Bøger udgivet af Currency Press Pty Ltd

Set in a small isolated outback town, this moving and gutsy play is a confronting look at the impact of a young man''s suicide on the lives of the family and friends that are left behind. The work was developed over two years with the Mosman Park Arts Foundation along with collaboration from health professionals to help address the issue of youth suicide in Australia. (2 acts, 3 male, 1 female).

A thug and his junior partner in crime take a late night train from Perth to Fremantle, menacing passengers along the way. For an hour they own the train.

A savage comedy of manners, "It Just Stopped" explores our relationship to art, globalisation, death, technology, America, Campari, cardboard boxes and slavery. Sewell''s play is funny and shocking in turn. It holds the mirror up to the things we value today and asks the questions: what will we value the day the world just stops, and what would we be willing to trade for our own survival? To describe Stephen Sewell''s dark comedy as a cautionary tale does it scant justice, given the anger and apocalyptic vision driving its mayhem and fun. "It Just Stopped" is a whimsical, argumentative, satirical and deeply serious play. Written with searing passion and dazzling momentum, "Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America" reverberates with the aftershocks of September 11. With compelling drive and theatrical daring, we are swept from cocktails at the Guggenheim to the hungry vacuum of Ground Zero. Stephen Sewell demands answers to some of the most urgent questions of our times. Where is the line between patriotism and nationalism? What happens when the Land of the Free makes such uncompromising statements as: ''You''re either with us or against us''?

Four country children waiting in the rain for the school bus take turns telling stories. In an unusual twist, Anna''s story takes the children to Nazi Germany. An intriguing tale about Heidi, a young girl caught in the turmoil of World War II, whose father was one of the most dreaded men in history. One of the children, Mark, becomes engrossed in Heidi''s story. In his conversations with his friends, his teacher and with his parents, he explores the moral and ethical issues it raises. This intriguing play poses powerful questions about a frightening period in history and forces us to examine moral issues in relation to society''s fears and prejudices in a fresh, compelling light. 1 act, 3 male, 3 female.

"Bastard Boys" is the story of the fight that stopped the nation -- the 1998 battle for Australia''s waterfront. More than just a dispute over reform, it became a campaign for the hearts and minds of all Australians. Controversial, all-consuming and combative, it forced people to pick a side and fight for their beliefs. Political thriller, war film, buddy movie, love story and courtroom drama all rolled into one, this is the story of the people behind one of the most significant events in Australia''s recent past. Iconic Australian actors Jack Thompson and Colin Friels lead an outstanding cast that includes: Geoff Morrell, Dan Wyllie, Justine Clarke, Rhys Muldoon and Lucy Bell. "Bastard Boys" has been written with the co-operation and participation of all parties to the dispute. It is the first time participants such as former Patrick CEO, Chris Corrigan and ACTU Secretary, Greg Combet have agreed to tell their stories. 4 acts, 8 male, 3 female.

After the murder of her husband, Celia has shut herself and her 16-year-old daughter Zoë away, toiling on a peach farm in the middle of nowhere. The arrival of two young people to help during picking season heralds the beginning of the end for Celia''s safe existence. Her daughter falls in love with enigmatic, erratic Kieran, but when the relationship is threatened, they run away together. The safe, perhaps smothering, world that Celia has created unravels; her paranoia and insecurities amplified to full volume. Playing out alongside her fear, we see the increasingly degrading and dangerous lifestyle that the two elopers have fallen into. 2 acts, 2 male, 4 female.

In the 1870''s a girl is born under a tree -- her birth tree -- chosen to give her strength and wisdom. When the tree is cut down she follows it into the white man''s world, working as a cook for the big house on the island. Her tree has become a kitchen table, one she will pass down through successive generations as a legacy -- a way of carving out her family stories. Now, generations later, a young man and his mother fight for ownership of the table. Directed by Marion Potts, the play is full of humour and is deeply affecting. Gently peeling away the layers of storytelling, it reveals the communal binds that lie beneath them. A moving testament to culture lived, lost and found, the strength of family, adapting and gathering together. 2 acts, 2 male, 2 female.

Tim, an airline pilot and Angela, his young, beautiful wife, live the successful urban dream in a streamlined apartment in the inner city. One night a friend of Angela''s, Dez, pays them a visit. There''s just one problem: Angela flatly denies she''s ever met him, and despite Dez''s growing protestations, she wants him out. Rejected and humiliated, Dez leaves. But not before making some seemingly ominous threats. Now Angela and Tim are having trouble readjusting. Dez has thrown their comfortable lives out of kilter and fear of future incursions escalates. Enter Dick, private eye -- smarmy and menacing by turns, a Man who Makes Things Happen. Though he charges by the hour and his approach is definitely unconventional, Dick may be exactly what the situation requires... 9 scenes, 3 male, 1 female.

"The Piano", written and directed by Jane Campion, is one of the most honoured films of the new Australian cinema, and is considered by many critics to be a modern masterpiece. Campion won the Palme D''Or at Cannes in 1993 for the film, making her the first woman ever to win this prestigious award; it also won Best Original Screenplay (Campion), Best Actress (Holly Hunter) and Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin) at the 1994 Oscars. In 1880 the widowed, and mute, Ada (Holly Hunter) and her young daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin) leave their native Scotland and travel to New Zealand''s remote South Island, as the arranged family of Stewart (Sam Neil), an Englishman who lives and works the land there. With them come Ada''s piano which serves as her outlet of expression, her ''voice''. Despite fierce insistence from Ada, Stewart leaves the piano on the beach after he decides it is too heavy to carry back to his homestead. Stewart''s neighbour Baines (Harvey Kietel) makes a deal with Stewart for the piano and lessons with Ada, which has dire repercussions for them all. Gail Jones'' essay brings a fresh and original vision to this acclaimed film in Currency''s Australian Screen Classics series.

Randolph Stow is acknowledged as one of Australia''s finest writers and his fifth novel, "The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea", first published in 1965, remains his most popular in Australia. It''s a semi-autobiographical account of Rob Coram''s growth from the age of six to fourteen, in the West Australian coastal town of Geraldton, and its surrounding pastoral districts, in the 1930s and 1940s.

The Benedict brothers are on opposite sides of the political divide. Eggs is the Minister for Home Security and prime minister-in-waiting. Tom is a refugee advocate and the head of a charitable foundation. The brothers have a relationship based on affection and respect. And in the jumble of family life they have managed to accommodate their ideological differences. But then, an Indonesian fishing boat, packed with refugees, goes down in the Indian Ocean on Christmas Day. Two hundred and fifty people drown, but one man survives. "Two Brothers" is a story about what happens when one family produces two powerful, passionate, socially-committed sons whose rival senses of duty bring them into deadly conflict. Most of all, it is a story about the struggle between compassion and security in an age of terror. Part political thriller, part family drama, "Two Brothers" is written with Hannie Rayson''s characteristic insight and humanity. Includes introductions by Katharine Brisbane and Tony Kevin. 2 Acts, 7 male, 2 female.

STILL ANGELA is an unpredictable portrait of a contemporary Australian woman at three ages. On the cusp of Angela''s birthday, we are invited on a real and imagined journey: up the garden path of her childhood; into the Simpson Desert where she confronts her nemesis; into the kitchen with her lover; and at the chess board with her mother. Finally, we share in her extraordinary, surreal birthday party. 5 male; 4 female.

In Flaming Tree Grove, life appears to be picture perfect. Security and privacy are precious virtues and seclusion its own reward. Until the day when little Ruby sets off to visit her grandmother at the end of the cul-de-sac and is never seen again. The neighbourhood fractures into grief and suspicion in the search for answers to a terrible absence. And then a parcel arrives on her parents'' doorstep... (1 Act, 1 male, 1 female).

Abusive, cantankerous and burned out by booze, Leo Bailey is one of Australia''s national treasures. A gifted painter and chronic alcoholic, he can no longer take care of himself. His resentful daughter has been through a succession of minders, until Therese comes along, fresh out of jail and determined to make a go of her limited options. This is a tough, funny and big-hearted play. It''s about shame and judgement, about who deserves to be loved and forgiven. It looks at how people exploit each other and where they find the beauty; and the qualities of transcendence, letting go and forgiveness. (2 acts, 2 male, 2 female).

In 1931, Alice, a white station owner, goes riding with her Aboriginal head stockman and friend, Jim. During the course of the afternoon, they come to an agreement about the running of the property, Ambertrue, and its ownership. Many years later, in an environment of white paranoia fed by misinformation, Alice's great nephew Lon is running Ambertrue. When Lon receives a letter announcing a native title claim in the area, he is terrified that his dream of passing the family property on to his son-in-law will be shattered. (2 acts, 3 male, 3 female).

Gerry is a documentary filmmaker who, one day each year, follows five children around with a camera. He shows the results annually on television. Yet for the children who grow up under Gerry's (and the nation's) watchful eye, the experience creates its own dynamic. Are the participants his subjects, his children, or his creations? What responsibility does a storyteller have, to his subjects, his audience, and himself? How much does Gerry take? Does the presence of the camera distort the lives it is supposed to be capturing? Spanning more than twenty years, this play invites you into a world of fractured celebrity and distorted vision. (5 male, 4 female).

This play documents the cataclysmic Newcastle earthquake and its aftermath. Based entirely on taped interviews, this is the dramatic presentation of real oral history, as told by the staff and friends of the Newcastle Workers Club. In unvarnished tones, sometimes funny, sometimes terrified, they show the after-effects of the tragedy on the lives of ordinary people. (7 male, 9 female).

Hibberd has been called the most innovative Australian playwright of his generation. His early plays have endured the test of time and continue to be performed, studied and read for pleasure. White with Wire Wheels (1967) satirises a culture of masculinity expressed in cars, booze and work. Women are marginalised, trivialised and ultimately disposable. This provocative and unconventional comic play throws a spotlight on human and material values and a society that can tolerate the intolerable. Dimboola (1969) is expressively vulgar, bawdy and boisterous, it plays out the wedding reception from hell, with the audience active participants as guests. A Stretch of the Imagination (1972) introduces us to the painfully lonely world of Monk O''Neill, one of the great comic creations of Australian dramatic literature. Monk''s colourful, rambling monologue cuts to the quick of what Australia one was and what one day it could become. The resilient ironies of the play will not be lost on today''s generation.

Based on the true story of Alwyn Peter, a Queensland Aboriginal charged with murder in 1979; his case created legal precedent when he was released on parole after his lawyers argued that men, like Peter, were shaped and destroyed by their artificially created environments on Queensland reserves (2 acts, 3 men, 2 women).

Gary has failed in everything he has attempted. But when he inherits a block of land, he gets an urge to build a nest with Sue-Ann, his angry and pregnant girlfriend... This is a story about Aussie battlers -- battling with each other, the elements and the world in their quest to turn a dream into reality. What begins as satire becomes a moving drama told with humour, compassion and loving detail by a highly original and insightful playwright. (3 male, 2 female).

In Navigating we meet Bea, an embattled woman who finds herself in possession of damaging documentary evidence. The seaside town in which she and her sister live is riddled with corruption and buried secrets, as the forces once responsible for a holiday tragedy now conspire to win the contract for a private prison. Unwilling to recognise the fear and deceit around her Bea confides in one hollow friend after another. Her small world crumbles. Silence, she discovers, is as damaging as speech. A dense, powerful, witty human drama which goes to the heart of small-town politics and finds sources of unexpected wisdom. (3 men, 4 women).

Turnaround Creek, outback Australia, Boxing Day, 1945. The dust and inertia settle on the town as Harold Slocum of Slocum''s Travelling Tent Show becomes stranded in the town, emotions run high and the sedentary life of the town is distributed into wakefulness by the remembrance of an illicit affair. In this bittersweet musical, new life is breathed into the town with both humour and sensitivity. This is a lyrical story of rejuvenation and self-acceptance by acclaimed authors Nick Enright and Terence Clarke. (5 male, 7 female).

As protestors march against the war in Vietnam, boys in a Catholic school prepare for their final exams (4 men, 2 women).