Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Playlist
The following plays have been selected for study in 2015. This list should be used in conjunction
with requirements set out in the VCE Drama Study Design 20142018 and VCE Theatre Studies
Study Design 20142018.
Schools should use the information in this notice to select plays as required by Drama Unit 3 and
Theatre Studies Units 34 and make bookings in a prompt and timely manner.
Schools should be aware that plays may be withdrawn from the list. All financial arrangements
regarding attendance at Playlist performances are a matter for schools and theatre
companies/venues.
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Team of Life was devised from a methodology that uses sporting metaphors to help young people
overcome hardship. Informed by workshops with young refugees and Aboriginal youth, Team of
Life tells of their search for different kinds of freedom, dissolving the boundaries between sport,
theatre and identity.
Advice for schools and teachers: Team of Life is inspired by the real life story of David Nyuol
Vincent, a former child soldier. Schools are advised to contact the theatre company to discuss any
concerns they may have regarding this production.
February update:
Schools are advised that seats are available at the following schools Scotch College, Hawthorn,
2.30 pm Monday 23 February. To confirm places for this performance, please email
michael.waugh@scotch.vic.edu.au. These tickets are available at a cost of $10 per student, no
charge to teachers
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Advice for schools and teachers: Cut Snake contains some challenging themes and limited
swearing and language that some might find offensive. Schools are advised to contact the theatre
company to discuss any concerns they may have regarding this production.
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may be challenging for students. Teachers are advised to familiarise themselves with the treatment
of these issues and themes within the context and world of the play prior to students viewing the
play and/or studying the playscript. This might involve reading the playscript, talking with the
company, researching the playscript, the work of the playwright or company, attending a preview
performance and/or discussing the matter with the school administration. Information provided in
this notice about themes and/or language used in specific plays is a guide only.
Schools should note the advice provided regarding Kelly.
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1518 April, evenings and Saturday matinee, Geelong Performing Arts Centre
21 & 22 April, evenings, Whitehorse Centre Nunawading
24 April, evening, The Capital Bendigo
9 May, evening, Hawthorne Arts Centre
11 & 12 May, evenings & Matinee Gasworks Arts Park
14 May, matinee & evening, The Drum Theatre Dandenong
16 May, evening, Frankston Arts Centre
20 May, evening, Karralyka Centre Ringwood
21 May, evening, The Memo Healesville
23 May, evening, Esso BHP Billiton Wellington Entertainment Centre Sale
26 May, evening, West Gippsland Arts Centre
29 May, evening, Westside Performing Arts Centre, Shepparton
26 June, evenings, Hothouse Theatre Wodonga
Duration: 120 minutes
Ticket prices: tbc, determined by venues
Bookings: via venues
Script: Kelly by Matthew Ryan, Currency Press (in print)
Kelly offers a contemporary take on the well-documented and known story of the Kelly gang while
in parallel exploring the unravelling of the bond between Ned and Dan Kelly. Kelly is structured
around a duologue interspersed with movement and flashback. The form and style of the play
transport the audience into the confusion of Ned Kellys current state of mind. The majority of Kelly
is written in a naturalistic style, however the text breaks the fourth wall convention and incorporates
non-naturalistic elements, including magic realism and movement, to tell the back story of the
events as Ned and his brother Dan explore their different interpretations of the evens that lead to
Neds arrest at Glenrowan.
The play poses questions that engage the audience on different levels. Why did Dan Kelly choose
to come back and visit Ned? Why does he want his blessing? Does our opinion change is Ned
Kelly a hero or a victim of his own circumstance? Some answers are clearly stated, others are left
open for personal response. The performance styles incorporate theatrical playfulness, physical
theatre, integration of place and sequences and heightened reality. The use of colloquial, emotive
and imaginative language creates the distinctive voices of Ned and Dan Kelly.
Advice to schools and teachers: Kelly contains swearing and coarse language that some might
find offensive. The play also includes adult themes and sexual references. Schools are advised to
contact the theatre company to discuss any concerns they may have regarding this production.
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27 & 28 February, 8.00 pm, 2.00 pm & 8.00 pm, Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading
3 March, 8.00 pm, Wonthaggi Union Community Arts Centre
5 March, 8.00 pm, Portland Arts Centre
6 & 7 March, 8.00 pm, 2.00 pm & 8.00 pm, The Potato Shed, Drysdale
10 March, 8.00 pm, Frankston Arts Centre
11 March, 7.30 pm, Forge Theatre & Arts Hub, Bairnsdale
12 March, 8.00 pm, Her Majestys Theatre, Ballarat
13 & 14 March, 8.00 pm, The Capital Bendigos Performing Arts Centre
17 March, 7.30 pm, Harrison Theatre, Swan Hill
19 March, 8.00 pm, Ararat Performing Arts Centre
20 March, 8.00 pm, Hamilton Performing Arts Centre
21 March, 8.00 pm, Colac Otway Performing Arts & Cultural Centre
7 April, 8.00 pm, LaTrobe Performing Arts Centre, Traralgon
Tickets and bookings: via venue
Duration: 150 minutes
Script: The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour, Harper Collins
The One Day of the Year was written and produced before Australias Vietnam commitment, in a
time before Anzac Day held its current status. Memories of World War II, which only concluded
some 15 years before the play was written, were still raw in the minds of all adult Australians, and
survivors of both world wars were still plentiful. In this social context it took a lot of courage on
Seymours part to write a work that questioned the validity of the day and the celebrations typical of
those times. The play allows us to witness in dramatic form feelings about Anzac Day from the
perspective of a specific time and place in the past and thereby casts a thoughtful light on our
present attitude.
Within the hothouse atmosphere of a working class family of the time, these questions and
divisions are dramatically played out between father and son, husband and wife, young and old,
one generation and the next.
Now considered a classic Australian play, The One Day of the Year is a snapshot of a time in
recent history when new attitudes were awakened.
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theatrical world of the play will be enhanced through the set and costume design of The Sisters
Hayes as well as Jethro Woodwards sound design. The plays themes of private conviction over
political expediency are relevant and urgent for our society, and the play prompts the audience to
address their own belief systems as citizens and individuals.
Advice for schools and teachers: Antigone will feature occasional strong language appropriate
to the context of the scene and the play. Schools are advised to contact the theatre company to
discuss any concerns they may have regarding this production.
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6. Adventures in the Skin Trade by Dylan Thomas; adapted for the stage by Lucy
Gough with Theatr Iolo
Theatre Company: Theatr Iolo (Wales) at Arts Centre Melbourne
Season: Wednesday 5 AugustFriday 7 August 1.00 pm, Thursday 6 AugustSaturday 8
August 7.00 pm
Venue: Fairfax Studio, The Arts Centre Melbourne
Duration: 90 minutes
Ticket prices: students $18, one accompanying teacher free per 10 students in school
group bookings; individual bookings tickets $25
Bookings: performances@artscentremelbourne.com.au, Hannah Schneider (03) 9281
8582
An ensemble of six performers from Theatre Iolo will bring this unfinished novel by Dylan Thomas
to dramatic life and give it a contemporary feel. Samuel Bennett leaves his home in South Wales to
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pursue a career in London. Setting out with an attitude of reckless, nihilistic purpose, he
encounters a nightmarish city. A room full of furniture, an assortment of bizarre characters and an
embarrassing first sexual experience in a cold bath. Join Samuel as he meanders through this
dreamlike world, all with a beer bottle stuck on his little finger. Lucy Gough uses the device of three
female harpies to dramatise the voices and thoughts in Samuels head. Adventures in the Skin
Trade explores the themes of leaving home, youth, the beginning of adulthood, losing ones
virginity, being lost and coming to terms with the enormity of the world. The three stories that make
up Adventures in the Skin Trade vividly capture the madness and melodrama of youth, and the
wildness and passion that exemplifies Dylan Thomas.
The production design draws inspiration from some of the artists exhibited in a surrealist art
exhibition Dylan Thomas attended in London in the 1930s. Adventures in the Skin Trade takes
place in a variety of locations: a family home in Wales, a train toilet, a bar at Paddington Station,
the street, a second-hand junk shop, a bathroom, and various pubs and clubs. The audience will
witness Samuel Bennetts journey and experiences. The production will feature aspects of physical
theatre, accompanied by a contemporary music score intercut with 1930s jazz music.
Advice for schools and teachers: The themes of this production are not suitable for younger
students and as such it will available to Senior Secondary students (Years 10 to 12) only. Schools
are advised to contact Arts Centre Melbourne to discuss any concerns they may have regarding
this production.
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