Meet Hilary Glow, dramaturg, reviewer, editor, arts commentator, academic and author of Power Plays: Australian Theatre and the Public Agenda.

Hilary talks about what makes theatre political and the challenges political playwrights face today. To read the interview, click here.

Power Plays: Australian Theatre and the Public Agenda

Hilary Glow

A timely account of contemporary political theatre in Australia, Power Plays investigates how, and why eight leading playwrights maintain the rage on stage. For more information and to order your copy, click here.

Power Plays will be launched by Michael Veitch, host of Sunday Arts on ABC TV, on 9 October at Readings Carlton, 6.30pm. It’s a free event, but please RSVP to karin@currency.com.au. If you can’t make it to the launch make sure you catch Hilary on air this week. Check our news page for updates on when and where to tune in.

Katherine Thomson is one of the featured playwrights in Power Plays. Be in the running to win a double-pass to her new play King Tide (compliments of Griffin Theatre) when you purchase a copy of Power Plays, for details see our Specials section below.

Riflemind

Andrew Upton

A darkly comic and provocative play from the soon-to-be Co-Artistic Director of the STC. With a terrific cast including, Marton Csokas, Susie Porter, Jeremy Sims and Hugo Weaving, Riflemind, directed by the Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, tells the story of what happens over a weekend when the members of a once-famous rock band reunite to talk about a comeback tour.

The STC production of Riflemind opens 10 October; to order your copy of the play click here. Tickets are selling fast to this production so if you haven’t booked yet check out our Specials section below to win a double-pass (compliments of the STC).

King Tide

Katherine Thomson

King Tide is Katherine’s first new play in nearly four years and tells the story of an investigative journalist about to rediscover her motivation. Sal was an award-winning investigative journalist uncovering government corruption and public scandals until a family tragedy robbed Sal of her willingness to engage. When her teenage daughter brings home a Japanese surfer to stay, Sal finds herself confronted with a sense of danger that was once so vital to her life.

Currency will publish the play in time for the Griffin production at the Stables, opening 19 October. Get down to the theatre to buy your copy of the play at the special price of $10. If you can’t make it to the show, pre-order your copy online.

Singing the Land: The Power of Performance in Aboriginal Life

Jill Stubington

For the Indigenous people of Australia, music is the life blood which connects them with the dreaming. Songs and dances have encoded their history and religion, their social organisation and their connectedness to the land for 60,000 years.

Jill Stubington spent many years between 1960 and 1980 in remote regions of Australia learning to listen to this music, to understand its complexity, its central role in identity, social cohesion, celebration and the resolution of family conflict. The result is this compelling account of the underlying culture of ceremony, and provides listening guides and notations for the CDs now available to the public.

Singing the Land will be launched in Melbourne (10th October) and Sydney (6th November) for further details contact Polly Rowe at info@currencyhouse.org.au or phone (02) 9319 4953. To order your copy, click here.

Platform Papers 14: Who Profits from the Arts?

Kay Ferres and David Adair

Melbourne's bid to become the world's second UNESCO City of Literature marks a new phase in the global move towards the creative city. Victoria, it is said, is where arts and culture are at the centre of economic thinking. But what does this say about the value of culture, the benefits of cultural participation and the distribution of benefits to a wider community? Do the most important impacts of the arts defy measurement? How can our cultural centres find a language to express the value that Australians see? Kay Ferres and David Adair search among our performing arts venues for a new kind of yardstick, one that might define the ineffable.

Who Profits from the Arts? will be launched by Craig McGovern, CEO of the Queensland Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 18 October, 6–8pm. As well the authors will be speaking at the Sydney Institute on Tuesday 23 October 5.30 for 6pm, for further details about these events contact Polly Rowe at info@currencyhouse.org.au or (02) 9319 4953.

Competition: Get your copy of Power Plays today and enter the competition to win a double-pass to the Griffin Theatre production of Katherine Thomson’s new play King Tide. All you need to do is to answer this question: Who are the eight playwrights Hilary Glow interviewed for her book Power Plays: Australian Theatre and the Public Agenda?
Send your answer to karin@currency.com.au with ‘ Power Plays Competition’ in the subject line and your answer and contact details in the email body. Competition closes Wednesday, 17 October at 4pm. For more information on the play, check our productions section below.

Competition: Go in the draw to win a double-pass to the STC production of Andrew Upton’s new play Riflemind. Send an email to karin@currency.com.au with ‘ Riflemind Competition’ in the subject line and tell us which other title by Andrew Upton has been published by Currency Press. Please include your contact details in the email body. Competition closes Wednesday, 10 October at 4pm. For more information on the production, check our ON STAGE section below.

Competition: Darlinghurst Theatre Company has two great plays starting this month and we’ve got two double passes to give away for each show on Tuesday, 9 October. Be the first to send an email to karin@currency.com.au with One More Than One or An Unfortunate Woman as the subject line. For more info on the plays, check out our productions section below.

Special: B Sharp offers Currency subscribers concession priced tickets to Construction of the Human Heart by Ross Mueller. Season starts 9 October. Simply quote ' Currency Deal' when booking to take up this special offer. Information about the show is in the productions section below.

Special offer for ArtsHub members: Currency offers Arts Hub members a 10% discount on any title you buy online at www.currency.com.au (already discounted titles excluded). Simply put your Arts Hub membership number in the comment field when ordering and we will deduct 10% off the total when processing your order.
If you are not an Arts Hub member already, you can subscribe for as little as $88 a year (only $66 for students) by clicking here.

NSW

Riflemind by Andrew Upton, is currently playing at the Sydney Theatre Company (Wharf 1). Be quick to get your tickets as they are selling fast. For more info, visit sydneytheatre.com.au. To order your copy of the play, go to our website. Enter our competition to win a double-pass to Riflemind. For details, see our Specials section.

King Tide by Katherine Thomson is coming up at the Stables Theatre. Previews 19-23 October, season goes from 26 October – 24 November. For tickets go to griffintheatre.com.au.
Currency Press will publish the play in time for the production. Pick up your copy at the theatre at the special price of $10. If you can’t make it to the show, you can pre-order your copy online.

Timely for the upcoming Federal Election, Don’s Party has returned to the stage in a Sydney Theatre Company production at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. Season ends 3 November, for bookings go to sydneytheatre.com.au. To grab a copy of the play, visit to our website.

Construction of the Human Heart by Ross Mueller is showing at Belvoir Street’s Downstairs Theatre from 9-28 October. Special Offer for Currency subscribers: Simply quote ' Currency Deal' when booking to get your tickets at the concession price. Bookings: 02 9699 3444 or www.belvoir.com.au
Currency Press published Ross Mueller’s play Colosseum.

Norm and Ahmed by Alex Buzo is coming up at the Old Fitzroy Hotel, season starts10 October. Written in 1967 and astonishingly relevant 40 years later, Norm and Ahmed is Alex Buzo's controversial and critically acclaimed classic. Launched in September 2007, this is The Alex Buzo Company's inaugural year of operation. For tickets go to trstheatre.com.au.
Norm and Ahmed is published in Plays of the 60s Volume 2. To see all Alex Buzo plays published by Currency, click here.

Holding the Man by Tommy Murphy is currently showing upstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre in a Griffin Theatre production. Season ends 4 November. Tommy Murphy’s stage adaptation of Timothy Conigrave’s memoir won the 2007 AWGIE Award for the best play and this year’s Play Award of the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and is published in one volume with Strangers in Between, winner of the 2006 NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Best Play. Click here to order your copy.

New Theatre Newtown is currently showing a production of Stephen Sewell’s Traitors. The play charts the triumph of paranoia and betrayal over truth and innocence and established Sewell as one of Australia's great political playwrights. Season ends 27 October 2007, for tickets go to www.mca-tix.com. To have a look at all of Stephen Sewell’s plays published by Currency, click here.

A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner will be playing in a NIDA Graduation Production at the Parade Space. Season goes from 12-20 October, for bookings go to ticketek.com.au. Follow this link to see all plays by Tony Kushner published by Currency Press.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company has two great plays coming up this month, so make sure you enter our competition to win two double-passes. For details see the Specials section:

One More Than One is the story of a no-holds-barred relationship that transcends boundaries and incorporates physical performance, film imagery and a provocative soundscape. Devised by and featuring Emma J Hawkins & Keith Lim, season ends Saturday 20 October. For tickets visit darlinghursttheatre.com.

An Unfortunate Woman, written and performed by Nicola Gunn, was a sell out production at six international festivals. It is a beautiful tale told with warmth and subversive comedy about the story of three separate lives that eventually collide. Season ends Saturday 27 October. For tickets go to darlinghurstheatre.com.

Queensland

Queensland Theatre Company presents Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, currently showing at the Cremorne Theatre QPAC. Season ends 3 November. For more information and tickets go to qldtheatreco.com.au. Currency distributes the biography of Edward Albee. For more info and to order your copy, click here.

Western Australia

Black Swan Theatre Company presents a production of Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith showing at the Playhouse Theatre, Perth. Don’t miss the Western Australian debut of this perceptive, poetic and uncompromisingly honest theatrical gem. Season goes from 22 October – 4 November. For more information on the production and to buy your tickets, visit http://www.bstc.com.au/
To have a look at all plays by Joanna Murray-Smith published by Currency Press, click here.

International productions

The Final Shot, a new play by Ben Ellis, begins previewing on October 9 at Theatre503 in London. Season ends 27 October. For more information, visit theatre503.com.
Ben Ellis’ plays Falling Petals, Post Felicity and These People have been published by Currency Press, click here for details.

The Philip Parsons Memorial Lecture 2007: Filling Theatres Honourably
This year's lecture will be given by Fergus Linehan, Sydney Festival Artistic Director on Sunday 21 October, 2.00pm at Belvoir St Upstairs Theatre. The recipient of the 2007 recipient of The Philip Parsons Young Playwright's Award will also be announced at this event. For further details go to belvoir.com.au.

Kate Challis RAKA Award
David Milroy has won the Kate Challis RAKA Award for his play Windmill Baby, published in Contemporary Indigenous Plays. The Kate Challis RAKA Award is one of Australia's richest and most prestigious national awards for Indigenous creative artists. Congratulations David Milroy!

2007 Deadly Award
The winners of the 2007 Deadly Award - The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, sport, entertainment and community awards - have been announced. Congratulations to all winners, especially Richard Frankland, director of the SBS mini series The Circuit, who was awarded the Outstanding Achievement in Film, Television or Theatre award; and to Aaron Pedersen, one of the stars of The Circuit, for winning Male Actor of the Year. For the complete list of winners and more information on the Award, click here. Currency has published the screenplay of The Circuit, to order a copy go to our website.

Currency Press congratulates all winners!

Stay up to date about productions, authors, events and festivals – check out our News page online.