Playwriting Australia

National Script Workshop 2007

The inaugural National Script Workshop was held in Canberra in June/July 2007.

Eight Australian playwrights workshopped their plays over two weeks with the help of a company of five directors, five dramaturgs and 20 actors.

The Bone Orchard by Richard Bladel
A naturalist drama about the rape of Tasmania's forests, and our democracy

The Black Madonna by Angela Chaplin and Kavisha Mazzella
Explores religious iconography, asylum and the arbitrary fortunes of history

Rock, Paper, Scissors by John Fraser
Set in a remote Scottish lighthouse; back-breakingly cruel and gut-wrenchingly funny

Sweet Thing by Verity Laughton
A delicate, poetic evocation of loss, chance and memory amongst a family of women

Savage River by Steve Rodgers
Takes us to super-remote Tasmanian wilderness via a kidnapping and some flighty characters on their way to a profound coming of age

The Man with the September Face by Kylie Trounson
Set in an outer Melbourne roller disco with songs by Ultravox and Spandau Ballet, houses burning down and some young people confronting the ?enz' of a very special era

Agnes Day by Greg Waters
An outback murder/suicide play with shotguns and motorbikes: Shepard meets My Brilliant Career

Yibiyung by Dallas Winmar
An epic journey of a black woman's stoicism, joy and heartbreak as she moves in and out of institutions and servitude
Yibiyung features in the Company B 2008 season at Belvoir St Theatre

Directors
Angela Chaplin, Wesley Enoch, Peter Evans, Catherine Fitzgerald, Clare Watson

Dramaturgs
Louise Gough, Leland Kean, Polly Rowe, Clare Watson, Carol Woodrow

Actors
Tony Briggs, Luke Carroll, Michaela Cantwell, Danielle Cormack, Robert Coleby, Maggie Dence, Russell Dykstra, Judi Farr, Russell Kiefel, Pete Michell, Luke Mullins, Ansuya Nathan, Josh Quong Tart, Kate Roberts, Toby Schmitz, George Shevtsov, Chris Stollery, Kath Tonkin, Ursula Yovich, Pauline Whyman

Supporters
Australian National University, Canberra Youth Theatre, Company B Belvoir, deckchair theatre, Jigsaw Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, The Swedish Writers' Fund ? The Playwrights' Committee, Sydney Theatre Company