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Who's Afraid of the Working Class? single work   drama   - 18 scenes
Issue Details: First known date: 1998... 1998 Who's Afraid of the Working Class?
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Adaptations

form y separately published work icon Blessed Andrew Bovell , Patricia Cornelius , Melissa Reeves , Christos Tsiolkas , ( dir. Ana Kokkinos ) Australia : Blessed Film Productions Head Gear Films Wildheart Zizani Screen Australia Film Victoria , 2009 Z1608662 2009 single work film/TV

Seven children wander the streets of Melbourne at night, while their mothers await their return.

Notes

  • Four stories are interwoven throughout the play. Andrew Bovell wrote Trash; Melissa Reeves, Dream-Town; Patricia Cornelius, Money; and Christos Tsiolkas, Suit. Irine Vela wrote the musical score.

Production Details

  • First performed by Melbourne Workers Theatre at the Victorian Trades Hall, Melbourne on 1 May 1998.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 1998

Works about this Work

Class, Rage, and Staging the Revolution : Tsiolkas's Theatre Dave Burton , Jessica Gildersleeve , Kathryn Kelly , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Antipodes , vol. 35 no. 1 2021; (p. 53-65)

'From 1996 to 2002, the renowned Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas worked collaboratively with the Melbourne playwrights Andrew Bovell, Patricia Cornelius, and Melissa Reeves and the musician Irine Vela to write Who’s Afraid of the Working Class? (1998) and Fever (2002) for the Melbourne Workers Theatre. While Tsiolkas’s prose work is the subject of extensive study, these collaborative and highly successful plays are largely ignored, despite their undisputed influence on the subsequent Australian theatrical canon and the light they shed on his broader oeuvre. In this article, we posit that these two theatrical works draw on Tsiolkas’s political rage to deliberately challenge Australians’ perceptions of class warfare by problematizing political ideology through the exploration of race and religion. A historical context of Australian playwriting is provided and positions Tsiolkas as a key contributor in bringing queer and immigrant experiences from the margin to the center of Australian stages. Tsiolkas’s key contributions to both theatrical works are discussed in detail, and the implicit calls for revolution in the plays are put in the larger context of his career and its political and social preoccupations, including the themes of his later, more commercial works. The authors’ arguments are framed in notions of Tsiolkas provocatively calling for a revolution within Australian national identity.' (Publication abstract)

The Ties That Bind : The Making of Blessed Jim Mitchell , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: FilmInk , 4 August 2017; FilmInk , 20 May 2019;
Family Lally Katz , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Andrew Bovell : The Alchemy of Collaboration 2015; (p. 23-27)
A Lesson in Subterfuge Patricia Cornelius , 2015 single work essay
— Appears in: Andrew Bovell : The Alchemy of Collaboration 2015; (p. 5-9)
The Follies Bizarre : Australia's Political Theatre Michael Connor , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , March vol. 52 no. 3 2008; (p. 22-28)
Gargoyles and Gore Thérèse Radic , 2000 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 226 2000; (p. 23-24)

— Review of Selected Plays Jack Hibberd , 2000 selected work drama ; Melbourne Stories : Three Plays Andrew Bovell , Belinda Bradley , Raimondo Cortese , 2000 anthology single work drama ; Who's Afraid of the Working Class? Andrew Bovell , Patricia Cornelius , Melissa Reeves , Christos Tsiolkas , 1998 single work drama ; Polly Blue Belinda Bradley , 2000 single work drama ; Features of Blown Youth Raimondo Cortese , 1997 single work drama
Still Lives Christos Tsiolkas , 2005 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Author , August vol. 37 no. 2 2005; (p. 6-7)
Politics, Faith and Sex Patricia Cornelius (interviewer), 2005 single work interview
— Appears in: Overland , Summer no. 181 2005; (p. 18-25)
Funny Politics John Romeril (interviewer), 2006 single work interview
— Appears in: Storyline , Winter no. 15 2006; (p. 9-11)
'Class' and Political Theatre: The Case of Melbourne Workers Theatre Glenn D'Cruz , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: New Theatre Quarterly , August vol. 31 no. 3 2005; (p. 207-217)
The Follies Bizarre : Australia's Political Theatre Michael Connor , 2008 single work criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , March vol. 52 no. 3 2008; (p. 22-28)
Last amended 29 Apr 2014 10:10:15
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