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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'What of the women and girls who defy gender demarcations, who transgress the boundaries and restraints of social order and expectation?
'When a girl spits, or swears, or screams, or shouts, or pulls down her pants to moon someone from a car, or she laughs too loudly, or she’s too shrill, or she pulls up her t-shirt and flashes her tits, or she fights, really fights, head butts and with her fists, or she fucks too much or cuts her hair too short, and wears too much lipstick or none at all, or tells everyone she’s got a dick and she’s not a girl at all, all we want to do with this girl is lock her up and throw away the key. Out of control girls – angry, nasty girls – are a sight to behold. They’re terrifying, electrifying, they’re everything girls shouldn’t be, and we hate them.
'This is a work about these girls.
'Their names are Billy, Bobby and Sam.
'There’s not a single moment when the three young women transcend their ugliness. There’s no indication of a better, or in fact any, inner life. They don’t believe in anything. They’re mean, foul-mouthed, downtrodden, hard-bitten, utterly damaged women. They’re neither salt of the earth nor sexy. They love no one and no one loves them. They believe the world is shit, that their lives are shit, that they are shit.' (Production summary)
Adaptations
-
form
y
Shit
( dir. Susie Dee
et. al. )agent
Australia
:
Step Productions
,
2023
25961592
2023
single work
film/TV
'An uncompromising cinematic slap to the face from co-directors Trudy Hellier and Susie Dee, and writer, celebrated playwright Patricia Cornelius, the shattering new Australian conversation-starter SHIT is a psychological drama which unfolds over one long night of incarceration in a bleak holding cell.
'Caged for hours on end, tough-nuts Billy (Nicci Wilks), Bobby (Sarah Ward) and Sam (Peta Brady) slowly, uncertainly reveal their stories to each other. Theirs are stories of a lifetime of violence, of abuse, and of institutionalisation, and they’re all told with unsentimental, sometimes comical, and often gut-wrenching insight.'
Source: Inner West Film Festival.
Production Details
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Produced by the Melbourne Theatre Company. Performed at Southbank Theatre, The Lawler : 25 June-5 July 2015.
Director: Susie Dee.
Set & Costume Designer: Marg Horwell.
Lighting Designer: Rachel Burke.
Sound Designer: Anna Liebzeit.
Production/Stage Manager: Bec Moore.
Producer: Ebony Bott.
Cast: Peta Brady, Sarah Ward, and Nicci Wilks.
Performed at Sydney’s Seymour Centre 18-29 July 2017.
Produced by HotHouse Theatre, Albury-Wodonga, 17-21 July 2018.
Director: Susie Dee.
Set and Costume Designer: Marg Horwell.
Lighting Designer: Rachel Burke.
Composer: Anna Liebzeit.
Cast: Peta Brady, Sarah Ward, and Nicci Wilks.
Producer: Laura Milke-Garner.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Patricia Cornelius’s Love and Shit
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8-14 June 2019;'Love and Shit, an exhilarating double bill by Patricia Cornelius at fortyfivedownstairs, expose the uncomfortable realities of Australia’s underclass. In doing so, these plays remind us how vital theatre can be. By Alison Croggon.'
-
Children of the Tall Ships
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 77 no. 2 2018; (p. 178-182)'No rays of light sneaking long fingers across the pale skin of morning. Not at this time. Beyond the window glass the stars shone precision silver, dew casting a silvery skeen across thirsty grass. I’d lie awake in the darkness waiting to hear the cough of the Toyota bring the catch home and him with it. I’d learnt to wait for the fluorescent light to cast diamante warmth through the white double doors windowed by an earlier deco-age of artistic privacy. When opened, conversations drifted like song, bounced by high ceilings and slick laminate floors. But closed, sound muffled and could just be waves brought on the breeze from the beach to the east. Shoulders alert, chin lifted, I’d listen for the soft clang of tin pots and the fwooosh of running water, the throw of the salt, the patient silence of the boil, the frenzied clicking of the first batch thrown to fat bubbles.' (Introduction)
-
Bold as ‘SHIT’
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Monthly Blog , July 2017;'Susie Dee and Patricia Cornelius deliver the wake-up call Australian theatre needs.'
-
Review : Shit
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: ABR : Arts 2016; Australian Book Review , June-July no. 382 2016; (p. 39)
— Review of Shit 2015 single work drama -
In a World Without Dreams, Fusillades of F-words Offer the Best Defence
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 9 May 2016; (p. 14)
— Review of Shit 2015 single work drama
-
Inside Story of Women on Outer
2015
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 June 2015;
— Review of Shit 2015 single work drama -
In a World Without Dreams, Fusillades of F-words Offer the Best Defence
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 9 May 2016; (p. 14)
— Review of Shit 2015 single work drama -
Review : Shit
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: ABR : Arts 2016; Australian Book Review , June-July no. 382 2016; (p. 39)
— Review of Shit 2015 single work drama -
The Life In Them Words
2016
single work
essay
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , November 2016; -
Bold as ‘SHIT’
2017
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Monthly Blog , July 2017;'Susie Dee and Patricia Cornelius deliver the wake-up call Australian theatre needs.'
-
Children of the Tall Ships
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 77 no. 2 2018; (p. 178-182)'No rays of light sneaking long fingers across the pale skin of morning. Not at this time. Beyond the window glass the stars shone precision silver, dew casting a silvery skeen across thirsty grass. I’d lie awake in the darkness waiting to hear the cough of the Toyota bring the catch home and him with it. I’d learnt to wait for the fluorescent light to cast diamante warmth through the white double doors windowed by an earlier deco-age of artistic privacy. When opened, conversations drifted like song, bounced by high ceilings and slick laminate floors. But closed, sound muffled and could just be waves brought on the breeze from the beach to the east. Shoulders alert, chin lifted, I’d listen for the soft clang of tin pots and the fwooosh of running water, the throw of the salt, the patient silence of the boil, the frenzied clicking of the first batch thrown to fat bubbles.' (Introduction)
-
Patricia Cornelius’s Love and Shit
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 8-14 June 2019;'Love and Shit, an exhilarating double bill by Patricia Cornelius at fortyfivedownstairs, expose the uncomfortable realities of Australia’s underclass. In doing so, these plays remind us how vital theatre can be. By Alison Croggon.'
Awards
- 2017 winner Sydney Theatre Awards — Best New Australian Work
- 2017 nominated Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Mainstage Production
- 2016 winner Victorian Green Room Awards — Production : Theatre - Independent
- 2016 winner Victorian Green Room Awards — Writing : Theatre - Independent
- 2016 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards — Prize for Drama