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Janis Balodis

JANIS BALODIS

  (1950 - )
Nationality:    Australian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Janis Balodis was born in Australia of Latvian parents who settled in North Queensland after the Second World War. He majored in Drama at Townsville Teachers' College, and worked as a primary school teacher until 1972. after a varied acting and directing career based in Brisbane and later in London where he was a director and tutor at e15 acting School, his first play, Backyard, was workshopped at the Australian National Playwrights' Conference and produced by Nimrod Theatre in 1980. Other plays include Happily Never after, Beginning of the end, Summerland, Heart for the Future, and Double Take. Currency has published Wet and Dry and, in 2006, Perfect Skin his adaptation of Nick earl's novel as well the the Ghosts Trilogy , premiered by the Melbourne Theatre Company, which comprises Too Young for Ghosts, No Going Back and My Father's Father and draws on his Latvian heritage. Balodis has also written for television and radio. He was an associate Director of Melbourne Theatre Company (1988-93), and Dramaturg-in-Residence and artistic associate at Queensland Theatre Company (1995-6). He currently lives on the North Coast of NSW.

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below is a list of Janis Balodis's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Backyard         Beginning Of the End         Engine         Happily Never After         Heart For the Future         My Father's Father         No Going Back         Perfect Skin         Red Cap         Summerland         Too Young For Ghosts         Wet And Dry

Backyard

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Sydney    1980

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Black Comedy Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.Austlit.edu.au, http://www.Austlit.edu.au >>>,

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Beginning Of the End

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Darwin    1982

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Engine

Engine
every week somewhere in Australia news headlines proclaim yet another tragedy of young lives lost in a car wreck. Communities are shocked, politicians duck for cover and families are torn apart. . . the same story again and again. Set a month after the crash, engine is the story of 'Grumpop' who lost a grandson and Natasha who lost a brother. engine is a highly charged theatrical event about family, friends and cars and of fixing what's broken and celebrating life.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Star Court Theatre, Lismore, Nsw    29 Jul 2010

Organisations:
NORPa

1st Published:
Currency Press, Australia (2011) >>>    978-0-86819-889-7

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  multiple doubling and chorus

Further Reference:
-

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Happily Never After

Synopsis:
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Notes:
Music by Frank Millward

1st Produced:
Brisbane    1982

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Stage play 2 acts

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.Austlit.edu.au, http://www.Austlit.edu.au >>>,

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Heart For the Future

Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
Melbourne    1989

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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My Father's Father

My Father's Father
Written over a period of ten years, this trilogy began in 1985 with Too Young for Ghosts. It follows the lives of a group of young Latvians who emigrate to north Queensland in 1948. the chronicle of their struggles over forty-five years is paralleled by the narrative of the unsuccessful journeys made by German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in Queensland in the years 1845-6.

Notes:
part of the Ghost Trilogy

1st Produced:
Melbourne    1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Ghost Trilogy", Currency Press, Sydney, 1997   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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No Going Back

No Going Back
Written over a period of ten years, this trilogy began in 1985 with Too Young for Ghosts. It follows the lives of a group of young Latvians who emigrate to north Queensland in 1948. the chronicle of their struggles over forty-five years is paralleled by the narrative of the unsuccessful journeys made by German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in Queensland in the years 1845-6.

Notes:
part of the Ghost Trilogy

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Ghost Trilogy", Currency Press, Sydney, 1997   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Perfect Skin

Perfect Skin
adapted from Nick earls novel, Perfect Skin is a witty, moving and highly original snapshot of what it is to be thirty-something in a post-Duran Duran world.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Currency Press, Sydney, 1991   -

Music:
-

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If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Red Cap

Synopsis:
the Mount Isa mining dispute of 1964 arose from a struggle for better wages and work conditions but escalated into a no-holds-barred battle. the miners, their wives and the whole city rose up and pitted themselves against their Company and union, the media and the Government, who were all determined to break their will to fight. a leader emerged. His name was Pat Mackie (with his distinctive red cap) who, in his own words, was "an old wobblie-minded worker with a shit-stirring touch". a tale of community triumph over rampant authoritarianism, Red Cap is an exciting and original music-theatre experience that captures the aussie battler's fight for dignity, self-determination, and the quintessential right to a 'fair go'.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Playlab Press, 2007   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Summerland

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Brisbane    1984

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Too Young For Ghosts

Too Young For Ghosts
Written over a period of ten years, this trilogy began in 1985 with Too Young for Ghosts. It follows the lives of a group of young Latvians who emigrate to north Queensland in 1948. the chronicle of their struggles over forty-five years is paralleled by the narrative of the unsuccessful journeys made by German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in Queensland in the years 1845-6.

Notes:
part of the Ghost Trilogy

1st Produced:
Melbourne    1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
in "the Ghost Trilogy", Currency Press, Sydney, 1997   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wet And Dry

Wet And Dry
a modern comedy about ancient emotions which confronts us with the clinical indignity and loneliness of modern life and the hard truths about sex, love and parenthood for the first generation to take for granted that they have the right to choose.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Darwin    1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Currency Press, Sydney, 1991   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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