Contemporary Australian Plays: The Hotel Sorrento; Dead White Males; Two; The 7 Stages of Grieving; The Popular Mechanicals

by Hannie Rayson, Deborah Mailman, David Williamson (Editor)

Saturday night, small town Wales, one pub, one party and three lads stuck with their school reputations - the gimp, the geek and the bully. Their dream - to get the hell out



Dead White "Triumphant...The neatly lined up ducks of academic absolutism are ruthlessly, and hilariously, assassinated" - Sydney Morning Herald; "Swain is a wonderful creation" - Guardian
The 7 Stages of "A subtle and complex invitation to experience something of the depth of Aboriginal grieving" - Melbourne Age.
Hotel "Has a moody, evocative, literary sweep and scope to it" - Sydney Morning Herald
In 1948, in a German town, Anna comes to Rabbi Chaim Levi for Hebrew lessons. As the two study the language, their stories are gradually revealed, raising fundamental moral questions as they try to reconcile their tormented pasts and accept and renew their lives.
The Popular "One of the most rollickingly entertaining nights in the theatre" (Sydney Morning Herald)

Genres: Drama

400 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 2001

Reviews

[Inés Chamarro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This being my first experience of Australian drama and never having been to Australia in general, I found this book interesting in its variety. "Hotel Sorrento", leaving apart the actual story which is of family interaction and how one can never bury the past deep enough, is full of interesting reflections on modern Australian identity and the criticism of that identity and whether Australians abroad retain the right to criticize, which I found rather peculiar.

"Dead White Males" is a play on the excesses of academia and the use of freedom of teaching to indoctrinate students on a particular ideology. Anyone with an academic background will have very good fun with it. It is clear the author had a few pointed messages to get accross to academics, too.

"Two" is here solely because the author is Australian, but it is a purely Jewish play, situated in post -WWII Germany and reflecting on Jewish identity and a cabbalistic philosophy of Hebrew. Fascinating all the same if one has any linguistic curiosity.

"The 7 Stages of Grieving", in contrast, is an Aboriginal play. I feel it must improve on performance, as you can't really imagine the music or the dancing from the written description, but it is a monologue of lamentation on the past and present situation of the Murri people and their interaction with white Australia.

"The Popular Mechanicals", which closes the book, is a farce based entirely on Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. I laughed aloud several times and grinned throughout.

I find it interesting that both Mechanicals and and Dead White Males revolve around Shakespeare and his work, not that I have any complaints. He has clearly cast a longer shadow than I would have expected so far from Europe.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised by australian plays I have to say. This was another book I was meant to read during my time at university but didn't quite manage and thought I'd give it a go now. First off I have the biggest complaint. This book is for the purpose of education and i was honestly disgusted at the amount of typos throughout the book the one that stood out the most was that at the top of every page for the dead white males play it stated it was dead while males and it really got to me. Not good. A basic run through, Hotel Sorrento, I really loved it was gritty displayed family life perfectly but i felt it ended too soon and almost just before the most interesting part had come. Dead White Males, was very interesting and it made me agreed that in times in education ideas are more forced on you than discussed. The 7 Stages of Grieving, i feel i didn't love or hate but thought it was less relatable as I think it is a piece that you have to see rather than read. Two, was very interesting in the fact it was the only play outside of Australia and with people from another country I liked it and what it made the audience consider putting together two characters that would not normally come together or want to. Finally The Popular Mechanicals, a take on midsummers nights dream theatre troupe it was interesting and funny but perhaps I found it no more funny than the actual scenes itself and I wasn't really sure what was to really be gained from it but overall very fun.

A very interesting introduction to Australian plays that I'd be more than willing to expand upon and maybe even see a show if they do them in more locations in the UK than just London. Cool!

[Marie]

Only read 7 Stages of Grieving from this for work. Kids would benefit from a filmed performance to understand it better as it's unconventional. Glad they are reading a modern play by Aboriginal writers.

[Jeanne Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, fast lawyer mystery