AustLit
Latest Issues
Production Details
-
'Inside the Island' was first produced at the Nimrod Theatre, Sydney, 13 August 1980. 'The Precious Woman' was first produced by the Sydney Theatre Co., Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, 11 November 1980.
Contents
-
Inside the Island,
single work
drama
"In Nowra's play, images of whiteness, and of the haunting of white Australia by its violent past are given vivid metaphorical treatment. The play is in many ways a ghost story, illustrating the irruption of the past into the present. Set on a remote wheat property in western New South Wales in the summer of 1912, where a picnic/cricket-match is held amongst raw-recruit soldiers sent to this isolated spot on peacetime manoeuvres. The cricket ground itself had previously been an Aboriginal campsite, and was granted as a 'gift' to the government by the dead father of the property's current matriarch, Mrs Lillian Dawson. At their Captain's request, Lillian makes the men a gift of flour milled from wheat grown on the property, which is then made into bread for a picnic cricket match held by the soldiers. But when tragedy seems to strike, questions are asked about Lillian’s real intentions and her love for this island continent is questioned. Concerned with the mechanics of power and isolation, the inheritance of violence and dispossession, this is a stirring play looks at our own views of the land we inhabit and questions whether white Australia can ever escape it’s past when it still hides from it."
Source - The Precious Woman, single work drama (p. 96-186)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
On Stage and Page: Drama Reviews
1983
single work
review
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 11 no. 1 1983; (p. 89-100)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama ; Marx 1978 single work drama ; Kullark / The Dreamers 1982 selected work drama ; A Night in the Arms of Raeleen 1983 single work drama ; Sandy Lee Live at Nui Dat 1983 single work musical theatre ; Signal Driver : A Morality Play for the Times 1983 single work drama ; Netherwood 1983 single work drama ; Australasian Drama Studies vol. 1 no. 1 October 1982 periodical issue ; Australasian Drama Studies vol. 1 no. 2 April 1983 periodical issue ; Hold Fast to Dreams : Fifty Years in Theatre, Radio, Television and Books 1982 single work autobiography -
World's a Stage for Playwrights
1982
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 7 August 1982; (p. 15)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama -
Plays of Dense Power
1982
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 45 1982; (p. 25-26)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama
-
Plays of Dense Power
1982
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 45 1982; (p. 25-26)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama -
World's a Stage for Playwrights
1982
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 7 August 1982; (p. 15)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama -
On Stage and Page: Drama Reviews
1983
single work
review
— Appears in: LiNQ , vol. 11 no. 1 1983; (p. 89-100)
— Review of Inside the Island / The Precious Woman 1981 selected work drama ; Marx 1978 single work drama ; Kullark / The Dreamers 1982 selected work drama ; A Night in the Arms of Raeleen 1983 single work drama ; Sandy Lee Live at Nui Dat 1983 single work musical theatre ; Signal Driver : A Morality Play for the Times 1983 single work drama ; Netherwood 1983 single work drama ; Australasian Drama Studies vol. 1 no. 1 October 1982 periodical issue ; Australasian Drama Studies vol. 1 no. 2 April 1983 periodical issue ; Hold Fast to Dreams : Fifty Years in Theatre, Radio, Television and Books 1982 single work autobiography