Description

As protestors against the war in Vietnam march in Australian streets, it is the end of the school year and boys in a Catholic school prepare for their final exams. The cadets plan their regimental dinner and the Colonel will attend. Dominic Connolly, a talented, passionate and committed opponent of the war chooses this time to stage a personal demonstration. His action leads him to the school's infirmary and in this place of healing he must 'confront and reconcile his impulse for freedom with the need for responsibility, to choose a life of conformity or rebellion and weigh the consequences.' Bob Evans, Sydney Morning Herald

‘The play deals with a time so important that many believe it to have been the most significant epochal change of the twentieth century… It affected its generation at a deeply personal level, not simply because of youth and the threat of conscription and the new media-induced closeness of the war, but because the moral and political issues seemed so immediate and yet so difficult to fight for.’—John McCallum, Australian

Biography

Nick Enright

NICK ENRIGHT (1950–2003) trained for the theatre at New York University School of Arts after early experience in Australia including with Nimrod and MTC. He was an actor, director and teacher as well as a writer. His plays include On the Wallaby, Daylight Saving, St James Infirmary, Mongrels, A Property of the Clan, The Quartet from Rigoletto, Blackrock, Good Works, Spurboard and A Man with Five Children. With Justin Monjo he adapted Tim Winton's Cloudstreet for the stage. He has also written for film and television, including co-writing with George Miller the screenplay for Lorenzo's Oil which was nominated for an Oscar. He has written a number of musicals including The Venetian Twins and Summer Rain with composer Terence Clarke. He wrote the book for the Australian production of The Boy From Oz. Among many awards were two Green Room Awards for Best Play, and four Gold AWGIE Awards, the 1998 Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and the NSW Premiers' Special Award. As well as being a prolific writer, Enright was a noted acting teacher, particularly at NIDA and WAAPA.