Independent Brisbane – Four Plays [Harriers + The Knowing of Mary Poppins + Post Office Rose + Madga’s Fascination with Wax Cats]

Title: Independent Brisbane - Four Plays [Harriers + The Knowing of Mary Poppins + Post Office Rose + Madga's Fascination with Wax Cats]
Author: Dorney, Marcel
Price: $25.95

Playlab is proud to present a collection of new works from Brisbane's homegrown theatre scene....

'Harriers' - Marcel Dorney

'The Knowing of Mary Poppins' - Marcel Dorney, Leah Mercer et al

'Post Office Rose' - Linda Hassall

'Madga's Fascination with Wax Cats' - Maxine Mellor

This collection of four plays represents some of the exciting new work that has emerged from the independent theatre scene in Brisbane across the last ten years.

Each play is distinctive - from the vivid and tender devised ensemble piece about P.L Travers' \"The Knowing of Mary Poppins\", to the bleak world of child soldiers in \"Harriers\", the Patsy Cline haunted confrontation of \"Post Office Rose\", and the quirky and haunting coming of age in \"Madga's Fascination with Wax Cats\".

Yet they carry with them what is characteristic of the city they come from - a preoccupation with landscape, creation in tightly knit collaborative teams, and brave, often unexpected theatrical delights.



HARRIERS
by Marcel Dorney

Cast: 1M 2F
Character Ages: 16 - 30
Length: 1 hr approximately
Target Audience: Adult
Style: Drama
Themes: War, child soldiers, aid workers, politics

\"The phrase 'child soldier' refers to things that actually happen\" - Program Notes

SYNOPSIS
Sayn is an Australian doctor in a war zone. She has been rescued from an explosion by a young soldier, Bir. Bir is seventeen and has been a child soldier since he was eleven. He has saved her because she is a doctor, but if he finds she is an American spy, hell have no hesitation in blowing her head off. Harriers explores Australias involvement in other countries, training militia and providing arms and then abandoning the rebel forces weve trained, leaving them to be decimated to decimate others.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
Harriers was first glimpsed as a play-reading at the Queensland Theatre Company. In 2007 it had a season at Brisbanes Metro Arts as part of their Independents Season.

PLAYWRIGHT
Marcel Dorney is a writer, director, performer, and graduate of the University of Queensland. His work includes commissions by Queensland Theatre Company, Merrigong Theatre Company, Hothouse Theatre, La Boite, Brisbane Powerhouse, Backbone Youth Theatre, and Melbournes Next Wave Festival. Marcels play New Royal received two Matilda Awards in 2006, including Best New Work. He has also been an associate writer of Griffin Theatre and the Restaged Histories Project, as well as Melbournes Red Stitch Actors Theatre.



THE KNOWING OF MARY POPPINS
by Marcel Dorney, Leah Mercer et al

Cast: 3F (can have a cast of up to 16)
Character Ages: 16 - 60
Length: 1 hr approximately
Target Audience: Senior Years
Themes: Writing, lifecycles, imagination

\"A committee of writers invoke the spirit of Traverss most famous creation and manage to cram a 96-year life into a lively and charming 75 minutes - Sydney Morning Herald

SYNOPSIS
Takes a unique and magical journey into the life and imagination of P.L. Travers; the Queensland-born writer of Mary Poppins. Travers herself was as contradictory as her heroine and lived her life in a way that propelled her from one extreme to another. Follow her story and encounter a foray of characters and a magical handbag full of tricks.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
The Knowing of Mary Poppins has had two seasons at the
Brisbane Powerhouse (2005, 2006), one at the Adelaide Fringe Festival (2008) andanother at the Darlinghurst Theatre in Sydney (2009).

PLAYWRIGHTS Marcel Dorney, Leah Mercer, Margi Brown Ash, Stace Callaghan & Carol Schmidt came together through visionary theatre ensemble, The Nest.



POST OFFICE ROSE
by Linda Hassall

Cast: 3 - 4 Cast Members
Character Ages: 30 - 50
Length: 1.5 hrs approximately
Target Audience: Adult
Style: Thriller
Themes: Ageing, murder, rural townships

\"This is a disturbing play chock full of disturbing themes\" 612 ABC Radio

SYNOPSIS
Post Office Rose is the name of a terrible Patsy Cline cover band. Now the members are all grown up, and they have some serious scores to settle with one another. Set in a rural township, three women reunite who are as tough as the pigslaughtering landscape in which they grew up. Not for the faint-hearted. Gripping, visceral, shocking and twisted.

PRODUCTION HISTORY Post Office Roses premier season was at the Metro Arts in 2003. It then was remounted at La Boite Theatre in 2007.

PLAYWRIGHT
Linda Hassall has written and directed many works for the professional stage in Brisbane including shows at Metro Arts, La Boite and the Powerhouse.



MAGDA'S FASCINATION WITH WAX CATS
by Maxine Mellor

Cast: 2M 2F
Character Ages: 15 - 25
Length: 1 hr approximately
Target Audience: Middle Years / Senior Years / Adult
Style: Prose / Drama
Themes: Loneliness, obscurity, rural life, bullying, vengeance

\"Mellors writing is rich and rhythmic - Sydney Morning Herald

SYNOPSIS
Magda wears glasses, has tree-trunk legs and has a bull-bar on her teeth. Everyone that knows her calls her Mong, including her family. Her only friend is a dead cat. But amidst her introverted state and obscure imaginings, Magda is hoarding a very, very dark secret. Magdas lyrical prose takes us deeper into the twisted life and psychology of someone who is too dead to stop it/ too alive to stop it with extraordinary effect.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
Magdas Fascination with Wax Cats had its premier season at the Australian Theatre for Young People. It has since had a season in Brisbanes Metro Arts.

PLAYWRIGHT
Maxine Mellor is a multi-award-winning young playwright from Queensland. She won QTCs Young Playwrights Award (2001, 2002, 2003); the George Landen Dann Award (2005); and a Matilda Award for Best New Work for Production (2005); and a Matilda Award nomination for Best Emerging Artist (2008). She is currently a finalist in the 2012/13 Queensland Premiers Drama Award. Maxine was an Australian playwright delegate at World Interplay (2005), an Associate Writer with QTC (2006-8), an alumnus of the Australian Theatre for Young Peoples Fresh Ink writing program (2008-9); and a recipient of the Fresh Ink inaugural commission. In 2011, Maxine was one of four playwrights to participate in Playlabs Lab Rats program.

Publisher: Playlab Press
Publication date: 01/01/2008
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780908156696
Publishing status: AU Dropshipping