‘What a great piece of theatre! The adaptation by Eamon Flack retains the power of the original, while making it not so much up to date, as timeless.’ ArtsHub

Polyneices and Eteocles, two brothers leading opposite sides in Thebes’ civil war, have both been killed in battle. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has declared that Eteocles will be honored and Polyneices disgraced. The rebel brother’s body will not be sanctified by holy rites, and will lay unburied to become the food of carrion animals. Defying Creon’s edict Antigone buries her brother and in so doing unleashes a terrible tragedy.

Antigone is part of a new series,  CURRENCY CLASSICS, a series of Australian adaptations of classic plays.

To read an extract from Antigone go to this PDF

CAST: 4F 4M

Lauded by many as one of the most powerful Australian films made in the past 20 years, Rowan Woods’ stunning debut feature The Boys touched off a storm of media controversy upon its release in 1998.

The film evoked vivid memories of the 1986 rape and murder of a young Sydney woman named Anita Cobby. Although Woods’ film was fictional, The Boys remains inextricably connected to its real-life counterpart in the minds of many viewers.

But that connection is only part of the story behind the making of The Boys. In this thoughtful and thought-provoking essay, Andrew Frost contextualises the major thematic concerns of the film into the broader context of social anxieties about violence, crime and morality.

Frost chronicles his own personal journey with the film and its makers from art school to the underground Super 8 filmmaking scene of Sydney in the mid-1980s, from the early short films of director Woods to the multiple award-winning The Boys. Frost discovers new aspects of The Boys even today and wonders if its stinging moral message has been heard among the clamour of
everyday suburban life.

To read an extract from The Boys  go to this PDF

This collection, introduced by John McCallum, includes three previously unpublished works: Jonah, a Brechtian musical reinvention of Louis Stone's novel of the same name; Top End, a political drama set in Darwin during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor, and Lost Weekend which takes a class-based look at 'Australianess'. They are published together with Romeril's best-known play, The Floating World, the story of a returned serviceman's descent into madness on a cruise ship bound for Japan.

Romeril's writing conveys the immediacy of the times that stems from his beginnings as an agitprop writer, but he focuses on everyday lives. The plays in Damage explore the twentieth century stresses and strains, the damage we do and the damage done to us.

On the eve of the presentation of the memorial to the public, a blind woman comes out of the rain and into the architect’s studio. She is the mother of one of the victims and she demands to be heard. Over the next hour the two women do battle over what it means to memorialise the dead, what it means to be a mother and what it means to believe.

Like A Fishbone is both a psychological thriller and a haunting puzzle about faith, compassion and the danger of telling the truth.

'Anthony Weigh’s play is a gem; simple but deep.'  The Times

Cast : 3F, 1 girl

‘Inspiration, abomination, lesbian pin-up, Christian tear-up, Roman’s reference, Egyptians’ refuse, empty vessel, imaginative void…’

2700 years ago, Sappho is the world’s first love poet, the tenth muse of the ancient Greeks, and the inspiration for every lovelorn
writer and songster since.

But as the centuries have passed with the coming and goings of hundreds of libidinous handymen restoring her buttresses, history has caught up with Sappho. Her tale has become a gap in time for new generations to pour their needs and desires, but what is the truth behind her own story? Placed alongside a modern love story of sensuality, sexual awakening and broken-hearts, Sappho... in 9 fragments exposes the timeless undoing of love.

‘And the stars around the moon looked away, hid their radiant jewels, as she bathed the whole world with her luminous glow. I do not know what to do; my mind has shattered in two.’

'Delivered with perfectly poised satire…a very illuminating journey through the life—or more precisely the legacy—of this most fascinating writer.’    The Age

Cast : 1F

From one of Australia's most successful comedians comes The Cheeky Monkey, a practitioner's guide to the art of comedy writing. Both insightful and practical, The Cheeky Monkey explains the principles of sitcom writing and guides the reader in how to apply them. Seeded with exercises to aid the developing comedy writer, this book will help you to:

• Write jokes
• Create funny stories
• Build comic characters
• Develop a sitcom
• Sell your sitcom to producers and TV networks

Many of Tim's techniques can also be applied to film, stage, stand-up or indeed any form of comedy. You'll make 'em laugh before you know it.

Watch Tim Ferguson talk about the controversy the book has caused. Video

To read an extract from The Cheeky Monkey go to this PDF

The Servant of Two Masters—a rough and tumble, lightning paced world of street theatre and strolling players—is the crowning glory of the Commedia del’Arte tradition that so influenced Shakespeare’s comedies and western theatrics.

Truffaldino couldn’t be happier with his change of circumstance balancing two jobs and earning double the wage. But his ‘masters’ turn out to be separated lovers on the run staying at the same inn. With one disguised as a man, the wily Truffaldino tries to handle the chaos. Hoop-la and hilarity take hold in this comedy of love gone wrong and mistaken identity in romantic Venice. This version of the play was produced by Bell Shakespeare,—to critical acclaim— in 2003 with a return season in 2004.

‘genuinely funny... It’s theatre at its purest’ The Australian

‘This production is as clever as it is accomplished, and a comic feast.’ The Age

The Servant of Two Masters is part of a new series,  CURRENCY CLASSICS,  which are  a series of Australian adaptations of classic plays.

To read an extract of The Servant of Two Masters go to this PDF

3F, 10M

Cast : 3F, 10M