AustLit

'One of the characters in this political family drama sums up the crisis in Sri Lanka in 1957, when the United National Party proposed removing Tamil as a language and adopting a Sinhala-only policy, as “two languages, one country; one language, two countries”.'  (Introduction)

'This show, coming on the 30th anniversary of Kim Carpenter’s Theatre of Image, is subtitled A Love Story Bound by Art, but it is more a breathless mixed-media documentary. It relates, in brief flashes, some of the principal events in Brett and Wendy Whiteley’s long life together, especially Brett’s painting and his addictions.' (Introduction) 

'What a weekend it is for Lara. She is a dancer doing a three-week job in Cairns when she gets a call from one of her sons in Sydney saying that their father, Simon, hasn’t been home and they’ve run out of food. She flies down to see “what the f..k” is going on.' (Introduction)

'This is a highly original and quite thrilling adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s 1800 play. It reminds us that when we revive a classic we should not ask how we do justice to it, but what’s in it for us. Kate Mulvany has taken this epic tragedy about the conflict between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots and turned it on its head.' (Introduction) 

'Mary Rachel Brown’s new play suggests that addiction can in different ways affect us all.'

'The annual potato race at the Appleton show is dominated by the men. It is a race that involves running while carrying a sack of potatoes. The money prize for the men is five times the amount for the women’s race.' (Introduction)

'On one level this is a comedy about a group of mismatched women who go on a camping trip and spend a lot of time squabbling before settling into their sleeping bags. There’s the professional one, the successful artist, the struggling single mother, the country one and the teenager with her headphones. They have been brought together by an older leader, Neecy, who wants them to bond with each other.' (Introduction)

'This brilliant, moving and often very funny production is deceptively simple at first. It is domestic, suburban and in some ways quite old-fashioned. It is about family and love, about adult children moving on and parents letting go, or not. But in the hands of playwright Andrew Bovell and director Neil Armfield, two of our greatest theatre artists, it is a transforming experience.' (Introduction)

'Van Badham’s new play, directed by Jessica Arthur, is a cheerful farce about sexual harassment, internet trolling and sexual predation, if you can imagine such a thing. If you can’t, then you should see it because it is very funny.' (Introduction)