Not in Print: playwrights off script - on inspiration, process and theatre itself

In this episode of Not in Print Caitlin speaks with Julian Meyrick. 

Julian Meyrick is Professor of Creative Industries at Griffith University and an Honorary Fellow at Deakin University. He has directed award-winning productions at Melbourne Theatre Company, Griffin, Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Workers Theatre and Kick House Theatre and was Associate Director and Literary Advisor at Melbourne Theatre Company until 2007.

In this podcast Julian discusses his most recent book, 'Australia in 50 Plays', published by Currency Press and launched at the inaugural Australian Playwrights’ Festival in March this year.

Grab a copy of the book here: currency.com.au/books/history-and-criticism/australia-in-50-plays/

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Music by Grace Turner 

In this episode, Caitlin spoke with playwright, director and dramaturg, Andrea James.

Andrea is a Yorta Yorta/Gunaikurnai woman who is dedicated to the telling of First Nations stories on stage.

She was Artistic Director of Melbourne Workers Theatre 2001-2008, was a playwright in residence at Melbourne Theatre Company and is currently an Associate Artist at Griffin Theatre Company. 

Andrea’s plays have appeared on stages across Australia and around the world. 

Here, we speak about her theatre practice, and her two most recent plays, Sunshine Super Girl, about Wiradjuri tennis champion Evonne Goolagong, and, Dogged, written in collaboration with Catherine Ryan.

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Grab copies of Andrea's scripts here: https://tinyurl.com/axncm7a6

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Music by Grace Turner.

"Five years at law school,
eleven years of practice,
I have always believed.
Now I need to know that I was not mistaken."

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In this episode we spoke with playwright Suzie Miller about her award winning play, Prima Facie.

Winner of the 2018 Griffin Award, Prima Facie is an indictment of the Australian legal system’s failure to provide reliable pathways to justice for women in rape, sexual assault or harassment cases. It’s a work of fiction, but one that could have been ripped from the headlines of any paper, any day of the week, so common you could cry.

Tessa is a criminal lawyer at the top of her game who knows the law permits no room for emotion.

To win, you just need to believe in the rules. And Tessa loves to win, even when defending clients accused of sexual assault.
Her court-ordained duty trumps her feminism. But when she finds herself on the other side of the bar, Tessa is forced into the shadows of doubt she’s so ruthlessly cast over other women.

Turning Sydney’s courts of law into a different kind of stage, Suzie Miller‘s (Sunset Strip, Caress/Ache) taut, rapid-fire and gripping one-woman show exposes the shortcomings of a patriarchal justice system where it’s her word against his.

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Prima Facie will be showing again at Griffin Theatre, 23 June - 10 July 2021. Tickets here: https://tinyurl.com/4j8kd74x

Grab copies of the script here: https://tinyurl.com/5zdjzr2y

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Music by Grace Turner.

Thank you to Sarah Easterman for reading the excerpts from the play for this episode. 

"Tease us and hate us / but don't underestimate us..."

This month we spoke with Yve Blake, playwright, screenwriter and composer, and the creator of the hit musical FANGIRLS.

FANGIRLS is showing again at Sydney Festival 2021 before touring Australia, and you can now get the script through Currency Press.

The song in this episode is a track from FANGIRLS performed by some of the original 2019 cast, including Yve Blake, who played the role of Edna. 

Learn more about Yve and her work over at yveblake.co

‘In Tamil we don’t say goodbye. Only, I will go and come back.’
‘நாங்கள் விடைபெறேக்க, ‘போயிட்டு வாறன்’ எண்டு மட்டும் தான் தமிழில சொல்லுறனாங்கள்.’

In this episode we speak with S. Shakthidharan, a writer, director, musician and producer of film and theatre who grew up in Western Sydney and has Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. 

We discussed Shakthi's multi-award-winning, multilingual play, Counting and Cracking, which traverses countries and decades to bring us an epic tale of family, love and politics. 

See more of Shakthi's work at kurinji.com.au