PLAYLAB'S NSW SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
TOPIC 3: THE VOICE OF WOMEN IN THEATRE
The following list has been assembled by Playlab Theatre in order to provide an extended list of plays suitable for study in Topic 3: The Voice of Women in Theatre. We have complied the following list of plays written by some of the most influential and prolific female voices in Australian theatre. Each of the plays below is an example of the way women in Australian theatre create, develop and assert their voice. This list has also be curated to focus on work that interrogates issues affecting women’s equality, status and identities and the maintaining or breaking of stereotypes and socio/cultural judgements made about women and provide access to work from different dramatic forms, techniques, performance styles and conventions.
Rising
by Hannah Belanszky, Madeleine Border, Emily Burton, Lauren Sherritt and Sarah Wilson
THEMES: Climate Change, Extinction, Politics and Governance
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 20s–40s
CAST SIZE: 3
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
Rising by Hannah Belanszky, Read more
Magpie
by Elise Greig
LANGUAGE: English and Romani
THEMES: Cultural heritage, Intergenerational trauma, Immigration
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 4
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
The Belonging Trilogy
by Margi Brown Ash
THEMES: Belonging, Home, Not-Belonging,
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 1–2
CHARACTER AGES: ≤50
SUITABLE FOR: Adults
The Daly River Girl
by Tessa Rose
THEMES: Stolen Generation, Domestic Violence, Resilience, Hope, Empowerment
LENGTH: 60 minutes
CAST SIZE: 1
CHARACTER AGES: 40s
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
SYNOPSIS
... Read more
Bukal
by Andrea James with Henrietta Marrie
THEMES: Contemporary Indigenous Theatre
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
From the rainforest to the world arena, Bukal is a story of an amazing woman. From the heart of Cairns Yidinji people comes the inspiring story of a courageous woman ... Read more
Chinese Take Away
by Anna Yen
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
LANGUAGE: English and Cantonese
THEMES: History, Family, Poverty, Chinese Culture, Traditionalism
LENGTH: 45 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 30
CAST SIZE: 1
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
Read more 
The Dark Room
by Angela Betzien
VERSION: Digital Download & Hardcopy options
THEMES: Violence, Sex, Police, Isolation
CHARACTER AGES: 14 – 40
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
TARGET AUDIENCE: Adult
Angela Betzien's The Dark Room is a timely reflection on the ... Read more
The Dead Devils of Cockle Creek
by Kathryn Marquet
THEMES: Environmentalism, Ideology, Compromise
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
TARGET AUDIENCE: Adult
Head Full of Love
by Alana Valentine
THEMES: Indigenous Health, Love, Cultural Divisions
CHARACTER AGES: 50+
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 1 – 2 Cast Members
Kryptonite
by Sue Smith
THEMES: Multiculturalism, Politics, Love, National Identity
CHARACTER AGES: 20s – 40s
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 2
TARGET AUDIENCE: Adult
Sue Smith's Kryptonite is a thrilling, thought-provoking dialogue between two people ... Read more
Rice
by Michele Lee
THEMES: Globalisation, Power, Politics and Migration
CHARACTER AGES: Adult
LENGTH:1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 1 – 2 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Adult
Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story
by Priscilla Jackman
THEMES: LGBTQIA, Identity and Love
LENGTH: 120 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 6 (doubling is required)
SUITABLE FOR ADULTS: Adult
Priscilla Jackman's Still Point Turning: The Catherine McGregor Story is an ... Read more
A Re-imagining of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler
by Melissa Bubnic
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Love, Passion and Revenge
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 30s
CAST SIZE: 7
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
Hedda Gabler is railing against her life. She didn’t marry bogan drug slinger George Tesman so she could play housewife in a monstrous Gold Coast mansion ... Read more
Lysa and the Freeborn Dames
by Claire Christian
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Feminism, Politics, Activism
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 10
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
Claire Christian's Lysa and the Freeborn Dames addresses ideas of legacy, ... Read more
Medea
by Suzie Miller
THEMES: Love, Passion and Revenge
LENGTH: 120 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 4
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adult
Suzie Miller's Medea takes on Euripides infamous tale of a woman ... Read more
Here We All Are. Assembled
by Kathryn Ash
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Friendship, Love, Existential Crises
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
A twisted tale of two hapless characters who dare to question. Suspended in a rotting dystopian landscape, forgotten by the world, these two are comforted by blissful ignorance, turning a ... Read more
Blue Bones
by Merlynn Tong
LANGUAGE: English, Mandarin, Malay and Hokkien
THEMES: Domestic Violence, Relationships, Self Empowerment
CHARACTER AGES: Young Adult
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 1 – 2 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
When a woman finds scars left by her ex-boyfriend of many years etched into her bones, she begins a turbulent journey to unpack her past and discover how he got ... Read more
Composing Venus
by Elaine Acworth
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
Spanning three decades, in flights of fantasy, poetic phrasing and sombre soliloquy, Elaine Acworth... Read more
Had We But World Enough
by Oriel Gray
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Love, Racial Injustice and Rural Australia
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
New Vintage
CAST SIZE: 9 + Cast Members
It’s the Wednesday before Easter, and the stage is set for what will surely be the most discussed Easter Nativity play in the history of Seaton, a rural town ... Read more
Hanako plunges the audience into the hyper-realistic fantasy of ...