PHOTOGRAPH 51 by Anna Ziegler

(Studied in comparison with My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin)

Photograph 51 rewrites the story of DNA, highlighting Rosalind Franklin’s role in a discovery conventionally attributed to James Watson and Francis Crick. In My Brilliant Career we meet Sybylla Melvyn, a woman whose dreams are unable to flourish at least in part because of gender.  

The workshop explores the differences between Franklin and Melvyn as archetypes and the frighteningly common threads of sexism that only become obvious when we examine how and where women’s HER-stories are often missed in HIStory. 


PHOTOGRAPH 51


NB: Prices do not include gst

comprhensive Workshop


120 mins

$2300

up to 100 students

Additional students $23 each

WOMEN OF TROY by Euripides

“The mortal who sacks fallen cities is a fool, his own turn must come”

Performance

The screams of the women of Troy reverberate through time, echoing into the contemporary world. This stylised ensemble piece is a great introduction to the story of the Trojan War but also draws our attention to how parable functions in Greek drama through archetype and myth. The tales of Hecuba, Helen, Cassandra, Andromache, and Talthibius become representations of familiar characters, social types and categories.The result is a powerful, cathartic production that reaches out to young audiences making this ancient tale relevant and immediate.

Workshop

Through questions and replaying scenes we examine how directorial choices in the production eclipse and highlight certain themes in the text. Alternative readings of Talthybius and Helen tease out mechanisms of institutional violence and the dynamics of relationships shaped by seductive power and the concept of ‘the vixen’. Where time permits, we examine how different potential portrayals of the chorus may be used to create a variety of effects.

Whittlesea Secondary School

We had our The Women of Troy performance today, and what a performance it was!!  Our students were engaged and the actors did a wonderful job.”

WOMEN OF TROY


NB: Prices do not include gst

Short performance & WORKSHOP


120 mins

$2100

up to 100 students

Additional Students $21 each

comprehensive Workshop


120 mins

$2100

up to 100 students

Additional Students $21 each

ROMEO AND JULIET by William Shakespeare

Performance

“I saw Shakespeare, it wasn’t hard, and don’t tell anyone but I may have even liked it.” This is the sort of thing we hear from students after this show.The dramatic style mirrors the narrative, creating an exciting ride for our young audiences.They are drawn into reckless abandon, a world of period costumes, playful sword fights and comedic characters, as Romeo and Juliet fall in love.Then of course the joy and frivolity ruptures and fades as the tragedy sets in. Both the actors and students all fall together.

Workshop

Students are guided to ask questions and talk about the performance; what they understood, what they liked or didn’t like. We often hear the comment that Romeo and Juliet is a play about ‘two dumb teenagers’ and lust. We explore this idea so students see how an idea that seems to be an off hand comment, could form the basis of a valid reading. Then we challenge this idea by looking at different portrayals of the main characters that might make the love-at-first-sight narrative more appealing. Where time and the level of the group permits, we also look at how creative choices can be used to explore essay prompts such as “Who is to blame?” and “Is love or hate the more powerful force?”

Mater Christi College

I’ve never seen a play before and this was fun. The poetry was hard at first, but you get used to it.

Romeo & Juliet



NB: prices do not include gst

Short performance only


70 MINS

$1150

up to 100 students

Additional Students $11.50 each

Short performance & Workshop


120 MINS

$1350

up to 100 students

Additional Students $13.50 each

MACBETH by William Shakespeare

Performance

When an evil person gets what’s coming to them there is no tragedy.This production focuses on the familiarity and banality of having desires and ambitions, and how when unchecked, they can lead to consequences beyond imagination. We focus on the journey of a loving couple, who each want the other to achieve their dreams, but ultimately destroy everything they care about; themselves, and each other.

Workshop

Students are guided to critique the performance, ask questions and delve deeper into interpretive practice by looking at the couple’s relationship, and other monologues as time permits. The scene between Macbeth and “His Wife” before Duncan is murdered is used to explore gender, manipulation, and power. The “unsex me here” monologue continues the discussion about gender introducing ideas about frailty and the super- natural.The “two truths” monologue offers an opportunity to show their ambition in tangible, contemporary terms.

Hoppers Crossing Secondary College

Students were engaged with every minute and it has set us up for a great start to the unit.

MACBETH



NB: prices do not include gst

Short performance only


70 MINS

$1150

up to 100 students

Additional Students $11.50 each

Short performance & Workshop


120 MINS

$1350

up to 100 students

Additional Students $13.50 each

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by William Shakespeare

“I do spy some marks of love in her.”

Performance

This short performance is a joyful bubbling brook of a rom-com with a warning sign that malice, power games and social critique lurk beneath the surface. Is love a virus or a cure? In a world

of deceptions and masks, the lines between romance, violence, desire, and revenge blur. Do we celebrate existing notions of love or deconstruct them and strike courtship down? Can we do both? What is the role of leaders and their relationship to compassion, equality, and justice? Are they the source of our ‘bum jokes’ or elected to maintain the status quo?

Workshop

Where the performance blends light and dark interpretations, our workshop investigates how the text supports more extreme readings. One could see Don John as a comic evil villain or a painful portrait of a man disenfranchised by his birth. Could Hero and Claudio be pure and innocent lovers or representations of the transactional transfer of possessions and influence? And are Beatrice and Benedick profound portraits of the emotional journey of love or courtiers jousting in a world too prudish to talk openly of sex.  

Norwood Secondary College

A huge thanks to the cast for creating such a meaningful event for our students!

 

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

NB: Prices do not include gst

Short performance & WORKSHOP


120 mins

$2100

up to 100 students

Additional Students $21 each

comprehensive Workshop


120 mins

$2100

up to 100 students

Additional Students $21 each

EXTINCTION by Hannie Rayson

This play deals with a wide variety of possibly interrelated extinctions: the extinction of the Tiger Quoll; the impending threat of global warming and the extinction of humanity; the extinction of white picket fence monogamous heterosexual life partnerships and perhaps most importantly the extinction of didactic concepts of good and evil/hero’s and villains. 

This workshop will provoke questions and give young audiences the tools to explore individual answers to the play and how to tackle the next phase of life on this planet.


EXTINCTION


NB: Prices do not include gst

comprhensive Workshop


120 mins

$2300

up to 100 students

Additional students $23 each

THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller

The Crucible is a partially fictionalised account of the witch trials that took place in Salam Massachusetts in 1692-93. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for the way the US government persecuted people accused of being communists during the McCathy era. 

John Proctor is often thought of as the play’s protagonist. His journey through the play foretold what would happen to Miller himself when he was called before The House of representatives’ committee on Un-American activities. The Crucible ends with Proctor’s final act of resistance – going to the gallows for refusing to point the finger at others. In 1956 Miller was convicted of contempt of congress for refusing to give names of his colleagues to the committee. 

Beyond the link to the McCarthy era – the play is worthy of study for its narrative and characters alone. Our workshop investigates critiques deepening the question whether Proctor is really a hero and the way female characters in the text are portrayed.

St Augustine’s College

The English teachers gave glowing reviews and the students told me that they found it valuable and that it helped them to better understand the text.


THE CRUCIBLE



NB: Prices do not include gst

comprehensive Workshop


120 mins

$2200

up to 100 students

Additional Students $22 each

MEDEA by Euripides

The tale of Medea’s vicious revenge killing of her children strikes at symbols deeply rooted in our culture. Medea is a feminist hero – cutting off patriarchal power at its source as she steals Jason’s heirs. Equally, she is a demon witch and personification of the havoc wreaked by uncontrolled emotions. The workshop explores key character scenes as well as questions about the chorus and stylistics of Greek drama.

Templestowe College

An amazing experience for the students – they loved how intimate and interactive it was… They got SO Much out of it.


MEDEA



NB: Prices do not include gst

comprehensive Workshop


120 mins

$2200

up to 100 students

Additional Students $22 each

BOMBSHELLS by Joanna Murray-Smith

The young woman who needs the dress, the mother fraying at the edges, the older woman who remains a sexual being: comedic stereotypes of women who inhabit our world that explode into deeper truths about being unseen.

In a world of empowered women why does the idea of marrying a taller older man persist? How does exploring the invisibility of ‘normal’ women still advance the cause of gender equality?


OTHER WORKS


NB: Prices do not include gst

comprhensive Workshop


120 mins

$2300

up to 100 students

Additional students $23 each

TWELVE ANGRY MEN by Reginald Rose

When a single juror stands up against peer pressure and votes “Not Guilty” in a seemingly open and shut case it becomes clear why jurors need to deliberate and discuss the case before them.

The defendant is the faceless other – all we know about the defendant is that they are poor, yet the process reveals how both the jurors and the audience project their prejudices onto that person. In addition to unpacking the narrative, the workshop investigates the construction of characters and other dramatic elements, to present a reading of the play as a study in the power of language and one’s ability to create persuasive arguments.

Wonthaggi Secondary College

We enjoyed the workshop-style performance (particularly the 2 versions of a scene side-by-side).


12 ANGRY MEN


NB: Prices do not include gst

comprehensive Workshop


120 mins

$2200

up to 100 students

Additional Students $22 each