PLAYLAB'S NSW SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
TOPIC 6: BLACK COMEDY
The following list has been assembled by Playlab Theatre in order to provide an extended list of plays suitable for study in Topic 6: Black Comedy. In order to assist educators and students explore modern comic plays that deal with what is often uncomfortable or suppressed. The following list of plays uses humour to explore topics that are often considered controversial or taboo. Each of the titles employ humour and other comedic conventions, techniques, forms and styles in different ways in order to delve into various subjects often suppressed such as; mental illness, grief and tragedy, domestic abuse, and systematic suppression of facts.
Squad Goals
by Alexander Bayliss
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Competition, Ambition, Trust
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 16–17
CAST SIZE: 5
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
Alexander Bayliss' Squad Goals is an irreverent comedy about rebellion, self-sabotage and ... 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
Oedipus Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
by Daniel Evans
THEMES: Family, Community, Tragedy, Loss
CHARACTER AGES: 18-40
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years & Adult
Anna Robi And The House Of Dogs
by Maxine Mellor
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Domestic Australia, Sex, Gender
CAST: 1M, 2F
CHARACTER AGES: 16+
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
LENGTH: 45 Minutes
SUITABLE FOR: Adults
Anna Robi & the ... Read more 
Lazarus Won`t Get Out of Bed
by David Burton
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Depression, Relationships, Truth
CHARACTER AGES: 3 Early Twenties, 1 Any Age
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
(Lazarus Won’t Get Out of Bed was first presented by ASTheatre and Metro Arts as part of Metro Art Allies 2009.) Lazarus has been in bed for three ... Read more
The Pineapple Queen
by Norman Price
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: fantasy, Escapism
CHARACTER AGES: 20 – 50
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 1 – 2 Cast Members
Playlab Indie
TARGET AUDIENCE: Adult
All she ever wanted was to be crowned the Glasshouse District's Pineapple Queen — wearing a magnificent dress, riding on a float down the main street of Nambour, waving at an ... Read more
A Tribute of Sorts
by Benjamin Schostakowski
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Performance, Awkwardness and The Macabre
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 1 – 2 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Adults
Benjamin Schostakowski's A Tribute of Sorts is an artful, dark and funny celebration of theatre itself.
... Read more
The Pride
by Side Pony Productions
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Inter-generational Tension, Human Behaviour
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: Various
SUITABLE FOR: Adult
CAST SIZE: 3
The Pride by Side Pony Productions takes a long hard look at lions.