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Ash Flanders Ash Flanders i(A131860 works by)
Also writes as: Sisters Grimm
Gender: Male
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Works By

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1 2 This Is Living Ash Flanders , 2023 single work drama

'Falling apart can bring you together.

'Check your emotional baggage at the door because this self-described gang of queers, singles, and divorcees is going on holiday. Hugh has organised a fabulous weekend away for his partner and their best girlfriends in Hepburn’s finest to escape a year from hell. But even deli meats, medicinal hydroponics and soaking in spring water can’t fix everything. Try as you might to float on the surface, life has a funny way of bubbling up—and over.

'Writer Ash Flanders is notorious for crafting caustic comedy that makes you laugh ‘til you hurt, only this time he’s gone somewhere completely unexpected… the real world. This semi-autobiographical play is the saltiest, sweetest, and most honest look at love and friendship you’ll see.

'Because when shit hits the fan it’s your chosen family who’ll clean you up—once they’ve stopped laughing. So pack an overnighter and enjoy the only safe seat on a getaway you won’t want to get away from. This Is Living!'

Source: Malthouse Theatre.

1 y separately published work icon End of Ash Flanders , 2022 Strawberry Hills : Currency Press , 2022 23508641 2022 single work drama

'There’s no crueler thing you can say to an actor than ‘Don’t quit your day job’. Fortunately, thanks to cover bands and theatre restaurants, Ash Flanders never needed one. But after years of glittering appearances on stages and in school gyms across the country, Ash unceremoniously finds himself seated at a computer terminal in a decidedly un-sparkly corporate office. No longer an acclaimed playwright and performer, Ash is now a legal transcriptionist—typing the words of suspected criminals who are not nearly as fascinating as TV suggested.

'As Ash painstakingly types out the narratives of petty crims, he begins to interrogate his own poor choices. That thing he did in an abandoned carpark. The visit to the horse knackery. Those people at the old folks home. All of it in service of one thing: making people laugh.

'But as his own transcript unravels, Ash realises it’s about making her laugh. His toughest audience. A heavy-drinking, chain-smoking behemoth named Heather Flanders. And her health is getting so dire it’s, well… laughable.'

Source: Griffin.

1 S.S. Metaphor Ash Flanders , 2021 single work drama

'Welcome aboard the luxury cruise liner S.S. Metaphor! Sure, this glittering ode to freedom, adventure, and endless possibility is stuck at sea, but as top tier passengers you’ll be none the wiser about troubles back home... or even below deck! Just slip on a kaftan or linen slack, sip your mai tai and kick up your heels as the world-class cabaret duo Cruise Control croon your cares away. Remember—it’s all about you!'

Source: Malthouse Theatre.

1 3 Lilith : The Jungle Girl Sisters Grimm , 2016 single work drama

'Theatrical wunderkinds Sisters Grimm, creators of the sell-out, award-winning NEON Festival hit The Sovereign Wife, take audiences on an epic, genre-defying journey.

'When a young wild girl is captured in the rainforests of Borneo, all of Holland is set abuzz. The year is 1861, and pioneering neuroscientist Charles Penworth is called upon to raise the child from the pit of her animal nature. But as Lilith learns to tame her feral heart and live amongst the glitterati of colonial Amsterdam, she begins to wonder, who, indeed, is the real savage?

'Theatrical wunderkinds Sisters Grimm, creators of the sell-out, award-winning NEON Festival hit The Sovereign Wife, take audiences on an epic, genre-defying journey – equal parts The Elephant Man and She’s All That.

'With the title role played by Ash Flanders, star of MTC’s one-man comedy Buyer and Cellar, this bold new piece promises to be as mind-altering and caustically funny as all of Sisters Grimm’s work to date.' (Production summary)

1 Ash Flanders Ash Flanders , 2016 single work correspondence
— Appears in: Signed, Sealed, Delivered : From Women of Letters 2016; (p. 203-207)

Wow. Does it feel weird to be getting a letter from me? It feels weird to write one. Back in the day I wrote letters to a lot of my other friends from camp, but you and I never did — I wonder why? Maybe the strength of our connection called for something more immediate, present and live. Or maybe a penpal relationship with someone in your own suburb seemed unimaginably stupid, even to kids. At any rate, I can still remember that first phone call. It was after school and I was halfway through my regular ABC afternoon marathon of The Ferals:, Vidiot, Degrassi Junior High and Press Gang. Linda and Spike were knee deep in am another, angsty, sexual tete-a-tete when Mum told me you were on the phone I couldn't believe it. This was even cooler than getting a call from Julia Sawalha or Dexter Fletcher — this was Holly from Christian Youth Camp...'   (Introduction)

1 Meme Girls Ash Flanders , Stephen Nicolazzo , Marion Potts , 2015 single work musical theatre

'Meme Girls / construct their identities in real time – and demand an audience.

'Experience the sort of post-gender, tongue-in-cheek spectacle that has made Ash Flanders a counter-culture hit. In Meme Girls, this pop-culture addict points his satirical sense of humour squarely at the desperate voices crying out for attention in our online neighbourhood.

'Packed with the LOLs of a great cat video, this non sequitur performance embraces the YouTube world, where life is ‘click-bait’ and views, shares and likes equate to happiness. Blurring the lines between performance art, drag and cabaret, Flanders presents a love letter to the bizarre and addictive women of YouTube who / broadcast their lives to an online abyss.' (Production summary)

1 1 La Traviata Sisters Grimm , 2015 single work drama

'A co-production with Sisters Grimm

'Melbourne theatre stars Sisters Grimm are everything nice, polite Australians fear: a pair of ‘loud, opinionated homosexualists’ (their words) who hold nothing sacred and whose moral compass is so far out it’s bang on. Declan Greene and Ash Flanders plunder the canon with one eye on mischief and the other on a necessary argument. Once the serial numbers are scratched off, their stolen goods are smelted into smart, anarchic comedies that question the world we live in.

'Verdi’s famed Romantic opera La Traviata is the story of Violetta, a lovelorn courtesan who is doomed to choose either a life of disgrace with the pauper she loves, or a life of upscale servitude to a baron. This is not that opera. At least, not quite. This La Traviata is part opera, part protest, part drag show – a freewheeling satire that shadows Verdi’s plot via the sweatshops of Mumbai and the wastepaper basket of the Federal Minister for the Arts.

'By staging an epic Romantic opera in the smallest theatre in Sydney, Sisters Grimm are plunging into the ever-expanding gap between wealth and poverty. Violetta sacrificed her life to uphold her beliefs. Will the heroine of this tale?' (Production summary)

1 4 Calpurnia Descending Declan Greene , Ash Flanders , Sisters Grimm , 2014 single work drama

''Calpurnia Descending' sends up the dangers of fame with the tale of Beverly Dumont – a reclusive, drunken, Depression-era Broadway washout. Beverly limps towards obscurity until a naive ingénue appears offering a final shot at glory. It’s the role of a lifetime, but the chalice soon proves poisoned and both women are drawn into a world of paranoia, sleaze and bloody, unrelenting ambition.

'The latest work from queer ‘DIY’ theatre duo Sisters Grimm ('The Sovereign Wife', 'Little Mercy') stars the inimitable Paul Capsis ('Angela’s Kitchen') and Ash Flanders. Rich in wit and piercing cultural critique, this fabulously entertaining work takes two of Australia’s finest male actresses and ignites a backstage Battle Royale.' (Source: Malthouse website)

1 5 The Sovereign Wife Declan Greene , Ash Flanders , 2013 single work drama

'Moira and Connor O'Flaherty leave county Mayo for a better life in the Australian goldfields. But all they find in the harsh soil of Hiscock's Gully is poverty and heartbreak. As the Eureka Flag is raised, Moira makes a terrible pact in order to save her family. The effects of this one night will be felt for generations.

'Spanning one hundred and fifty years of toil, hardship, and devastating etcetera, The Sovereign Wife is one woman's epic journey across our sunburnt country – from country Victoria all the way to the Simpson Desert.

'Taking inspiration from The Man From Snowy River, Baz Luhrmann's Australia, and the spellbinding artwork of Ken Done, The Sovereign Wife is a wild bush-doof through our national identity.'

Source: Creators' website.

1 8 Summertime in the Garden of Eden Ash Flanders , Declan Greene , Sisters Grimm , 2012 single work drama

'"The South will fall, and so will her pride... ...In the greatest love story ever told." Georgia. 1861. A faded Southern belle returns to the family plantation after ten years away from home. But where has she been? Why did she run? And what secrets are buried in the ol' greenhouse? A sweeping romance, set against the backdrop of the American Civil War.'

Source: www.sistersgrimm.com.au/ (Sighted 20/02/2012).

1 4 Little Mercy Sisters Grimm , 2010 single work drama crime

'Little Mercy. Evil just turned Eight ... Roger and Virginia Summers have it all. He, a successful theatre director. She, a successful drunken housewife. But their charmed lives are empty - they long for a child.

'Careful what you wish for.'

Source: Sisters Grimm website, http://www.sistersgrimm.com.au/
Sighted: 22/03/2010

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