom. For teachers who may be interested to know why Michael Gow wrote an alternative final scene, here is a link to a short interview Michael Gow did for the ABC Splash program: http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1976086/changing-the-ending-with-michael-gow. If you have further questions, please contact Vanessa O’Neill, Youth and Education Manager at Malthouse Theatre on (03) 9685 5164 or [email protected]. 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 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 © VCAA Page 14 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist and non-naturalistic 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 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 Russian-led 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. © VCAA Page 15 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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. © VCAA Page 16 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 © VCAA Page 17 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist directions for the play-within-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. 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. © VCAA Page 18 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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. 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. © VCAA Page 19 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist 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 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 © VCAA Page 20 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist an ensemble-based 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. 5. THE REAL AND IMAGINED HISTORY OF THE ELEPHANT MAN by Tom Wright Theatre Company Malthouse Theatre Season 4–27 August Venue Merlyn Theatre, The Coopers Malthouse, Sturt Street, Southbank Duration 90 minutes Performance times Previews: Fri 4 August & Sat 5 August 7.30pm; Mon 7 August & Tue 8 August 6.30pm; opening: Wed 9 August 7.30pm Season: Thu 10 August 7.30pm; Fri 11 August 7.30pm; Sat 12 August 3pm & 7.30pm; Tue 15 August 6.30pm; Wed 16 August 7.30pm; Thu 17 August 12.30pm* & 7.30pm; Fri 18 August 7.30pm; Sat 19 August 3pm & 7.30pm; Sun 20 August 5pm; Tue 22 August 6.30pm; Wed 23 August 7.30pm; Thu 24 August 12.30pm* & 7.30pm; Fri 25 August 7.30pm; Sat 26 August 3pm & 7.30pm; Sun 27 August 5pm * VCE Matinee Tickets: Student 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 on www.malthousetheatre.com.au. Contact Vanessa O’Neill, Youth and Education Manager on (03) 9685 5164, or Dan Allemann, Box Office Manager for bookings enquiries: [email protected]. The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man, by Tom Wright, is directed by Matthew Lutton, artistic director of Malthouse Theatre. Previous collaborations between Tom Wright and Matthew Lutton include Picnic at Hanging Rock (Malthouse Theatre, 2016), On the Misconception of Oedipus (Malthouse Theatre, 2012), The Mysteries: Genesis (Sydney Theatre Company, 2010) and The Duel (Sydney Theatre Company, 2009). © VCAA Page 21 2017 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist Joseph Merrick (who became known as ‘the Elephant Man’) first came to public attention in the 1880s in London. Due to his physical appearance, he was exhibited as a human curiosity in ‘freak shows’ throughout England and Europe. He also developed an enduring friendship with Frederick Treves, the doctor who helped provide him with an alternative life at London Hospital and in whose care Merrick was able to reveal his great intelligence and imagination. The story of ‘the Elephant Man’ has been retold many times, and is probably most widely known through the David Lynch film and the play by Bernard Pomerance. Tom Wright’s script draws on Frederick Treves’ first-hand account of his friendship with Merrick (The Elephant Man by Frederick Treves), but doesn’t include the character of Treves. It concerns our contemporary obsession with the body and how contemporary society uses the body to define our place in society. One actor will play Joseph Merrick in a variety of different theatrical modes and states. The central role of Joseph Merrick is an investiagtion of the complexity and humanity of this man and the contrast between how he appears and is perceived, and his own inner world and internal thoughts. A chorus of three female performers will shift between multiple roles – people from the Victorian era who were part of Merrick’s life (carers, nurses, doctors, performers, and the general public) through to contemporary commentators in 2017, reflecting on the progression of medicine and science, sharing perceptions of the body, celebrity, empathy and the notion of ‘otherness’. The role of Joseph Merrick will be played by Mark Winter, and Julie Forsyth will be one of the three female chorus members. The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man will provide ample opportunity for students to observe the actor-audience relationship, as it will explore a variety of theatrical ways in which the chorus engage with spectators. The audience will see Merrick both shrouded and unshrouded in the shadows, in full light and interrogation, in the domestic, and finally in a fantasia state. We will closely follow the shifts in his use of language – from being barely decipherable, to being increasingly more articulate, to allowing us to experience his inner poetry. Advice to schools Schools are advised to use the resources provided by the theatre company to ensure that students are familiar with the life of Joseph Merrick prior to seeing the play. © VCAA Page 22