2008 Drama & Theatre Studies Productions

Mother Courage

By Bertolt Brecht, Directed by Jeff Hood and James Wardlaw

Performed by: First Year BPA Students
Dates: 24 September at 6:00pm, 25th, 26th, 27th September at 7:30pm
Pricing: $10.00 full, $5.00 concession
Venue: The Drama Theatre, Monash University Clayton campus (see map below)

Written on the eve of World War II, Brecht’s modern classic reveals the true human cost of war in a world where only those who compromise their morals survive. This fresh interpretation will present this vast epic play on a wide canvas using two teams of actors and two directors.

The Musical: The Musical

Directed by Stuart Grant, Musical Direction by Matt Lockitt

Performed by: Second Year BPA Students and Second and Third Year BA Drama Students
Dates: 9th, 10th, 11th October at 8:00pm
Pricing: $12.00 full, $8.00 concession
Venue: The Drama Theatre, Monash University Clayton campus (see map below)

Join us in a rollicking ride of riotous research, utilizing a flabbergasting panoply of stylistic, formal and performative devices from the history of musical theatre: from Opera Bouffe to Contemporary experimental off-Broadway, via Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bernstein, Sondheim, Fosse, Lloyd-Webber and beyond. A non-stop ensemble piece of singing, dancing, acting, fun scholarship.

• View a gallery of photos from the dress rehearsal here.

Mother Sex Doll

Directed by Naomi Edwards, Devised by Naomi Edwards and Second Year BPA Students

Second Year BPA Students
16th, 17th, 18th October at 8:00pm
Pricing: $10.00 full, $5.00 concession
Venue: The Drama Theatre, Monash University Clayton campus (see map below)

Façade — an outward appearance that is maintained to conceal a less pleasant or creditable reality… Mother Sex Doll is a visceral exploration of facade through the texts of Mother Courage and her Children, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Sex and The City, uncovering the facade we show the world, the ideals we reach for, the soul mate we dream of, and the mother we never had.

• View a gallery of photos from the dress rehearsal here.

Widows

By Ariel Dorfman with Tony Kushner, Directed by Mark Constable

Performed by: Third Year BPA Students
Dates: 23rd, 24th and 25th October at 8:00pm
Pricing: $10.00 full, $5.00 concession
Venue: The Drama Theatre, Monash University Clayton campus (see map below)

In this smoldering political allegory, the men have disappeared from a war-torn village. The women—their mothers, wives, daughters—wait by the river, hope and mourn. Their anguish is unspoken until bruised and broken bodies wash up on the banks and the women defy the military using the only form of protest left to them.

Ariel Dorfman is a Chilean citizen who was forced into exile after the September 11, 1973 coup brought down the democratically-elected government of President Salvador Allende. He is best known for his novels and for the screen adaptation of his play, Death and the Maiden.

• View a gallery of photos from the dress rehearsal here.

Stoning Mary

By Debbie Tucker Green, Directed by Suzanne Chaundy

Performed by: Third Year BPA Students
Dates: 30th, 31st October, 1st November, at 8:00pm
Pricing: $10.00 full, $5.00 concession
Venue: The Drama Theatre, Monash University Clayton campus (see map below)

A husband and wife with AIDS can only afford one prescription.
A child soldier comes home.
Mary is going to be stoned.

What if this is happening here, in Melbourne? What if these people are white?

Debbie Tucker Green has been described as “one of the most assured and extraordinary new voices we’ve heard in a long while” (The Independent, UK). Stoning Mary was premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in April 2005. Disturbing, darkly funny, poetic and raw, this 3rd year production is the Melbourne premiere of an unforgettable contemporary work.

• View a gallery of photos from the dress rehearsal here.