AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 2981837560777742059.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.
y separately published work icon Children of the Black Skirt single work   drama   young adult   - One act
Issue Details: First known date: 2003... 2003 Children of the Black Skirt
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.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Three lost children stumble across an abandoned orphanage in the bush. they become trapped in a timeless world, haunted by spirits from the past. They are tormented, too, by the black skirt, a cruel governess who floats up and down the orphanage corridors wielding enormous scissors. But as the stories of these forgotten children are told - from pickpocketing incidents in the eighteenth century to the tragedies of the Stolen Generations in the twentieth - their spirits are released, one by one.

Children of the Black Skirt is a gothic fairytale with bite. Roald Dahl meets Charles Dickens under the harsh Australian sun, as Angela Betzien explores Australia's history and the healing power of storytelling.

'This work explores incredibly important aspects of the Australian history and is rapidly becoming cult viewing for young audiences across Australia through its schools' touring and main stage exposure' Sally Chance, Come Out Festival Director.

Source: Currency Press Publication

Exhibitions

9798458
10076638
12925340

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teaching notes available on AustLit

Notes

  • Dedication: This play is dedicated to children who have lived in institutions.

Production Details

  • 2003

    Developed by Real TV and produced by Queensland Arts Council. First toured through regional and metropolitan Queensland high schools in 2003.

  • 2005:

    Production at Queensland Theatre Company, Brisbane, Queensland.

    Production Date: Yet to be traced.

  • 2009

    Return season 13-14 August 2009 at the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Abbotsford Convent.

  • 2007:

    Production at Menzies Theatre, Bundoora, Victoria

    24th-28th of September

  • 2015

    Production at Mt Barker Town Hall, Mount Barker, Adelaide.

    13th of March

    Production at Goolwa Centenary Hall,Goolwa, Adelaide.

    14th of March

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

First known date: 2003
    • Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2005 .
      image of person or book cover 2981837560777742059.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: [xviii], 61p.p.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Includes teachers' notes written by Adrianne Jones and Michael Boyle.
      ISBN: 0868197602
      Series: Currency Teenage Drama Currency Teenage Series Currency Press (publisher), 1995 series - publisher

Works about this Work

Australian Gothic Drama : Mapping a Nation's Trauma from Convicts to the Stolen Generation Stephen Carleton , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , June no. 66 2015; (p. 11-39)
Australian Gothic : Theatre and the Northern Turn Stephen Carleton , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 27 no. 2 2012; (p. 51-67)
'This essay traces the recent scholarship on the prominence of a Gothic sensibility in Australian literary and cinema cultures, and argues that theatre has somehow been left out of this discussion of the genre...'(From author's introduction)
Children of the Black Skirt Sarah Lockwood , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Lowdown , December vol. 31 no. 6 2009; (p. 18)

— Review of Children of the Black Skirt Angela Betzien , 2003 single work drama
Scaring the Kids 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 August 2009; (p. 12)
White Crocodile, Black Skirt : Theatre for Young People and Cultural Memory Helen Strube , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 47 2005; (p. 55-72)
The essay 'observes how theatre for young people has the capacity to move young people beyond the fictions of past cultural narratives.' It explores how two plays 'seek to recover suppressed stories from Australian cultural history' (56).
Children of the Black Skirt Sarah Lockwood , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Lowdown , December vol. 31 no. 6 2009; (p. 18)

— Review of Children of the Black Skirt Angela Betzien , 2003 single work drama
White Crocodile, Black Skirt : Theatre for Young People and Cultural Memory Helen Strube , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 47 2005; (p. 55-72)
The essay 'observes how theatre for young people has the capacity to move young people beyond the fictions of past cultural narratives.' It explores how two plays 'seek to recover suppressed stories from Australian cultural history' (56).
Scaring the Kids 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 11 August 2009; (p. 12)
Australian Gothic : Theatre and the Northern Turn Stephen Carleton , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , vol. 27 no. 2 2012; (p. 51-67)
'This essay traces the recent scholarship on the prominence of a Gothic sensibility in Australian literary and cinema cultures, and argues that theatre has somehow been left out of this discussion of the genre...'(From author's introduction)
Australian Gothic Drama : Mapping a Nation's Trauma from Convicts to the Stolen Generation Stephen Carleton , 2015 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , June no. 66 2015; (p. 11-39)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 14:42:13
X