Anna Bishop, the rebellious wife of the English 'Mozart', Henry Bishop, eloped in 1839 with the dissolute French harpist Nicholas Bochsa and began an adventure lasting forty years. She and her lover survived shipwreck, bandits, cholera outbreaks and civil wars while singing in the world's great opera houses and in makeshift venues at the outposts of ‘civilisation’.

A captivating localised history of the most popular and accessible musical instrument in the country. Based on ten years of extensive research and interviews with players, this book also includes an Australian harmonica discography and fascinating illustrations.

Looks at the work of women in theatre who express feminist ideas in a variety of forms. Tait identifies how women’s work adopts both comic and physical styles, and how it is often performed in unusual spaces, necessitating a redefinition of feminist theatre.

Eight frank confessions by eight prizewinning arts journalists, delving into their individual ways of thinking. Roger Covell writes on concerts; Bruce Elder on popular music; Sandra Hall on film; Marion Halligan on literature; John McCallum on theatre; Cyrus Meher-Homji on recordings; Joanna Mendelssohn on art; and Alan Saunders on food.

A collection of writings and commentary from Australia’s foremost theatre writer and Currency Press founder.

Not Wrong Just Different traces the development of theatre in Australia from the time that Katharine Brisbane joined the staff of the Australian in mid 1967 right up to today’s state of the performing arts.

From Brecht to Barry Humphries, from Chekhov to Patrick White, Katherine Brisbane’s lucid account of Australian theatre is presented comprehensively in this original collection.

Shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award for 2006.

Also available in Hardback.

This groundbreaking cultural history of Shakespearean production in Australia gives an overview of his part in the cultural evolution of the nation during the past 200 years. From early, improvised performances to the Bell Shakespeare Company today, the book traces how practitioners and audiences have clung to, exploited and finally discarded ties with Britain. Australia’s appropriation of Shakespeare is now being exported back to Stratford and the world in the work of directors like Baz Luhrmann.

A unique collection of Australian performance pieces. Includes texts by Sydney Front, Jenny Kemp ( The Call of the Wild), Kooemba Jdarra, Tasdance/That Was Fast, Margaret Cameron, Sidetrack Performance Group, Doppio Teatro, Kinetic Energy Theatre Company, Entr’Acte, Legs on the Wall, Ex-Stasis Theatre Collective and All Out Ensemble.

Ron Blair's first volume of short plays includes:

John Romeril: The Accidental Poke
An exuberant music hall pastiche set in C.J. Dennis' Melbourne. To avoid the attentions of a fortune hunter, a virtous daughter is married off to the monocle-flaunting swell, Horace Dargie-Quintet. Too late they all learn the horrible truth.
Cast: 3F, 2M

Michael Cove: Family Lore
These Jewish Parents are not particularly devout, but their traditions are alive. When the kids decide to lead different lives, their mother and father remember the certainties that shaped their own and try to come to terms with the realisation that the expectation of parents are not always those of their children.
Cast: 2F, 2M

Ron Blair: A Place in the Present
An unlikely past is re-lived briefly by three people who meet by chance at a railway station. This bizarre comedy, touching on the impulse of love and the reality of marriage, focusses on a headmistress, an escapologist and a meths drinker.
Cast: 2F, 3M

Philip Ryall: T he Centenarian
Shirl and her husband have had a difficult time for years looking after Shirl's Gran, who is now only a few hours away from her 100th birthday. The cake is ready and the telegrams start coming, but will Gran go along with it all? Here is a truly black comedy of suburban frustration.
Cast: 2F, 1M

Timothy Daly: The Don's Last Innings
At John and Marjorie's house it is still 1948 and after tea every evening Don Bradman goes in to bat for Australia. Beneath its quirky humour, this ingenious play examines how a woman is coerced into a lifetime of indulging her husband's fantasies.
Cast: 1F, 1M

Ron Blair's second volume of short plays includes:

John Mulligan: The Sex Life of Snails
Daisy and her husband have a perfect marriage. After five years of bliss they are still completely unfaithful. It wasn't easy at first but fidelity can be overcome by the practice of self-control. A comedy about what is good for the goose.
Cast: 2F, 1M

Gordon Graham: Innocent Bystanders
Two cargo packers at Sydney Airport are overcome by a trio of stowaway terrorists who think they have arrived in Argentina. A comedy thriller in which the terrorists prove as muddled as their victims.
Cast: 1F, 1M

John Summons: The Coroner's Report
Irene works hard and lives alone after her mother's death. She is one of life's aunties. But why is she telling her story to this unknown man? His questions, some of them harsh and prurient, make for a gripping and grim interrogation.
Cast: 1F, 1M

Pamela van Amstel: Late Arrivals
People have their own reasons for going to Brolga Point: a lost housewife, a destitute boy, a ranting old deadbeat. Then two pill-popping teenagers arrive, looking for action. With this cross-section of rejects the author develops her theme of isolation.
Cast: 3F, 2M

Mil Perrin: Is This Where We Came In?
Alan is delivered to Carole's place. He is a demonstration model with only 150 hours in 'service'. The only trouble is, he has a major defect. Still, Carole has taken a liking to him and so have the other girls...
3F, 1M

An original study of the social and symbolic meaning of food in films and plays, from the Danish Babette’s Feast to the Japanese Tampopo. Poole examines how food creates opportunities for drama and comedy, and how it communicates complex details about class, emotional states and gender, as well as embodying metaphors for the meaning of life.