AustLit
Latest Issues
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
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
Works about this Work
-
Australian Gothic Drama : Mapping a Nation's Trauma from Convicts to the Stolen Generation
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , June no. 66 2015; (p. 11-39) -
Australian Gothic : Theatre and the Northern Turn
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
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Lowdown , December vol. 31 no. 6 2009; (p. 18)
— Review of Children of the Black Skirt 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
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
2009
single work
review
— Appears in: Lowdown , December vol. 31 no. 6 2009; (p. 18)
— Review of Children of the Black Skirt 2003 single work drama -
White Crocodile, Black Skirt : Theatre for Young People and Cultural Memory
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
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
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , June no. 66 2015; (p. 11-39)
- 1790s
- 1800-1899
- 1900-1999
- Bush,