Sex, God and Red Tape

An Australian Drama Showcase

31st October – 15th November 2005

David Michel and Josephine Short rehearse TERMINUS, by Daniel Keene

Bringing together the themes considered “taboo” at the dinner party table - Sex, Religion and Politics - Jacaranda Theatre will deliver a rehearsed reading showcase of Australia’s most acclaimed, bold and innovative playwrights with a selection of plays which expose Australia’s exciting, immensely challenging and sometimes disturbing underbelly.

Performing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts over six nights, this cutting edge contribution debunks the myths of Australia’s constant sunshine culture of “Surf, Sand and Soaps”.

Monday October 31st @ 7:30 pm
Sex Diary of an Infidel by Michael Gurr:

Australian playwright Michael Gurr's multi-award winning play. A complex story of lies, fantasies and shifting realities, the play presents a prize-winning journalist pursuing a story about Australia's involvement in the lucrative and booming sex tours trade in Manila.

Gurr occupies a unique place in Australian theatre, a winner of four State and Premiers' Literary Awards for Drama.

Director: Rhonwen McCormack
Cast:Edmund Pegge, Matt Dyktynski, Debra Low, Kendall Goddard, Ed Nelson, Wai Keat Lau, Clyta Rainford

Thursday, November 3rd @ 7:30 pm
Love: Patricia Cornelius

Just out of prison and rough as guts, addictive, passionate and terrible love is what keeps Annie, Tanya and Lorenzo together. They are the most unloved and unlovable of people. Born at the bottom of the heap, will they ever shift from under the weight of poverty and ignorance?

Director: Alex Whitham
Cast: Clea Langton, Emma Deakin, Mackenzie Scott

Tuesday November 8th @ 7:30pm
These People by Ben Ellis

The story of what a “typical” Australian father, mother, daughter and son become when confronted with the stories of asylum-seekers: nightmares, dreams and, sometimes, penguins. Transforming the play’s documentary material (which includes court and inquiry transcripts, statements by immigration ministers, interviews with detention centre workers and asylum-seekers themselves) – the play highlights the dramatic Australian response to the refugee story of recent times, with terrifying consequences.

Director: Debra Low
Cast: Alix Longman, Alan Hanson, Andrew Bevis, Kendal Goddard

Wednesday November 9th@ 7:30pm
Miranda: by Stephen Sewell

Sewell, whose recent work, Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America has won more awards than any other Australian play. Passion, drugs and the shadow of international terrorism ... these elements combine in Miranda to create a gripping drama in which fear, betrayal and guilt are laid bare during a passionate encounter between two strangers in a luxury hotel.

Director: Rhonwen McCormack
Cast: Tim Versteegan, Josephine Mackerras, Dominic Kelly

Monday November 14th @ 7:30pm

Short works (14th November) Jacaranda also presents a cut-throat collection of short works from Australia’s most violently outspoken and fascinating playwrights, Van Badham, including An Anarchist at Dinner, as well as a selection of darkly poetic short works from the acclaimed Daniel Keene.

Director: Lauren Steenholdt

Cast includes: Andrew Robb, Alan White, Maxine Morrison, Alan Hanson, Glen Woolgar, Tom Sangster, Lauren Steenholdt, Andrew Bevis, Alex Whitham

Tuesday November 15th @7:30pm
Terminus: by Daniel Keene

Serial murderer becomes redeemer in what is described by the Paris Voice as “Keene’s darkest picture yet of the consequences of social alienation”.Virtually unknown to British audiences, Melbourne-based, multi-award-winning Daniel Keene is currently the most produced contemporary playwright in France.

Director: Rhonwen McCormack
Cast includes: Kevin Colson, David Michel, John Eastman, Debra Low, Andrew Bevis, Paul Sugars, Rob Carroll ,James Smurthwaite, Josephine Short, Andrew Robb, John Eastman

Artistic Director: Debra Low
Directors:Rhonwen McCormack, Debra Low, Alex Whitham
Dates: 31 October 3, 8, 9, 14, 15 November
Price : by Donation
Bookings: jacarandatheatre@yahoo.co.uk
Venue: RADA Foyer, 62-64 Gower Street (Entrance Malet St)London,WC1E 6ED
Tube: Goodge St/Euston Square