AustLit logo
Ben Ellis Ben Ellis i(A3991 works by)
Born: Established: Gippsland, Victoria, ;
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 1 The Armour Ben Ellis , 2015 single work drama

'Playwright Ben Ellis, winner of The Langham 1865 Writer in Residence Award delivers a site specific drama about the lasting and changing effects of empire, set in different eras. Audiences will be transported throughout the hotel witnessing stories that explore power, luxury, fragility and intimacy.' (Production summary)

1 Story of the Red Mountains Ben Ellis , 2012 single work drama '"I wasn't sure what to prepare. So there's a little bit of wine and a little bit of cheese. But given that you're all members of the Party, I tried making some punch with borscht and vodka instead of champagne. As far as the wine goes, don't worry, it's all red. Claret. I hope you enjoy yourselves."

22 September 1951. A group of communists and sympathisers gather in preparation for the result of the anti-Communist referendum. Written for NIDA by award-winning playwright, Ben Ellis, and under the direction London's Theatre503 co-artistic director Tim Roseman, Story of the Red Mountains explores politics, isolation and violence.' (Source NIDA website)
1 Ben Ellis' : Provocative Homecoming Ben Ellis , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: NIDA News , December vol. 29 no. 2011; (p. 29)
1 Unrestless Ben Ellis , 2011 single work drama
1 1 The Captive Ben Ellis , 2010 single work drama '"The Captive" is a stark and poetic tale of the dispossessed struggling to find a homeland, and the savagery with which they impose their ideas of civilisation on an ancient land and its people. How far will a man go to call a place "home"? In a land of immigrants, who are the dispossessed? 1840. A ship is wrecked on the uncharted coast of colonial Australia. On evidence of a female survivor, Angus Mitchell, an enterprising Scottish immigrant, is employed to search for her amongst the Aboriginal tribes of a wild and foreign land, beyond the new boundaries of his own civilisation. But does a savage land turn a man savage? And what exactly is Mitchell hunting for? A real woman, a myth or some kind of redemption? As the search becomes ever more desperate, Mitchell must choose between his humanity and the land he desperately seeks to make his home.' Source: http://australianplays.org/ (Sighted 30/10/2012).
1 2 Poet #7 Ben Ellis , 2006 single work drama

'With one story uniting four different time-lines told with rhythmic surety and an elegant narrative design, Poet #7 is a CSI of the heart, a play about love in all its bewildering forms, a lo-fi sci-fi vision of beautiful mutation and apocalyptic flight.

'A young librarian in love for the first time and last time, a poet racing through a war-torn landscape to deliver an urgent message, a social worker unraveling the mysteries of a stranger she must eulogise, a businessman infatuated with his boss's daughter, and the billions that can be made from the military application of his GM crop.'

Source: The Arts Centre website, http://www.theartscentre.com.au/
Sighted: 18/05/2009

1 The Wall Project Tee O'Neill , Ben Ellis , Tom Wright , 2005 single work drama A collaborative writing project looking at the idea of a wall and its metaphors. 'Ellis uses the Middle East as a setting, in a scene where a boy has a bomb strapped to his body, in what Bendall says is a snapshot of community reaction to a wall appearing in the middle of a zoo. Wright deals with convicts being transported to Botany Bay while O'Neill examines the global sex trade in a thriller setting, with questions about the divide between the first and third worlds....Her script examines the plight of an East European sex slave, inspired by a story she heard while a drama student in London 20 years ago.' 'Tearing Down the Walls', The Age, 31 May 2005.
1 It's Bob Not Ben Ben Ellis , 2005 single work correspondence
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22-23 December 2005; (p. 22)
Ben Ellis points out that he is mistakenly confused with writer Bob Ellis in Bruce Elder's review of Katharine Brisbane's Not Wrong Just Different.
1 3 Metamorphosis Ben Ellis , 2005 single work drama 'This play is set in the idealised suburb of Sanctuary Vale, forty minutes from anywhere. Gregor Samsa has just awoken from a night of uneasy dreams to find himself transformed into a giant beetle.' www.sydneytheatre.com.au/stcenews/2005/october.html (Sighted 05/10/2005)
1 2 y separately published work icon These People Ben Ellis , 2003 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2004 Z1050214 2003 single work drama (taught in 1 units)
1 5 y separately published work icon Falling Petals Ben Ellis , Sydney : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2003 Z1004177 2003 single work drama satire science fiction
1 4 360 Positions in a One Night Stand Ben Ellis , Veronica Gleeson , Nick Marchand , Tommy Murphy , Emma Vuletic , 2002 single work drama
1 Pecking Order Ben Ellis , 2002 single work drama
1 The Butterfly House Ben Ellis , 2002 single work drama
1 Eclipses Ben Ellis , 2002 series - author drama
1 Loading Zone Ben Ellis , 2002 single work drama
1 y separately published work icon Svetlana in Slingbacks [and] Post Felicity Valentina Levkowicz , Ben Ellis , Strawberry Hills : Currency Press Playbox Theatre , 2002 Z1004166 2002 selected work drama
1 Outpatients Ben Ellis , 2001 single work drama humour
1 1 Post Felicity Who Are You, Mr James? Ben Ellis , 2000 single work drama satire
— Appears in: Svetlana in Slingbacks [and] Post Felicity 2002; (p. 59-99)
1 Nanna i "she is a casserole dish in exile", Ben Ellis , 1995 single work poetry
— Appears in: Social Alternatives , April vol. 14 no. 2 1995; (p. 14)
X