PLAYLAB'S QLD SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
UNIT 2: REFLECT (MAGICAL REALISM)
The following list of plays has been curated by Playlab Theatre’s staff in order to provide an extended list of plays suitable for study in Unit 2: Reflect. For convenience we have separated the following titles into categories based on the dramatic styles that are to be studied in this unit. Each play in this list presents a unique exploration into the understanding and empathising with the truth of others’ experiences, and through the manipulation and interpretation of the conventions associated with their particular style, chronical and celebrate what it is to be human.
We Are the Mutable
by Matthew Whittet
The Shot
by Angela Betzien
THEMES: Photojournalism, Justice, Ethics, Hope
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 20s
CAST SIZE: Large cast without doubling
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
Angela Betzien’s The Shot engages audiences in the profession and ethics ... 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
In a Heart Beat
by Jo Turner
Spontaneous Human Combustion
by Daniel Evans
THEMES: Trauma, Defiance, Grief
CHARACTER AGES: 16 – 18
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: Large Cast Without Doubling
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
The Chosen
by Lachlan Philpott
THEMES: Desires to be unique, Adolescents
CHARACTER AGES: Teenage to Adult
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CAST SIZE: Large Cast Without Doubling
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
For most girls, finding a place within the cliques, the hierarchies, and the gossip of a new school is tough enough. For Freya Star, it’s astronomically more difficult. She’... Read more
3 O’Clock, Flagpole
by Steve Pirie
Chasing The Whale
by Matthew Ryan
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Relationships, Career, Life-Choices, Insanity
LENGTH:90 Minutes
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
Strange things are happening to workaholic Jerry Daniels. Office desks are chasing him. Self-help tapes are talking to him. Umbrellas are raining from the sky. But the world of advertising ... Read more
Define ‘Adult’
by David Burton, Claire Christian and La Boite’s Young Actors Company
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
When do you reach that point? When you turn 18? When you move out of home? When you get married? When you have a baby? When you lose ... Read more
PLAYLAB'S QLD SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
UNIT 2: REFLECT (AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC)
The Shot
by Angela Betzien
THEMES: Photojournalism, Justice, Ethics, Hope
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 20s
CAST SIZE: Large cast without doubling
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
Angela Betzien’s The Shot engages audiences in the profession and ethics ... Read more
Where In The World Is Frank Sparrow // Girl Who Cried Wolf
by Angela Betzien
THEMES: Gang Violence, Territory, Human Condition, Coming of Age, Popularity, Celebrity
CHARACTER AGES: 12+
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Middle & Senior Years
CAST SIZE: Large Cast Without Doubling
Where In The World Is Frank Sparrow
Where in the World is Frank Sparrow? was commissioned by Graffiti Theatre Company, Ireland. Its quirky ... Read more
The Chapel, the Fire and the Dead Cat
by Madelaine Nunn
THEMES: Supernatural, Friendship, Coming of Age
LENGTH: 120 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 11, Large Cast
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
Winner of the 2019 Senior ATYP Foundation Commission, The Chapel, the Fire and the Dead Cat by <... Read more
Bastard Territory
by Stephen Carleton
THEMES: Family, Identity
CHARACTER AGES: Adult
LENGTH: 150 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Adult
Bastard Territory is a confessional human drama about a man – and a city – carving out an identity. Mixing wry humour, raw insight, a dash of Tennessee Williams and a killer 60... Read more
The Mayne Inheritance
by Errol O’Neill
THEMES: History, Murder, Colonial Society
LENGTH: 2.5 Hours
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 6
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
A grisly murder, inherited madness, and a family in ruins. This is Errol O'Neill's Gothic Australian play ... Read more
Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset
by Stephen Carleton
THEMES: Colonisation, Racism, National Identity, Multiculturalism
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
LENGTH: 2 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
PLAYLAB'S QLD SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
UNIT 2: REFLECT (REALISM)
Juice
by Stephen Davis
THEMES: Youth, Risk, Death, Alcohol, Coming-of-age
CHARACTER AGES: 15 – 45
INCLUDES TEACHERS NOTES
LENGTH: 1 Hour
TARGET AUDIENCE: Middle Years
CAST SIZE: 9 + Cast Members
Face to Face
by Emily Wells
Black Diggers
by Tom Wright
THEMES: Belonging, War, Identity, Race, Indigenous Themes
CHARACTER AGES: 17+
LENGTH: 120 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 9+ Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years & Adults
One hundred years ago, in 1914, a bullet from an assassin’s gun in Sarajevo sparked a war that ignited the globe. Patriotic young men all over the world lined up ... Read more
Australian Drama
by David Megarrity
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Australian Theatre, Drama as a Subject
LENGTH: 60 Minutes
CAST SIZE: Large Cast Without Doubling
CHARACTER AGES: 18-35
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
The drama class is about to start, and that’s not the only thing that’s beginning. These young people love Drama. So does their teacher, but not quite as ... 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
Very Happy Children With Bright and Wonderful Futures
by Joshua Maxwell
Blurred
by Stephen Davis
THEMES: Schoolies, Dating, Predators, Teenage Drinking
CHARACTER AGES: 15 – 18
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
Stephen Davis' Blurred explores the creative process of building a new ... Read more
Motherland QTC Edition
by Katherine Lyall-Watson
THEMES: Historical Fiction, Loss, Love, Heritage
CHARACTER AGES: Adult
LENGTH: 2 Hours
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
SUITABLE FOR: Adult