The Playwrights Database
JANE AHLQUIST
Nationality: Australian
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Jane Ahlquist trained in Drama and philosophy at Flinders University. Since then, she has presented her own work at the Stables, at Belvoir Street, the Tap Gallery, various unconventional Theatre spaces and at the Adelaide Festival Fringe. She has toured Australia with political cabaret, choreographed at Kinselas, directed children's Theatre, experimental work, original adaptations from literature, and Australian plays. In 1993, Jane set up "Bathhouse Arts" with painter Marion van den Dreisschen, to pursue the question: "is it possible to have a spiritually and socially regenerative Theatre, such as was seen in ancient Greece, in the modern world? If so, what would it look like?" as a result of her work, in 1998 she was invited to the 25th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House, where she spoke about her philosophy (national broadcast). Jane has been twice Guest Director at the Hastings Arts Festival; she wrote and directed Indjamarra, a piece on Wiradjuri history, for the International Year of Peace; a Grain of eternity (on William Blake) for the Museum of Contemporary art (collaborator Nigel Butterley); four collaborative "two-handers" with the flautist Christine Draeger; several solo shows presented at regional Arts festivals; plus she has had a parallel conventional performing career. Jane is currently artistic Director of the Braidwood Troupe and has written two of their large-scale productions: Briar Rose (2006) and Cinder Tales (2009). She lives in Majors Creek.
Research: http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/1864
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below is a list of Jane Ahlquist's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Annotated Briar Rose, The Bird Parliament, The Briar Rose Broom(E) Cinder Tales Growing Up With JudithAnnotated Briar Rose, The
Synopsis:
The theatrical retelling of the Grimm's fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty.
Notes:
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1st Produced:
Chester Street Uniting Church Hall, Epping, NSW 18 Jan 1994
Organisations:
Bathhouse Arts
1st Published:
- -
Music:
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Genre:
adaptation musical theatre
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: musicians
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/20677
Top of PageBird Parliament, The
Synopsis:
the Bird Parliament is a rendering of the great medieval Persian parable, the Conference of the Birds, into Australian bird life and contemporary characters. Set against a collective desire to find again the mythical Great Golden Bird (along with an unwillingness to face the journey!), the various birds recount their separate agonies, in a stylistic hybrid where birdcalls collide with elevator music and rainbow lorikeets are unemployed teenagers. at last, the birds run out of excuses and set out on the journey, whence the story modulates into a high-energy tour of the seven symbolic peaks and valleys (full of monsters) which must be traversed if the Golden Bird is to be discovered. Finally, featherless and past caring, a few survivors arrive at his palace. ah, but the Great Golden Bird is not as they imagined. . ..
Notes:
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1st Produced:
TAP Gallery, Darlinghurst, NSW 17 Jan 2001
Organisations:
Sydney Fringe Festival 2001
1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
Music:
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Genre:
solo storytelling 105 min
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/7316
Top of PageBriar Rose
Synopsis:
A tale of darkness and mercy. There is a christening in the kingdom and all the Wise Women are invited, except the last - "she who stitches life and death together". Angered by the insult, the last Wise Woman curses the assembly. Briar Rose tells of the nature of the curse, the conditions it places on the Wise, and the journey of the Prince in search of the Beauty sleeping behind the hedge of thorns haunted by dead princes...
Notes:
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1st Produced:
National Theatre, Braidwood, NSW 18 Mar 2006
Organisations:
The Braidwood Theatre
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/68780
Top of PageBroom(E)
Synopsis:
Broom(e) tells the tale of an eccentric woman's holiday in Broome, Western Australia, in an episodic journey that spirals from hilarity to panic to silence. even as she is meeting local 'characters' and (yawn) taking tours by day, she is at night being taken over by a series of remarkable dreams (performed inside a semicircle of coloured footlights). Finally, she is drawn away from the world of perceived social reality and into the living world of night language and personal (un)reality, as the ultimate road trip rumbles on to its destination. . .
Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
Music:
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Genre:
psycho comedy 90 min
Parts:
Male: - Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageCinder Tales
Synopsis:
Cinder Tales is based upon CinderElla (with all the fairy tale characters); but in Cinder Tales, Ella does not go to the Prince's ball. Instead, the Fairy Godmother gives Ella a recognition that the world, when seen accurately, already IS the ball: it is a sacred place. Ella receives her magic slippers from the Fairy Godmother but the White Bird takes one and drops it at the ball; and so the search for the foot that will fit the shoe commences and Ella is crowned. In an energetic coda, the Ugly Stepsisters murder Ella in her bath, whereupon Ella reincarnates four times before being restored to the Prince. the Ugly Sisters boil themselves alive - and end up as cows in the araluen Valley. the show ends with a "moo"!
Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
Music:
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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:
music theatre 90 mins
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: Genders (and numbers) are freely adaptable
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageGrowing Up With Judith
Synopsis:
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Notes:
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1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
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1st Published:
Music:
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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:
Full-Length 135 mins Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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