| 1. Introducing the plays |
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Norm and Ahmed and Rooted (first performed in 1968 and 1969) are the two earliest plays of a playwright who has established himself as one of the most gifted of that younger generation of Australian writers attracted to the theatre in the late 1960s
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| 2. Norm and Ahmed |
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Norm and Ahmed is a particularly good example of Buzo's desire to move away from 'the well-plotted, well-made exposition-climax-denouement kind of form into a new and freer style'. In this one-actor there is no plot, in any conventional sense, and very li
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| 3. Rooted |
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Rooted, even more than Norm and Ahmed, offers bizarre images, comic distortions of reality, in order to make us think about the situations of its characters and about the issues which their absurd behaviour raises. Like Norm and Ahmed, the play lacks a pl
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| 4. The critics' view |
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Extracts from press reviews of Norm and Ahmed and Rooted in Australia, the United States and England.
Griffen Foley, Daily Telegraph, 10 April 1968
Buzo has something real and immediate to say about Australian attitudes. He makes t
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| 5. Questions for discussion |
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1. Buzo has often said that he does not think of himself primarily as a playwright with a social message for his audience: 'I am not a social writer in that I'm not just writing about Australia.' What bearing does this view have on your und
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