2018 vce drama and theatre studies playlist - vcaa.vic.edu.au · web view2018 vce drama and...

2018 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist

The following plays have been selected for study in 2018. 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 2018 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Teachers should be aware that plays may be added to, or withdrawn from, the list. Further updates may be provided during 2018 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 studyWhile 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 will 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:

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.

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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 consult the school calendar and the teaching and learning plan for the relevant unit, and

ensure sufficient planning time will be available for attendance at 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 discuss with colleagues at your school aspects of the script or performance that may be

challenging for your students if possible, attend a preview performance 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.

VCE Drama Unit 3 PlaylistThe following plays have been selected for study in 2018. 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. Good Muslim Boy by Osamah Sami and Janice MullerTheatre Company: Malthouse Theatre (in association with Queensland Theatre Company)

Season: 9–13 February (previews), 15 February– 11 March (Season extended, additional matinee on Thursday 8 March at 12.30pm)

Venue: The Beckett Theatre, Coopers Malthouse, Sturt Street Southbank,

Duration: 70 minutes

Performance times: VCE matinees: 12.30pm Thursday 15 and 22 February, Thursday 1 March (followed by VCE post-show forums), Saturday matinee 3.30pm, Wednesday-Saturday 8.00pm, Tuesday 7.00pm, Sunday 6.00pm

Tickets: metro students $25.00, non-metro students $23.00, accompanying teachers (up to two per group) FREE, additional teachers and adults $40 per ticket

Bookings: Malthouse Theatre

For this premier production of Good Muslim Boy, the playwrights have adapted Osamah Sami’s memoir with the same name. The book won a NSW Premier’s Literary Award in 2015. In 2016, some of the stories from the book were adapted for the film Ali’s Wedding, written by Andrew Knight and Osamah Sami, featuring Sami in the lead role.

Malthouse Theatre’s stage version of Good Muslim Boy has a very different focus to the film. The play centres on the relationship between Sami and his father, a Muslim cleric, who dies unexpectedly at the age of 50 while he and Sami are travelling together in Iran. It explores the

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extraordinary and humorous lengths the grief-stricken Sami has to go to in order to counter the complex layers of bureaucracy in Iran and find a way to bring his father’s body back home to Australia.

Good Muslim Boy is a collection of short scenes that move back and forth in time. Interspersed between Sami’s quest to return with his father’s body to Australia are a variety of episodes from Sami’s life that include growing up as a child of Iraqi heritage, living in Iran during the Iran–Iraq war and escaping with his family as a teenager to suburban Melbourne. It is a spirited story of a young man’s journey toward a better understanding of himself, and the complexity of his identity, as the eldest son of a leading Muslim cleric, who is constantly in trouble, and struggling to be a ‘good muslim boy’, but who is nonetheless devoted to and deeply loved by his father (to whom the play and book are dedicated).

Advice to SchoolsThis production contains occasional coarse language. It also contains some violent dramatic images, which are conveyed in a way that is highly stylised and neither explicit nor naturalistic. Teachers who have concerns about events that may be portrayed in the performances are advised to contact Vanessa O’Neill, Youth and Education Manager at Malthouse Theatre on (03) 9685 5164 or [email protected] prior to booking.

2. This is Eden by Emily Goddard Theatre Company: Emily Goddard and FortyFiveDownstairs

Season: 14-25 February

Venue: Forty Five Downstairs Theatre, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000

Duration: 70 minutes (followed by post-show Q&A)

Performance times: Tuesday–Saturday 7.30pm, Sunday 5pm, matinees 11am on Wednesdays and Fridays

Tickets: adults $35, concession $30, students $25. Group booking details TBC

Bookings: http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/

This production enjoyed a successful season at Forty Five Downstairs in May 2017. Co-devised by performer Emily Goddard and director Susie Dee, who has a long history of devising confronting theatre, it was developed as a 2015 Hothouse production in residence.

This is Eden is a dark, humorous and provocative contemporary solo theatre work, inspired by the rebellion and resistance of the female convicts of Van Diemen’s Land. Using the French clowning techniques of Bouffon, where outcasts ridicule and provoke those in power, Goddard and Dee combine both the grotesque and charming to bring to life a tale of rebellion and survival that has frequently been overlooked in our nation’s history classes. Political and compelling, This is Eden is an examination of our dark past, a parody of how our history has been taught and a call to arms to contemporary Australia.

Goddard greets the audience in the foyer in the role of tour guide of the Cascades Female Factory. She explains that the ‘tour’ will inform audience members about the 25,000 female convicts transported to Australia in the 19th century. Once she has the audience settled in their seats she very quickly transforms into Mary Ford, one of these convicts. During the performance, she transforms into other characters and mid-performance, she also returns briefly to the original

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http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/

mailto:[email protected]


modern-day character. Students will see in action the theatre styles of Bouffon, Epic Theatre, Poor Theatre and Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty.

In 1839 the Cascades Female Factory in Tasmania is a hellhole at the end of the earth, where in a solitary cell at the edge of survival Mary, a ‘sleek little savage’ waits alone in the darkness. Ankle deep in mud, she plots escape and reveals, with biting mockery, the untold tales of her captors. The lines between past and present blur to subversively bring current resonances to light. With one in seven Australians having convict ancestry, has oppressed become oppressor? Is cruelty still a means of showing national loyalty? Using the same devices the convict women used to entertain and rebel, This is Eden explores and exposes these links with subtlety and humour.

Advice to SchoolsConsistent with the Bouffon style of theatre, this production contains a scene that could be interpreted as irreverent. The production includes occasional coarse language and is suitable for ages 15+.

3. Hart by Ian Michael and Seanna van HeltenTheatre Company: She Said Theatre and Regional Arts Victoria (touring)

Season: Tuesday 6 March–Saturday 2 June

Venues:

Tuesday 6 March: Horsham Town Hall; Thursday 8 March: Mildura Arts Centre; Friday 9 March: Swan Hill Performing Arts Centre; Saturday 10 March: Kerang Memorial Hall, Gannawarra Shire; Wednesday 14 March: The Bowery Theatre, Brimbank; Thursday 15-16 March: Geelong Performing Arts Centre; Sunday 18 March: Latrobe Performing Arts Centre; Thursday 22 and Friday 23 March: Whitehorse Theatre, Nunawading; Saturday 24 March: Burrinja Theatre, Upwey; Friday 1-2 June: Wyndham Cultural Centre, Werribee


Performance times: check with venues

Tickets: check with venues

Bookings: via venues

Playwright and performer Ian Michael has won several awards for Hart, including Best Emerging Artist (Adelaide Fringe 2016) and Best Emerging Indigenous Artist (Melbourne Fringe 2015). The production has had a successful 2017 Regional Arts Victoria tour.

Hart is a one-man verbatim theatre performance, adapted from testimonies provided to the Stolen Generation Testimonies Foundation and from interviews conducted by creator Ian Michael and co-writer Seanna van Helten. Performed solely by Ian Michael, the production weaves together the real stories of four Noongar men who grew up in Western Australia and who directly identify as survivors of the Stolen Generations. The men’s stories span from the late 1930s to today, dispelling the assumption that the Stolen Generation is a thing of the past.

The production weaves together the four men’s stories in a non-naturalistic style, jumping back and forth in time to illustrate that the impacts of the Stolen Generations are ongoing, part of an intergenerational cycle of trauma and loss that continues to affect not just these four individuals, but many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families today. Students will witness how the

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performer uses monologue and direct address performance styles to shift between multiple characters on stage, and to break the ‘fourth wall’ between performance and audience.

Students will witness a conceptual set design using only a single chair and a ring of white flour that allows for multiple interpretations. Audiovisual design uses documentary footage and images as well as contemporary media ‘sound-bites’ to ground the stories in a real-life social context. As well as exploring the historical content of Hart, students will able to analyse how the play’s dramaturgical framing and stagecraft contributes to an emotionally engaging theatrical realisation of real-life historical accounts.

Advice to SchoolsAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this production contains references to and images of people who are deceased. Schools are advised to consult the Koorie Cross-Curricular Protocols for Victorian Government Schools and, as required with the theatre company before booking and/or attending these performances.

4. Deceptive Threads by David Joseph and Karen BergerSeason: 25 April–13 May

Venue: La Mama Courthouse, Drummond Street, Carlton

Duration: 60 minute performance (followed by a 30 minute forum)

Performance times: Wednesday 6.30pm; Thursday-Saturday 7.30pm; Sunday 4.00pm. Matinees: Wednesday 1.00pm, Thursday 11.00 (check the La Mama website for full details).

Tickets: TBC, $35 students and teachers (includes copy of the script, performance, after-show forum), $25 non-VCE students and teachers (includes performance and forum)

Bookings: [email protected]

Deceptive Threads has had two successful seasons in Melbourne – at Metanoia Theatre in 2015 and at Forty Five Downstairs Theatre in 2016. It was awarded the 2016 Khayrallah International Art Prize presented by North Carolina State University’s Centre for Lebanese Diaspora Studies for an artwork that best articulates the Lebanese diasporic experience.

Reviewers have commented that the production provides ‘inspiration for those who create their own work’ and is of ‘especial interest to students studying identity and belonging’.

Deceptive Threads is a well-crafted solo performance, seamlessly integrating wide-ranging theatrical styles, sophisticated stagecraft and complex projection mapping techniques to create a significant exploration of the relationships between personal and national identity.

The performance styles include metatheatrical storytelling, physical theatre, characterisation, illusion, innovative percussion techniques, direct address and creative transformations of character. These various performance modalities are unified into a cohesive whole by the skills of both the actor and director, who were also the devisors of the work.

Students will witness how David Joseph plays ten characters, transitioning effortlessly between them all. They will see how he uses his percussion skills to great effect in two scenes: first, as a very theatrical Lebanese storyteller who embellishes his stories with rhythms played on a darabuka, or Arabic drum, blending spoken word and rhythms in a highly skilled manner; and second, where he turns a pair of filing cabinets into emotionally powerful ‘drums’ that accompany a

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highly charged, politically topical projection sequence. His physical theatre skills are evident in his inventive use of props and his dancer-like sensibility. The stagecraft will be an example to students of how to define and enhance non-naturalism in performance.

Advice to SchoolsThis play includes political opinions and may raise sensitivities for students depending on their cultural background. Teachers are advised to read the script and discuss potential issues for their students with relevant people within their school community.

5. Caliban by Georgia Symons with Dave Kelman and Edge EnsembleTheatre Company: Western Edge Youth Arts

Season: 14–31 May

Venues and booking details (at time of publishing, further inner city venues tbc)

Potato Shed, Drysdale, Monday 14 May at 11.00am, 03 5251 1998 or http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/potatoshed

Riverlinks, Shepparton, Wednesday 16 May at 10.30am, workshop 12.30, 03 5832 9511 or http://riverlinksvenues.com.au/

Wyndham Cultural Centre, Thursday 17 May at 7.00pm, (03) 8734 6000 or http://www.wyncc.com.au/

The Bowery Theatre, St Albans, Friday 18 May at 7.00pm, 03) 9249 4600 or http://bowerystacc.com.au/

Esso BHP Billiton Wellington Entertainment Centre, Sale, Friday 25 May at 7.00pm, 03 5143 3200 or http://www.ebbwec.com.au/

Mildura Arts Centre, Thursday 31 May at 7.00pm, (03) 5018 8330 or http://www.milduraartscentre.com.au/

Duration: 70 minutes, no interval

Performance times: check with venues

Tickets: check with venues


Caliban was first performed in the Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse in November 2016 in a short sold-out season with support from the Australia Council for the Arts. Its artistic merit rated as Excellent or Very Good by 67 per cent of the industry peer reviewers who assessed the performance for the Australia Council for the Arts.

Caliban is a contemporary sequel to Shakespeare’s Tempest set in a dystopian future in which climate change is out of control. Shakespeare’s characters are redefined by basing them on the cultural backgrounds of the actors – Afghani, South Sudanese, Vietnamese, Ghanaian, Samoan and Croatian.

This is a fast-paced performance that combines poetry with taught dialogue and comedy. The play directly addresses the politics of climate change through complex, nuanced characters, dialogue and imagery. It is performed in a Poor Theatre style, using choreographed movement, choral poetry, slapstick comedy, stage fighting, singing and drama. The stage design makes clever use of four oil drums and minimal costume.

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Caliban makes strong demands on its six cast members, requiring them to move between embodying objects, animals and landscape and playing fully developed, complex characters. The minimal design requires actors to create the world of the play and to take the audience on this journey transitioning seamlessly from the intimate to the epic.

This ensemble production allows students to study non-naturalistic performance styles. The actors make full use of their bodies and voices to tell stories and embody multi-dimensional characters that are as diverse as contemporary Australian society.

Advice to SchoolsThe performance includes some language that some people may find offensive. Teachers are advised to read the script and, as appropriate, consult with school leaders before booking.

Theatre Studies Unit 3The following plays have been selected for study in 2018. 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. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Simon StephensTheatre Company: Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Theatre Company present The National Theatre

Season: 11 January–25 February

Venue: The Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, St Kilda Road, Southbank

Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes including interval

Dedicated school matinees: Thursday 15 and Thursday 22 February, 12pm followed by 30 minute Schools forum with resident director and the actor playing Christopher.

Tickets for schools matinees: schools’ price: $49; one teacher free of charge for every 10 students

Other performance times: Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:30pm, Thursday and Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm and 8pm, Sunday 3pm

Tickets are available now: limited youth prices are available; check the Arts Centre Melbourne website or Box Office for details. No schools prices available until further notice.

Schools experiencing barriers of access (due to location, socio-economic disadvantage etc.) may apply to the First Call Fund for subsidised tickets to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Through the First Call Fund, Arts Centre Melbourne can offer 25 to100 per cent off the cost of tickets and assist with costs involved with travel to and from the venue.

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Bookings: Arts Centre Melbourne, Hannah Schneider, Coordinator Schools Programs, 61 3 9281 8582 or 61 3 9281 8394, schools@artscentremelbourne,com.au www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/schools

Script: published by Samuel French (Critical Scripts series), available from book suppliers and online. The script is also available through Arts Centre Melbourne for $20 per copy.

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon, this production has enjoyed a long and successful season in the London West End, on Broadway, and has had extensive tours across the UK, Ireland and the US. The production won seven Olivier Awards in 2013 and five Tony awards in 2015 including Best Play. The National Theatre (UK) is touring the play to Australia.

The play involves a significant reworking of the source material. The novel presents 15-year old Christopher Boone’s story as a first person narrative. For the stage, Simon Stephens has reworked the source material and changed the voice, presenting the piece as a play within a play.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time uses stylised storytelling to tell Christopher’s story. Soon after midnight, he finds a neighbour’s dog after it has been speared with a garden fork and he falls under suspicion. Despite the fact that he has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he sets out on a detective mission to find out who killed the dog. When his father forbids him to continue he sets out on a frightening journey alone and this upsets his world of order. Christopher records everything in his notebook.

Everything needed to tell the story is within the set. The props and actors are all clearly displayed (some actors do not leave the stage at all) and the narrator reads the story (Christopher’s writings) to the audience.

The set is a cube representing the Christopher’s encapsulated world. It is, according to director Marianne Elliot, ‘light, agile and highly imaginative’. This is echoed in Paule Constable’s lighting design, showing audiences what Christopher saw – cool, white and controlled lighting.

Projections of Christopher’s diagrams and equations spill over the stage. The set works on two levels: a laboratory (the way in which Christopher describes his brain in the novel) and a ‘who-dunnit’ (like graph paper on an incident board in a police room as the detectives solve the crime). All stagecraft elements work in perfect harmony with the ensemble to create this outstanding production.

Advice to SchoolsThe fifteen-year-old central character of the play is characterised as follows: “Christopher Boone has an extraordinary brain – exceptional at maths, while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers.” Although neither the novel nor the play refers to Asperger’s Syndrome, the central character in this play displays behavior that would commonly be associated with this condition. Teachers are advised to read the script and consult with school leadership regarding potential impacts of studying this work on students in their class This production contains strong language, strobe lighting, high intensity video, light effects and loud sound effects.

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mailto:schools@artscentremelbourne,com.au


2. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Tom Wright

Theatre Company: Malthouse Theatre

Season: 6–15 February

Venue: The Merlyn Theatre, Cooper’s Malthouse, Sturt Street, SOUTHBANK


Performance times: VCE Matinees: 12.30pm Thursday 8 February and Thursday 15 February

Evening shows: 7.30pm (Sundays 5.00pm and Tuesday 6.30pm)

Tickets: metro students $25.00, non-metro students $23.00, accompanying teachers (up to two per group) FREE, additional teachers and adults $40 per ticket

Bookings: Malthouse Theatre

Script: Available from AustralianPlays.org

Adapted from the novel by Joan Lindsay, this production enjoyed a successful season at Malthouse Theatre in 2016 when it was included on the VCE Drama Playlist. It toured to the Black Swan Theatre, Perth, in 2016 and the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, in 2017. In 2018 the production will tour to the Barbican Theatre in London.

Tom Wright’s adaption of the novel exposes the colonial undercurrents of Lindsay’s story, the changed Australian relationship to landscape, how horror and the unknown intersect and how fictional stories change into myths. The production focuses on the motif of vanishing and darkness, bringing to the surface a fear of what is unseen, and how multiple timeframes can exist onstage simultaneously.

The entire production is told by five contemporary school girls, who are the custodians of this myth, and for whom the story becomes all-consuming as it is re-told. The theatrical style of the production is non-naturalistic and events are re-created using a chorus of words and symbolic movements. Stagecraft elements include the use of blackouts so that the girls themselves start to appear and disappear in the room, time and subjectivity blur, and 2018 and 1900 begin to exist simultaneously. The effect is to draw on the audience’s fear of engaging with the unknown. This was clearly the driving force of the original novel and is an excellent example of how a narrative text can be conveyed through the use of dramatic elements.

Music is a key stagecraft element throughout this piece, aurally building this dream world and the ominous presence of the rock itself. This production features transformation of time, place and character, heightened language, direct address and an exploration of the conventions of Australian Gothic theatre.

Advice to SchoolsThe design for this production includes complete black outs and loud sounds. Teachers who are concerned about the potential impact on students should contact Vanessa O’Neill, Youth and Education Manager at Malthouse Theatre on (03) 9685 5164 or [email protected].

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3. Ellida - a new translation by May-Brit Akerholt from Henrik Ibsen’s The Lady from the Sea

Theatre Company: La Mama Theatre with Laurence Strangio

Season: 16–27 May

Venue: La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton

Duration: 2 hours approximately (plus forum)

Performance times: Wednesday 6.30pm; Thursday-Saturday 7.30pm; Sunday 4.00pm. Matinees: Wednesday 1.00pm, Thursday 11.00 (check the La Mama website for full details).

Tickets: $35 students and teachers (includes copy of the script, performance, after-show forum), $25 non-VCE students and teachers (includes performance and forum)


Script: check with La Mama

This is a new translation of Ibsen’s 1888 play The Lady by the Sea especially commissioned from renowned Norwegian/Australian dramaturg and translator May-Brig Akerholt, best known for her Ibsen and Strindberg translations for directors such as Neil Armfield, Aubrey Mellor, Jean-Pierre Mignon, Jim Sharman and others, along with upcoming productions for Anne-Louise Sarks and Judy Davis at Belvoir.

In stark contrast to traditional naturalistic or psychologically driven stagings of this play, this production will apply Epic Theatre aspects to the presentation of the text. The highly skilled production team – director Laurence Strangio, designer Mattea Davies, lighting designer Georgia Rann and sound designer Raya Slavin – take a strongly non-naturalistic approach to the re/presentation of the story. Swedish trained performer Annie Thorold (in the title role) heads an experienced ensemble cast.

The ‘lady from the sea’ is Ellida Wangel, the young second wife to Dr Wangel, who has two daughters – Bolette and Hilde – from his previous marriage. Ellida and Wangel are somewhat estranged since the death of their own child and there is no close relationship between her and Wangel’s daughters. Ellida is also unsatisfed with life in this fjord backwater provinicial town so Wangel has invited Arnholm – a former tutor to Bolette and former friend of Ellida’s from when she lived further out near the sea – to help resolve Ellida’s despondency. Arnholm believes that it is Bolette that is desirous to see him and convinces himself that he will marry her.

Ellida reveals that she had a former relationship with a seaman – a mysterious ‘stranger’ – with whom she declares she is ‘wedded’ through a strange ceremony where he threw their rings tied together into the sea. She is convinced that he is coming back to find her and that this relationship is somehow related to her young son’s death. The ‘stranger’ does arrive to reclaim Ellda, but only if she will go with him ‘of her own free will’. Wangel attempts to block Ellida’s attraction to this man ‘for her own good’. Ellida argues that she must be freed from her marriage in order to choose ‘freely’ between Wangel and the ‘stranger’. Wangel refuses to free her, in order to ‘protect her from herself’. Eventually, in desperation, during the final confrontation with the ‘stranger’, Wangel relents and ‘frees’ Ellida and she chooses to remain with him. The ‘stranger’ departs.

This production questions the seemingly binary decisions offered by the play – the choice between one man or the other (husband or ‘stranger’); between land or sea – and in questioning the choices on offer and the resolution arrived at, the production offers an unspoken outcome which is present but suppressed (both externally and internally) – that of true independence, being beholden to neither man, and responsibility to one’s self.

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Ibsen’s Lady from the Sea offers students an opportunity to analyse the non-naturalistic approach to the traditionally naturalistic. This approach reflects the changes in social, historical and political context since the writing of the piece and also in the past 20 or more years of contemporary theatre practice.

4. Carmilla by Adam YeeTheatre Company: KleZeyn Theatre in association with La Mama Theatre

Season: 2–13 May

Venue: La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton

Duration: 60 minutes (plus 30 min forum)

Performance times: Wednesday 6.30pm; Thursday 7.30pm; no performances Friday; Saturday 7.30pm;

Sunday 2pm & 6.30pm

Matinees: Wednesday 1pm; Thursday 11am. (Check the La Mama website for full details)

Tickets: $35 VCE students and teachers (includes performance, after show forum, copy of the script), $25 non-VCE students and teachers (includes performance, after show forum)


Script: Currency Press

This play was part of the La Mama Theatre’s Explorations Season in December 2016. The libretto (script) for Carmilla has been adapted by two experienced teacher/theatre practitioners – Adam Yee and Karen Wakeham. The source for Carmilla is the celebrated 1871 vampire novella by Seridan Le Fanu.

Carmilla exists on the borders between several art forms. It is conceived as an opera, fully scored for a small orchestra. There is, however, no singing. The spoken text is melodramatically linked to the through-composed score. The production design by Lisa McVilly is inspired in part by 1920s silent film.

The production involves an orchestra of seven and a cast of five. Students will be able to engage with the interpretation of a nuanced literary text, the complex interactions between avant-garde musical language and drama, and the re-imagining of the 'melodrame' (a nearly extinct theatrical form) in an unapologetically contemporary work. Carmilla unfolds in near darkness, and is supported by stagecraft that propels audiences into the intense psychological drama of the source text through a purposeful interpolation of directly addressed narration with dramatic incident.

Advice to SchoolsIn the course of the production, many issues relatable to adolescents – such as intense friendship, trust, irrational fear and questions around sexual identity – are dealt with in unconventional and thought-provoking ways. Teachers are advised to read the script and consult with school leadership regarding potential impacts of studying this work on students in their class.

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5. Which Way Home by Katie BeckettTheatre Company: ILBIJERRI Theatre Company; tour coordinated by Regional Arts Victoria

Season: 24 May–22 June

Venues: Footscray Community Arts Centre, Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, Riverlinks Westside Shepparton, Altona Theatre, The Bowery Theatre, Latrobe Performing Arts Centre Esso BHP Billiton Entertainment Centre, Sale, Forge Theatre & Arts Hub Bairnsdale, The Engine Room, Capital Theatre, Bendigo, Frankston Arts Centre, Bunjil Place Theatre, The Potato Shed Drysdale, Gasworks Arts Park, Clocktower Centre Moonee Ponds; The Lighthouse, Warrnambool


Performance times: Regional Arts Victoria or check venue websites

Tickets: check venue websites; prices vary


Script: Katie Beckett, commissioned by ILBIJERRI Theatre Company, available for purchase via Australian Plays

Which Way Home premiered at Northcote Town Hall in 2016, just as the country was reeling from the infamous racist cartoon by Bill Leake. The cartoon perpetuated the negative stereotyping of Aboriginal men as bad fathers and bad role models. Which Way Home’s celebration of Indigenous dads is the perfect antidote. The production proved to be a significant voice in the #IndigenousDads campaign, which Indigenous Australians used to respond to the cartoon with photos and memories of their fathers and loving family lives.

Following its premiere season Which Way Home went on to enjoy a sell-out, extended season at Sydney Festival 2017. This Victorian tour is part of a longer 2018 national tour. Reviewers have commented that Which Way Home is ‘perfectly pitched between humour and pathos’ and ‘a warmly affirming window on Indigenous family life’.

ILBIJERRI is one of Australia’s leading theatre companies, creating innovative works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. Its productions have toured to critical acclaim across Australia and the world. Ilbijerri’s work challenges and excites audiences with contemporary stories about what it means to be Indigenous in Australia today. The company’s creative processes support the empowerment of Indigenous artists and communities to have a powerful voice in determining the future of Australia.

Tash and her Dad are going on a road trip. Home to country, where the sky is higher and the world goes on forever. It’s a long way from the wide streets and big old houses of Tash’s childhood. Two Black faces in a very white suburb. Dad still thinks he’s the king of cool, but he’s an old fella now. It’s time for Tash to take him home.

ILBIJERRI Theatre Company tells stories about what it means to be Indigenous in Australia today. Infused with humour and heart, Which Way Home draws on writer Katie Beckett’s own memories of growing up with her single Aboriginal father.

Which Way Home gives profound insight into father–daughter relationships and questions the necessity of gendered roles in parenthood. It is a personal story of resilience, addiction, loss and triumph. Told through the eyes of the daughter, from young girl to woman, we see the changes not only in the landscapes but also in the minds of the characters. The story has the capacity to remind audiences of every person’s need for family, history and heritage.

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http://www.rav.net.au/whats-on/performing-arts-touring/which-way-home-by-ilbijerri-theatre-company


Presented in a non-naturalistic theatrical style, the two actors play the characters of father and daughter at different periods in their lives, moving in and out of time and place. Students will be taken on a physical and spiritual journey that is contemporary yet timeless.

The production uses simple but effective lighting, AV, and music to create an enchanting, childlike world told through memories, recollections and playful banter. The dialogue, acting and direction are an original and delightful combination that speaks to the journey of growing up and realising that parents are neither perfect nor immortal.

Advice to Schools

This is a work of fiction. The resources provided by Ilbijerri Theatre will offer further support for engaging with the text. Schools may also wish to consult the Koorie Cross-Curricular Protocols for Victorian Government Schools.

Theatre Studies Unit 4The 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. Julius Caesar by William ShakespeareTheatre Company: Bell Shakespeare Company

Season: 18 July – 28 August

Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio:

7.30pm Wednesday 18 July; 7.30pm Thursday 19 July; 7.30pm Friday 20 July; 2pm and 7.30pm Saturday 21 July; 4pm Sunday 22 July; 11am and 6.30pm Tuesday 24 July; 6.30pm Wednesday 25 July; 11am and 7.30pm Thursday 26 July; 7.30pm Friday 27 July; 2pm and 7.30pm Saturday 28 July

West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul: 7.30pm Tuesday 31 July

Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat: 7.30pm Thursday 2 August

Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre: 7.30pm Saturday 4 August

Mildura Arts Centre: 8pm Thursday 23 August

Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo: 8pm Tue 28 Aug

Duration: 150 minutes (approx.)

Performance times: as above

Tickets: school matinees: $30 per student, one complimentary teacher ticket per 20 student tickets. For evening performances, evening ticket prices apply.

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Bookings: for Arts Centre Melbourne performances, book via Bell Shakespeare Learning: Ph: 1300 305 730, Fax: 1300 552 271; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.bellshakespeare.com.au/learning

Other venues:

West Gippsland Arts Centre, Warragul03 5624 2456 Her Majesty’s Theatre, Ballarat03 5333 5888 Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre03 5722 8105 Mildura Arts Centre 03 5018 8330Ulumbarra Theatre, Bendigo03 5434 6100

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is regarded as one of his great historical tragedies. It is a play that effortlessly translates to a modern setting, with its urgent politics and modern ideas. Director James Evans works with Movement Director Scott Witt to develop a minimalist physical language throughout. Bell Shakespeare has been touring nationally since 1990 with its trademark contemporary interpretations of Shakespeare’s classic plays.

Returning triumphant from war against Pompey, Caesar faces the discontent of the people, stirred up by members of his Senate. He is plagued with dreams and omens, which he ignores, leading to his assassination. Caesar’s friend, Mark Antony, rouses the citizens against the conspirators and forms a triumvirate with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus to plan the death of the conspirators.

Prominent in Julius Caesar is the political pursuit of power, how it corrupts, and how it exposes human strength and frailty. Key to its politics is the way language is crafted for its audience, manipulated for impact and the power of words. Key speeches are ripe for rigorous analysis, exploring how characters use language in different ways to manipulate their audience. Students can then study how performances shape character objectives, as informed by directorial decisions. The play is ideal for students to juxtapose against national and international politics and political figures existing today, and how they translate their messages for their specific audiences and aims.

Advice to SchoolsBell Shakespeare has a dedicated national education program that is developed in consultation with schools. All performances and content is strictly assessed and designed with students in mind. If a production contains material that does not suit young audiences, school performances are adapted accordingly.

2. Madame Butterfly by Giacomo PucciniTheatre Company: Opera Australia

Season: 13 July–4 September

Venues: Dandenong: 13–14 July, Drum TheatreNarre Warren: 17 July, Bunjil PlaceWarragul: 19 July, West Gippsland Arts Centre

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http://www.bellshakespeare.com.au/learning



Sale: 21 July, ESSO BHP Entertainment CentreWarrnambool: 24 July, Lighthouse TheatreBallarat: 26 July, Her Majesty's TheatreBendigo: 28 July, Ulumbarra TheatreMildura: 31 July, Mildura Arts CentreHorsham: 2 August, Horsham Town HallWangaratta: 1 Sept, Wangaratta Performing Arts CentreAlbury: 4 Sept, Albury Entertainment Centre

Duration: 120–180 minutess

Performance times: 7.30 pm

Tickets: tbc with venues

Bookings: Dandenong - http://www.drumtheatre.com.au/ Phone 03 8571 1666 Narre Warren - https://www.bunjilplace.com.au/ Warragul - http://wgac.com.au/whatson.html Phone 03 5624 2456Sale - http://www.ebbwec.com.au/whats-on Phone 03 5143 3200Warrnambool - http://www.lighthousetheatre.com.au/ Phone 03 5559 4999 Ballarat - http://www.hermaj.com/ Phone 03 5333 5888 Bendigo - http://www.ulumbarratheatre.com.au/Home Phone 03 5434 6100Mildura - http://www.milduraartscentre.com.au/ Phone 03 5018 8330Horsham - http://www.horshamtownhall.com.au/ Phone 03 5382 9555Wangaratta - http://wangarattapac.com.au/ Phone 03 5722 8105Albury - http://alburyentertainmentcentre.com.au/ Phone 02 6043 5610

Madame Butterfly is one of the most performed operas throughout the world. Directed by John Bell, one of Australia’s most acclaimed directors, Opera Australia’s (OA) 2018 regional tour production will be fully staged with opulent sets, stunning costumes and wigs, and sublime lighting. It will feature some of Australia’s finest opera singers and a chamber orchestra of 11 players.

Set in post-World War 2 Nagasaki (1946), OA’s production of Madame Butterfly is performed in English, with universal themes that unfold through powerful and direct storytelling.

This opera tells the tale of a young Japanese geisha who marries an American naval officer who then leaves her. It explores themes of devotion and irresponsibility, fidelity and justice. As with most of Puccini’s operas, it features realistically drawn female characters that meet a tragic end, but none of these stories is more poignant than that of Cio-Cio-San, the title heroine of Madame Butterfly. Cio-Cio-San’s journey takes her from innocence and happy anticipation through failing hope to calm acceptance of the tragic destiny that her personal code of honour demands. But she is no frail victim. Her optimism in the midst of even the darkest of circumstances makes her a heroine in every sense of the word. It is Cio-Cio-San’s touching mixture of sweetness and anguish, vulnerability and courage that elicits some of Puccini’s most emotionally expansive and heartbreakingly tender music.

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Opera is a heightened, non-naturalistic form of performance, utilising sung through dialogue and verse to tell the story. The orchestral score expresses the unspoken feelings of the characters and the audience, and provides additional depth and layers of meaning. Madame Butterfly will allow students to develop an understanding of the range of performance techniques used to stage an opera, and at the same time offer a different view of what opera is and can be: not an inaccessible art form that is only for wealthy adults, but a compelling performance genre that speaks directly to the heart and yet is uniquely complex.

As students analyse and evaluate the performers’ interpretation of the libretto/script, they will also be able to recognise the way the creative team have influenced this new adaptation. The direction, set, costume and technical aspects of the show are revealed to be as integral to the production as the individual characteristics and expressive skills of each performer.

Advice to SchoolsWhile the themes are emotionally powerful and complex, there is no nudity or depiction of illicit substances in the work. The depiction of Cio-Cio-San’s suicide is facing away from the audience; however, teachers are advised to read the script and consult with school leadership regarding potential impacts of studying this work on students in their class.

3. ‘Motor-mouth Loves Suck-face by Anthony CrowleyTheatre Company: La Mama Theatre

Season: 18 July– 5 August

Venue: La Mama Courthouse Theatre, 349 Drummond Street Carlton

Duration: 120 minutes approx. (plus forum)

Performance times:

Wednesday 6.30pm; Thursday-Saturday 7.30pm; Sunday 4.00pm. Matinees: Wednesday 1.00pm, Thursday 11.00 (check the La Mama website for full details).

Tickets: $35 students and teachers (includes copy of the script, performance, after-show forum), $25 non-VCE students and teachers (includes performance and forum)


Motor-mouth Loves Suck-face is written by award winning dramatist Anthony Crowley, a former Artistic Director of St Martins Youth Arts Centre, who has over 30 years’ experience writing and directing work for young people. His work has been performed both in Australia and internationally.

The script of Motor-mouth Loves Suck-face has been in development since 2007. The first draft of the script was written after several weeks investigating the issues facing young people – and the challenges that are compelling to them. These include climate change, agency to manifest change, injustice, love and relationships, and activism. In 2015 the work was adapted into a first-draft musical, which was workshopped by Federation University students. In 2016 a workshop production was staged at Chapel off Chapel to gain audience insight and feedback, as well as dramaturgical feedback from industry professionals and theatre artists specialising in work for young people.

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In this production, a cast of recognisable characters becomes immersed in a lurid world that becomes a funny, imaginative metaphor for the horror of the real world. The main issue raised is global warming and the environmental inheritance young people will inherit.

Theatrically, the play employs a Brechtian approach to zombies, teenage love, desire and Armageddon, using music, dance, comedy, heightened characters and ludicrous plot elements to depict a world that is imploding in a vortex of hypocrisy and cynicism. It explores the redemptive power (and cruelty) of love and with humour and wit that never becomes uncomfortable, or graphic – thanks to the language it employs, the fun it exudes and the musical world in which it exists.

The score balances musical comedy with modern pop – creating irony through pastiche. Where possible performers double as musicians using this pastiche and groove to keep the vibe ironic, fun and ridiculous – at times shifting gear into ballads that yearn for meaning.

Advice to SchoolsThe play contains occasional low-level coarse language and drug references. Violence is depicted through the killing of zombies in a highly stylised manner.

4. Jurassica by Dan Giovannoni Theatre Company: Red Stitch Theatre and Critical Stages

Season: The Victorian dates in the touring schedule are as follows: Frankston Arts Centre: 23 August

Clocktower Centre, Moonee Ponds: 25 August

Geelong Performing Arts Centre: 28 August-1 September

Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading: 7-8 September

Kingston Arts Centre: 14 September

More venues may be added. Visit http://criticalstages.com.au/portfolio/jurassica/ for tour schedule updates

Venues: As above

Duration: 90–120 minutes

Performance times: Performance times will vary between venues and include evening and matinee performances.

Tickets: ticket prices will vary between venues

Bookings:

Frankston Arts Centre: thefac.com.au

Clocktower Centre: clocktowercentre.com.au

Geelong Performing Arts Centre: https://www.gpac.org.au/

Whitehorse Centre: www.whitehorsecentre.com.au

Kingston Arts Centre: http://www.kingstonarts.com.au/HOME

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http://www.kingstonarts.com.au/HOME

http://www.whitehorsecentre.com.au/

https://www.gpac.org.au/

http://criticalstages.com.au/portfolio/jurassica/


Jurassica was awarded Best New Australian work at the 2016 Green Room Awards. The skills of the entire production team were recognised when it received nominations for Best Production, Best Direction and Best Sound Design. The work was developed with dramaturg Gary Abrahams over an extensive three-year period while the playwright was a Resident Writer at Red Stitch Ink Program.

Dan Giovannoni has written this work with detailed and rich characters, covering complex and engaging thematic territory. Jurassica is a story about family, growing old and spending life searching for home. It is a multigenerational migrant story told with humour and pathos that weaves complex themes of migration and aging – recognisable issues of familial relationship and of communication.

With simple multipurpose staging, the play moves swiftly between locations, and between times. It charts two time structures – moments from the life of Ralph and his family set variously in Italy and Australia between 1944 and 2015, and one night in a Melbourne hospital 2015. Students will witness the skill of the production team, the director and the writer in conjuring these diverse settings simply and effectively through sound, lighting and stagecraft. They are not conjured realistically in the piece; rather, the scenes bleed and merge as if in memory.

A further dramaturgical challenge and interest in the piece is that the play is performed in both English and Italian. Surtitles are not used but the meaning is translated by other characters through the course of the action.

Advice to Schools

The play contains some coarse language as well as language that may be considered racist and sexist. The plot centres on the death of a loved one and teachers are advised to read the script and consult with school leadership regarding potential impacts of studying this work on students in their class.

5. A Doll’s House, Part 2 by Lucas HnathTheatre Company: Melbourne Theatre Company

Season: 11 August–15 September with previews 8pm (11–16 August). Education performances Wednesday 29 August, 1.00pm with ticketed pre-show talk (11.00am) and free post-show Q&A with cast and creative.

Venue: Southbank Theatre, the Sumner


Performance times: Mondays and Tuesdays 6.30pm, Wednesdays 1pm and 8pm, Thursdays and Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 4pm and 8.30pm

Tickets: $28 students, one supervising teacher free, $45 additional supervising teacher/s

Bookings: Mellita Ilich, Education Ticketing Officer, Phone: 03 8688 0963, Email: [email protected]

South Coast Repertory Theatre, California, US, commissioned this play and produced the world premiere in April 2017, which was followed by a season on Broadway. It has been nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Play.

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MTC Associate Director Sarah Goodes will direct this Australian premiere production. The cast will include Marta Dusseldorp and Greg Stone.

A Doll’s House Part 2 is an inventive sequel to A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Part 2 takes place in 1894, fifteen years after Nora Helmer handed her husband her keys and left home, slamming the door behind her at the end of Ibsen’s play. Part 2 has four characters: Anne Marie (the housekeeper), Nora, Torvald and their youngest child – now a young woman – Emmy. Nora has become a successful women’s novelist, living independently of men. But now her independence and career are under threat because Torvald never officially divorced her. The play begins when she returns to see Torvald in the hope he will sign the divorce papers.

Hnath has ingeniously written a sequel that audiences can enjoy without knowing anything about the original.

A Doll’s House, Part 2 will sustain intensive study of the practice of acting, design and direction in a professional mainstage theatre production. The play is undoubtedly a great vehicle for actors and gives designers the opportunity to exploit modern theatre technology to create a unique, hybrid world. The script is sparse with few stage directions for actor or designer, allowing a director leeway for both interpretation and invention to realise a production. Part 2 provides students with a lens through which to examine the practice of theatre production.

6. Lovesong by Abi MorganTheatre Company: Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre

Season: 21 August–23 September (previews 21-24 August)

Venue: Rear 2 Chapel Street, St Kilda East, Vic 3183

Performance times: Wednesday – Saturday 8pm, Sunday 6.30pm, Saturday Matinee 3pm, Student Matinee 1 pm (Wednesday 12 September)

Duration: 75 minutes (approximately)

Tickets: $25 tickets for school bookings, adult $55, preview $23, student/MEA rush $15 (available an hour before each performance), one complimentary teacher ticket per 10 student tickets.


95338083 (Tuesday–Friday, 11am–2pm)

Abi Morgan is a multi-award-winning Welsh playwright and screenwriter. This 2018 production of her play Lovesong by Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre reframes the existing text and highlights stylistic elements unobserved in past productions to create an original interpretation of the existing script.

Tonally poetic, playful and deeply evocative, Lovesong explores themes of love, memory, mental illness and aging. This production, led by acclaimed director Denny Lawrence and featuring original music composed by Gemma Turvey, renders the story with a lightness of touch that allows students to engage and investigate the very serious and relevant subject matter in a way that is both accessible and surprising.

Lovesong tells the story of a relationship spanning a lifetime. From the youthful exuberance of their twenties to the complex, sometimes painful loyalty of old age, the narrative follows the young and old versions of the same couple at opposing ends of their journey. As they prepare for a critical

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week in their lives, their past begins to encroach as their former and present selves inhabit the same time and space.

Students will experience the younger couple’s jubilation and hopes as the older couple struggle to come to terms with the immensely painful approach of Alzheimer’s.

The actors inhabit their characters with naturalistic qualities while operating in a non-naturalistic, symbolic world that is rich with metaphor, juxtaposition, gesture, abstract physicality/stylised movement and the use of originally scored music performed live in the space.

Advice to SchoolsThis play deals with themes of old age, illness and assisted suicide. Teachers are advised to read the script and consult with school leadership regarding potential impacts of studying this work on students in their class.

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2018 vce drama and theatre studies playlist - vcaa.vic.edu.au · web view2018 vce drama and...

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