PLAYLAB'S WA SYLLABUS SUGGESTIONS 2022
UNIT 1: YEAR 11 PART 1 (REPRESENTATIONAL, REALIST DRAMA)
The following list of plays has been curated by Playlab Theatre staff in order to provide an extended list of plays suitable for study in Unit 1: Year 11 Part 1 (Representational, Realist Drama). The following titles uses techniques and performance styles suitable for study as part of gaining greater understanding or representational, realist drama. We have also included a number of titles specifically written to be performed by year 11 aged performers.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Deadly Eh?!
by Sue Rider
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
Fractions
by Marcel Dorney
THEMES: Science, Religion, Philosophy, Women’s Rights
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
LENGTH: 2.5 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
CAST SIZE: 5 – 6 Cast Members
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
Impending Everyone
by Michael Andrew Collins
THEMES: Technology, Adolescents
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CAST SIZE: 9
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
Michael Andrew Collin's Impending Everyone was inaugural winner of the ATYP Foundation Commission (14 - 17 Year Olds) in 2016. <... Read more
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
The Longest Minute
by Robert Kronk and Nadine McDonald-Dowd
THEMES: Family, Identity, Sport
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CHARACTER AGES: 18–55
CAST SIZE: 5-6
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
The Longest Minute by Robert Kronk and <... 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
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
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
On Our Selection
by Steele Rudd
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Australia, Triumph Over Adversity, Revenge, Family, Home
LENGTH: 150 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 9
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Students
In this four act play, On Our Selection by Steele Rudd follows ... Read more
Pale Blue Dot
by Kathryn Marquet
THEMES: Aliens, Relationships, Conspiracies
CHARACTER AGES: 15+
LENGTH: 2 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years & Adults
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
The Pineapple War
by Lachlan Philpott
THEMES: Oppression, Revolution, Influence
CHARACTER AGES: 16 – 23
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: Large Cast Without Doubling
SUITABLE FOR: Senior Years
It’s 2022 and Queensland is now part of China to resolve a civil war. The rest of Australia has become Nation One, with a conservative government and a return to ... 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
The Salt Remains
by Tom Gardiner
THIS IS A DIGITAL PUBLICATION
THEMES: Responsibility, Forgiveness, Inadequacy
LENGTH: 90 Minutes
CHARACTER AGES: 18+
CAST SIZE: 2
SUITABLE FOR: Adults
In the best tradition of noir thrillers that keep ... Read more 
Samson
by Julia-Rose Lewis
THEMES: Coming of age, Grief
CHARACTER AGES: 16 – 18
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
CAST SIZE: 3 – 4 Cast Members
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years
Sugarland
by Rachael Coopes and Wayne Blair
THEMES: Indigenous Themes, Regional Australia, Displacement, Growing up
CHARACTER AGES: 16 – 18, Adult
LENGTH: 1.5 Hours
TARGET AUDIENCE: Senior Years