The Playwrights Database
P P CRANNEY
Nationality:
Australian
email:
n/a
Website:
n/a
Literary Agent:
n/a
P. P. (Paul) Cranney is an AWGIE award-winning playwright with over twenty years experience working with theatre companies and communities all over Australia. He currently lives in Wollongong, NSW
Research: http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/233417
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2770
Synopsis:
In October 1991 a series of events in Mount Druitt, an 'outer western' Sydney suburb, which would have been normally dismissed as a kids' fight attracted media attention from Sydney's main stream press. The event became known as the 'Bidwill Riots'. The Mt. Druitt post code became an instant media delight. The adverse publicity caused the local community to feel unfairly represented and maligned. Sidetrack was invited to work with local young people to create a work of theatre to help improve the community's self esteem.
Notes:
This show was made with four professional actors and students from the Whalan High School in the Mt. Druitt area
1st Produced:
Whalan High School, Whalan, NSW 02 Oct 1982
Organisations:
Sidetrack Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
TYA
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 8 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/73716
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1984 Show, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Kirribilli Pub Theatre, Milsons Point, NSW 02 Feb 1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
pub theatre
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/91120
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And it's Got a Lovely Backyard
Synopsis:
Set in multi-cultural western Sydney. "There are the lingering memories of their present environment, the starting reality of angry, disenfranchised youth and the delicate moments as love blossoms".
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Parramatta Cultural Centre, Parramatta, NSW 01 Dec 1988
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical theatre
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/1548
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Bit of Black, a Bit of Red and a Bit of White, A
Synopsis:
Developed from material collected and edited by P. P. Cranney from Broken Hill Proprietary employee interviews in the period of time leading up to the closure of the Broken Hill Proprietary steelworks in Newcastle, New South Wales.
Notes:
A result of the Molten Arts Project. Over two months, three actors performed a number of extracts from employee interviews and writings as a twenty-minute presentation in lunchrooms, on the workplace floor and in meeting rooms across the Broken Hill Proprietary Newcastle steelworks. In a direct presentational style the actors performed short pieces reflecting on such topics as an employee's first
1st Produced:
Various, BHP, Mayfield North, NSW 07 Jun 1999
Organisations:
Molten Arts Project, Newcastle, 1999
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Verbatim drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/61450
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Busted
Synopsis:
Busted is a play about adolescents and the law. It poses questions about children's rights, the role of police,domestic violence,under-age drinking and other problems faced by adolescents in the community
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Various NSW Schools, NSW Region, NSW 05 Apr 1983
Organisations:
Sidetrack Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
TIE
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/73698
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Car Gods Burn!
Synopsis:
Eighteen-year-old Adam is busted for speeding and doing burnouts, and is about to lose his licence. To pay his fines, he must sell his beloved souped-up '84 Gemini, a gift from his father, who has helped him do it up. Kirsty's father, Harley, a highway patrol cop, is buying his 17-year-old daughter a car of her own in an attempt to bribe her out of her ambitions to be a model. When Adam takes Kirsty into his world of fast cars and street racing, there is bound to be trouble down the road.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Q Theatre, Penrith, NSW 17 Nov 2004
Organisations:
Q Theatre Company
1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Full-Length 75 mins Realistic drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: Variable cast: 1F, 1-5M
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/65270
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Danny's Inferno
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
part of "Steel Streets"
1st Produced:
Bridge Theatre, Coniston, NSW 15 Aug 2002
Organisations:
Theatre South
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
one act play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/18695
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Down Under the Thumb
Synopsis:
There is no chronological sequence to Down Under The Thumb. Each scene is a glimpse into a usually domestic scene through which relationships and attitudes are revealed. Down Under The Thumb is about an Australian migrant family from a fictitious country somewhere between Southern Europe and the Middle East. It is about the cross-cultural conflicts between the three institutions of home, workplace and school. The parents are in their late thirties, early forties and are factory workers. The work which the parents do is physically draining and psychologically alienating
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Chifley College - Dunheved Campus, St Marys North, NSW Oct 1982
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
play with music
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/73834
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Exposurist
Synopsis:
Australian raised Filipina girl celebrates gaining her journalism qualifications by discovering the country of her oragins and the brother she had never known.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Junction Theatre, Thebarton, SA 20 Oct 1994
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
political drama
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/26241
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Gold Diggers of '83
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
The San Miguel Inn, Cammeray, NSW 20 Aug 1983
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
pub theatre
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/25342
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Hardy Project
Synopsis:
Inspired by the true events in the life of communist writer Frank Hardy.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
[A public reading of a work in progress] Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong, NSW 01 Aug 2003
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
biographical
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/31744
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Hello Down There
Synopsis:
A giant community project- damning criticism of the greed, incompetency and corruption of those who engineered the State Bank fiasco
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Theatre 62, Hilton, SA 02 Jun 1993
Organisations:
Junction Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
piece
Parts:
Male: 5 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/18837
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Home
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
- -
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Full-Length 90 mins Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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It Came From Canberra
Synopsis:
A sci-fi musical revue based on B-grade movies that does not try to provide any definitive answers - just a few cues. It will tour workplaces around the city trying to cast some light on the new dilemmas facing workers.
Notes:
written by P p Cranney and Mark Reedman
1st Produced:
Junction Theatre, Thebarton, SA 01 Jul 1992
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
sci-fi musical revue
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/16482
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Kin
Synopsis:
Kin was made to combat racism and to explore how cultural difference works in contemporary Australian society. Kin celebrates Australia's ethnic diversity as a diversity of life experiences which enlarges the the humanity of us all and looks at how ethnic and cultural differences can become a scapegoat in difficult times - providing simple answers to complex problems. Kin also shows the pain of living between two worlds, with the ache of memory and of hope, and the contradictions of transplanted cultures and at the the search for centredness - for a sense of 'home'.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Various NSW Schools, NSW Region, NSW Apr 1987
Organisations:
Sidetrack Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
TIE play with music
Parts:
Male: 3 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/95134
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Landed
Synopsis:
Tales of departures, arrivals, journeys and dislocations. The real-life stories of young people - refugees with often tragic and traumatic experience of dislocation.A non-text based style of theatre which creates a language based on physicality , image and music.
Notes:
Merrigong Fringe 2002
1st Produced:
Bruce Gordon Theatre, Wollongong, NSW 20 Mar 2002
Organisations:
Company Theatre Physical
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
dance theatre
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/17532
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Loco
Synopsis:
Set in 1988 at the time of the Bicentenary, it is a funny but hard hitting examination of the threat of new technologies in the multi ethnic blue collar workforce. Manufactured at Chullora Locomotive Workshops, Loco is the result of a residency at the workshops and was made in consultation with the workers.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Eveleigh Railway Workshops - Loco, Eveleigh, NSW Oct 1983
Organisations:
Sidetrack Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
play with music
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/73855
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Nonno's Luck
Synopsis:
Nonno is an old Italian fisherman who has fished the waters around Sydney since arriving in Australia as a boy of 15. He believes his enviable catches are due to his luck and never allowing a woman on board his boat. On day a girl called Jackie came to the pier in search of a job on a fishing boat. She found out that Nonno was looking for a young deck hand, who of course, had to be a boy. Jackie disguises herself as a boy and gets the job. Then one day a series of mishaps lead Nonno to discover that his deck hand is actually a girl. He blames her for the problems of the day..
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Various NSW Schools, NSW Region, NSW 10 Feb 1982
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
TIE
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/91813
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Number One Thing, The
Synopsis:
An 'Art and Working Life' theatre work. It explores those factors that prevent us from working towards the achievement of a more democratic society. It draws attention to a fundamental contradiction in our society: to be valued we must work, but that work devalues us. The play came from the idea of, and opportunity to develop, a play for the Trade Union Training Authority seminar about worker participation in industry. It was developed by the actors, writer and director from research with members of various trade unions and the Trade Union Training Authority
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Various Workplaces + Schools, Aust 30 Oct 1984
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
musical
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/92276
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Offshore
Synopsis:
A decent piece of agit prop, anti-communist, left-wing theatre
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Thebarton Theatre, Torrensville, SA 21 Sep 1991
Organisations:
Junction Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:
Genre:
political drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 3 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/15472
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Out From Under
Synopsis:
Out From Under continues the story of the Capoti family from the earlier show, Down Under the Thumb. It is about a contemporary migrant family under siege... played at the speed of farce, it has moments of great joy and tenderness but... what you are finally left with is a great Australian tragedy
Notes:
lyricist: P P Cranney
1st Produced:
Various NSW Schools, NSW Region, NSW 1983
Organisations:
Sidetrack Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
TIE
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/92205
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Rated X
Synopsis:
Rated X is a performance which explores the often taboo subject of youth depression and its dire consequence - suicide. This is a narrative play which focuses on the lives of three teenagers and how they deal with the different pressures in their lives. It was also developed in consultation with health professionals to ensure appropriate content.
Notes:
The script was produced as a collaboration between writer P P Cranney, cast and the co-directors of the play - Jeremy Rice and Katrina Douglas
1st Produced:
Australasian Tour, Australia 1998
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
http://australianplays.org/ -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
70 mins One act
Parts:
Male: 2 Female: 6 Other: Variable cast - can use more actors
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/106685
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Rec Room, The
Synopsis:
A reading of P.P. Cranney's play, written in collaboration with Sydney's street communities
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Edward Eager Lodge, Darlinghurst, NSW 27 Aug 2004
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:
Genre:
reading
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/64456
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Robin Hood Show, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
written by Paul Chubb and Perry Quinton; lyricist: P P Cranney
1st Produced:
Kirribilli Pub Theatre, Milsons Point, NSW 17 May 1980
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
pub theatre
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/95254
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Secret Service Show, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Kirribilli Pub Theatre, Milsons Point, NSW 29 Jan 1983
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:
Genre:
pub theatre
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/91121
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Sh'larba
Synopsis:
SH'LARBA is a mythical place (boasting not-too-subtle similarities with a certain south Illawarra city) that has been colonised by the skaties, the surfies, the homies, the hoons, the theatre crowd, the teenyboppers, and a few others who don?t quite know where they fit in yet. Into this safe little community comes a stranger, Martin, an inner-city Goth who is forced to move to the area when his father gets a job with BHP. Martin has a fondness for dressing in black, painting his nails, and wearing make-up, and as one local observes, "In Sh'larba, you'd probably need a permit to look like that
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Harbour Theatre, Shellharbour, NSW 23 Nov 2001
Organisations:
Roo Theatre Company Inc
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
TYA
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/75763
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Tailing Out
Synopsis:
The story of life at the Steelworks, adapted from the book by Pat Cranney "Tailing Out: BHP Workers talk about life, steel making and the Newcastle closure"
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Port Kembla Leagues Club, Port Kembla, NSW 29 Mar 2001
Organisations:
Company Theatre Physical
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Verbatim drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/75784
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Western Show, The
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Kirribilli Pub Theatre, Milsons Point, NSW 06 Oct 1979
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
pub theatre
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 2 Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/88857
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Whale of a Tale, A
Synopsis:
The eco-tale of the deep...a spectacular of dolphins, fish, jellyfish and sailors, portrayed by uni-cyclists, stilt walkers and trapeze artists.
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Maritime Museum, Port Adelaide, SA 14 Mar 1992
Organisations:
Bowden Brompton Youth Circus, Adelaide Fringe Festival
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
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Booksellers:
Genre:
piece
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/15146
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