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y separately published work icon The Golden Age single work   drama   - Two acts
Issue Details: First known date: 1980... 1980 The Golden Age
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'In 1939, a lost tribe of Europeans was discovered in the Tasmanian wilderness. They were a band of outcasts who had escaped the torture of convict life, scratching out an existence at the forgotten edge of the island, alone for almost a century.

'Inspired by this true story, writer Louis Nowra (Cosi, Radiance) penned The Golden Age – an extraordinary play that blends historical fact, Australian folklore and poetic language to create a post-colonial myth for our times. Nowra’s outcasts have developed a culture and dialect all of their own, but their bodies are failing them and their very existence is in danger. Brought back into the fold of Australian society, what fate awaits this band of exiles?'

Source: Sydney Theatre Company (2016 revival).

Notes

  • Dedication: In memory of Marvin Gaye
  • Epigraph: There are moments when speech is but a mouth pressed lightly and humbly against the angel's hand. James Merrill
  • Play with music.

Production Details

  • First produced by the Playbox Theatre Co., Studio Theatre, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, 8 February 1985.

    Director: Neil Armfield.

    Composer: Sarah de Jong.


    Has also been produced abroad.


    Performed at Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Walsh Bay 19 : 14 January - 20 February 2016.

    Director: Kip Williams.

    Designer: David Fleischer.

    Composer & Sound Designer: Max Lyandvert.

    Lighting Designer: Damien Cooper.

    Dramaturg: Paige Rattray.

    With Rarriwuy Hick, Remy Hii, Brandon McClelland, Robert Menzies, Liam Nunan, Zindzi Okenyo, Sarah Peirse, Anthony Taufa, and Ursula Yovich.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • s.l.,: s.n. , 1980-1985 .
      Extent: 96p.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • Notes and drafts for 'The Golden Age.'
      • Handwritten.

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: F2451
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press ; Playbox Theatre , 1985 .
      image of person or book cover 499250832315273809.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 54p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0868191183.
      Series: Current Theatre Series Currency Press (publisher), 1983- series - publisher 'Current Theatre Series consists of Australian plays published with the program inserted and sold during theatre seasons. The aim of the series is to promote and encourage new dramatic writing and make it accessible to theatregoers and the public. The text is presented at the first day of rehearsal and does not contain changes which the author may choose to make after the play has commenced its present season - these will be incorporated into any new edition published by Currency.' Currency Press.
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australia Plays : New Australian Drama Katharine Brisbane (editor), London : Nick Hern Books , 1989 Z866193 1989 anthology drama (taught in 8 units) London : Nick Hern Books , 1989
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 1989 .
      image of person or book cover 6364678971415543103.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: xviii, 85pp.
      Edition info: Second edition.
      Description: illus.
      Reprinted: 1992
      Note/s:
      • Introduction by Gerry Turcotte.
      ISBN: 0868192341
      Series: Currency Plays Currency Press (publisher), series - publisher
Alternative title: ゴールデン・エイジ
Transliterated title: Gōruden eiji /
Language: Japanese

Other Formats

  • Also braille, sound recording.

Works about this Work

Fool's Gold and Louis Nowra's Golden Age Michael Connor , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Quadrant , April vol. 60 no. 4 2016; (p. 98-100)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
The Golden Age Review – Tasmania's Lost Tribe Challenges Notions of Primitivism Monica Tan , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 21 January 2016;

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
Complex Questioning of Australian Culture Jason Blake , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 21 January 2016; (p. 31)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
Worlds Collide and Wilderness Rules in Revival of a Genuine Classic John McCallum , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 21 January 2016; (p. 13)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
Lost Tribe's Timely Return Elissa Blake , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 16-17 January 2016; (p. 12)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
[Review] The Golden Age Peter Fitzpatrick , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 7 1985; (p. 139-144)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
The Golden Age of Louis Nowra Dawns Brian Hoad , 1987 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 25 August vol. 109 no. 5584 1987; (p. 119)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
[Review] The Golden Age Geoffrey Hutton , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 February 1985; (p. 8)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
[Review] The Golden Age A. Jach , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: National Times , 22-28 February 1985; (p. 32)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
[Review] The Golden Age L. Radic , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 12 February 1985; (p. 14)

— Review of The Golden Age Louis Nowra , 1980 single work drama
Counter-Imperialism in Louis Nowra's The Golden Age Donald Pulford , 2001 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies in the 21st Century 2001; (p. [204]-209)
'Perfecting the Monologue of Silence' : An Interview with Louis Nowra Gerry Turcotte (interviewer), 1987 single work interview
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 9 no. 3 1987; (p. 51-67) The AustLit Anthology of Criticism 2010; (p. 48)
Staging Otherness in Mainstream Australasian and Canadian Dramaturgies Marc Maufort , 2003 single work criticism
— Appears in: Transgressive Itineraries : Postcolonial Hybridizations of Dramatic Realism 2003; (p. 27-79)
Section III of this chapter is entitled 'Alienating Naturalism : Louis Nowra's Dramatury'.
A Re-Vision of Australian Culture in Louis Nowra's The Golden Age Usha Kalyani , 2004 single work criticism
— Appears in: Cultural Interfaces 2004; (p. 70-76)
'This paper examines Nowra's The Golden Age, which presents a complex and searching dramatisation of Australian culture. As it makes bold cultural statements about Australia's convict and Aboriginal heritage, it addresses the larger issues of what is culture and how one could aspire for it. '
Jack Davis and the Drama of Aboriginal History Brian Crow , Chris Banfield , 1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: An Introduction to Post-Colonial Theatre 1996; (p. 61-77)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:43:25
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