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Ron Elisha

RON ELISHA

  (1951 - )
Nationality:    Australian
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Barbara Gange Management  

Born in Jerusalem, Ron elisha moved with his family to Melbourne, Australia in 1953. In 1975 he graduated in Medicine from Melbourne University and has practised as a GP since then. His writing spans novels, screenplays for film and television, articles for journals and newspapers, and stage plays. Works for Theatre include In Duty Bound, einstein, Two, Pax Americana, the Levine Comedy, Safe House, esterhaz, Impropriety and Choice. Many of his plays have been performed extensively throughout Australia and overseas. Renaissance is to be produced by Parnassus Dean as part of the Tamarama Rock Surfers' 2006 season

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

         Blood Libel         Carbon Dating         Choice         Controlled Crying         Crown Versus Winslow, The         Einstein         Esterhaz         Freedom         Goldberg Variations, The         Honour Killing         Impropriety         In Duty Bound         Levine Comedy, The         Love Field         Man In the Middle         Pax Americana         Renaissance         Safe House         Schelling Point, The         Stainless Steel Rat         Tree, Falling, A         Two         Two Noble Kinsmen, The         Wrongfull Life

Blood Libel

Synopsis:
Lottie is a Holocaust survivor with a mission, and that mission is to silence - once and for all - the world-renowned revisionist documentary-maker and Holocaust-denier, Magnus. In order to do this, she conceives a plan whereby she will invite him to open an exhibition, ostensibly as part of a fund-raising drive designed to raise backing for his next documentary. But there are two things she omits to mention in her invitation: First, the fact that the venue for the fundraiser is the Jewish Holocaust Museum and, second, the nature of the chief exhibit. For it is Lottie's ambition to create a massive mural using the excised tattoos from the forearms of 3,500 Holocaust survivors. Herman, the curator of the museum, is understandably appalled, and vetoes the plan. But Lottie will achieve her ends by fair means or foul. In a fast-moving play that weaves its way skilfully through the complex web of relationships that exists between its five characters, Blood Libel places us on a collision course with what lies at the very core of anti-semitism. In so doing, however, it also paints a far broader canvas delineating the nature of the blood libel that each of us carries close to our heart.

Notes:
Nominated for the 2005 Griffin Award for New Australian Playwriting

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Carbon Dating

Synopsis:
Thirteen characters go on a succession of first dates. Through a number of hilarious, sometimes excruciating scenes, we come to see not only the complex web of relationships that exists between these characters, but also a certain primal template for the mating ritual that cannot be ignored. Part of the folklore of this ritual is the necessary myth that, somewhere out there, there is a Mr or Ms Right for each of us. But a myth, necessary or otherwise, is nevertheless a myth. there is nothing new under the sun.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
social satire 110 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Choice

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Sydney : Currency Press, 1994   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Controlled Crying

Synopsis:
anyone who has ever raised a family knows only too well the unbearable angst that accompanies the sound of a babe crying in the night. the more prolonged the crying, the greater the angst. and yet, as parents, though we might move heaven and earth in order to spare our children the slightest sorrow, it is as much our role to allow them to learn how to cry as it is to protect them from the very troubles that provoke their tears. That is the impossible balancing act of parenthood. an act carried out, as often as not, in the midst of the intimate darkness of the marital bed, in the dead of night. More than any other place on earth, be it a battlefield, a bar-room or the back stairs, the marital bed is where the true business of life is transacted - in furtive, whispered darkness, from conception through to death. and it is within this most secret of places, through a series of deft scenes spanning over a quarter of a century, that the Drama of 'Controlled Crying' is played out. Here, amidst the rumpled, chaotic counterpane of life, Libby and Oscar play out the odyssey that is the raising of Millie. and an odyssey it truly is, with all the angst, the humour, the pettiness and the profundity of life itself.

Notes:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
comedy with a tragic ending 111 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Crown Versus Winslow, The

Synopsis:
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1st Produced:
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1st Published:
-   -

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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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Einstein

Synopsis:
Subject: einstein, albert, 1879-1955

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne     1981

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Ringwood, Vic : Penguin Books in association with Yackandandah Press, 1986   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
2 acts Biographical

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Esterhaz

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne     1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Sydney : Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre Company, 1990   -

Music:
-

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Genre:
Historical

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Freedom

Synopsis:
US President Charles Foster Raye (Chuck) is due to address the UN in order to try and avert an all out war with China. He approaches a speechwriter, Theresa, in order to write the first great speech of the 21st century for the occasion. Unable to resist such an opportunity, she takes on the challenge, then panics, terrified that she will be unable to deliver. Norman, her therapist, offers to help her through the process. Together, with the iconic speeches of the 20th century projected over the entire set, they deconstruct each speech, in an effort to discover what makes it work. the reason that Norman offers to help Theresa is that he is deeply in love with her, but cannot say anything because of the therapeutic relationship. Normans therapist, Prudence, disapproves strongly. Never having been in a serious relationship herself, she aches for the touch of another human being, but would never dream of acting on this desire. as it happens, Prudence is also the Presidents therapist. Chuck is not coping, and is on the verge of a total breakdown. Prudence feels she should somehow reveal his predicament, for the public good, but is restrained by her fear of destabilising the nation in a time of crisis. as the public rhetoric of freedom grows increasingly hyperbolic with each successive speech, the personal freedom of each of the characters progressively narrows, as they become increasingly trapped by their circumstances. a moving study of the illusory nature of freedom in the West.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Drama 115 min

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Goldberg Variations, The

Synopsis:
Sol, a blind piano player, is asked by the Goldberg family to write a speech. Quick to observe the nuances of emotion that run through this family of combatants, what follows is a journey of laughter and love, spotted with the occasional furtive tears, as Sol marks the family's births, deaths and marriages through his speeches. His vision, however, is somewhat obscured when it comes to acknowledging his own heart. This wise and witty play observes how honesty, objectivity and affection can survive the most tangled of relationships.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
comedy 110 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Honour Killing

Synopsis:
It is 1982. Faride, a young perfume sales rep, is on a train. It is her first trip to Paris. Father Sam Brown, a Catholic priest, enters the compartment and engages a reluctant Faride in conversation. a game of cat and mouse ensues until, finally, their true identities are unmasked. In the scene that follows, Faride is being interrogated for her part in a terrorist plot to destroy the eiffel Tower. It transpires that she is pregnant. an immaculate conception. She is to be incarcerated and, upon delivery, separated from her child. It is 2006. Sam, an orthodox Jewish mohel (one who performs ritual circumcisions), is on a train. Into his compartment steps Dimity, a young US soldier. She is on her way to Washington to receive the Congressional Medal of Honour for the courage she has shown during her tour of duty in Iraq. But during her time in Iraq, she has discovered her true identity, and has decided that she will use the occasion to make a political speech. During the conversation that ensues, Sams true identity is revealed, and Dimity holds him at knife-point. Her ascendancy, however, is short-lived. In the scene that follows, Faride, dressed in her purest Muslim finery, is on a train. She is on her way to Mecca, for the Haj. Seated opposite her in the compartment is a bearded figure claiming to be Osama Bin Laden. During the conversation that ensues, their true identities are revealed. Faride is there to avenge her daughters death. Sam is on his way to destroy Islams most sacred site - the Tomb of abraham. Only one will emerge from the train alive. In a play of mounting tension, twists and turns, the relationship between Islam and the West is played out as it has never been played out before.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
Drama 100 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Impropriety

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
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1st Produced:
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Organisations:
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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

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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In Duty Bound

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne     1979

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Montmorency, Vic : Yackandandah Playscripts, series 2, 1983   -

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:
3 acts Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Levine Comedy, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Currency Press, Sydney, 1989   -

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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Love Field

Synopsis:
It is November 22, 1963. JFK has just been shot dead. We are aboard air Force One, taking off from Love Field in Dallas, Texas: Lyndon Baines Johnson, the newly sworn-in President, Jackie Kennedy, the grieving widow of the recently deceased President, and the casket  the last forming the centrepiece in what is arguably the most emotionally charged airplane journey of all time. as the hunt for the assassin unfolds off-stage, the Widow and the Usurper are forced to confront the personal consequences of what has just happened. Layer by painful layer is stripped back as we bear witness to the dreams, the fears and the regrets of these two iconic figures, suddenly finding themselves at the very pivoting point of history. Initially at opposite poles of the emotional universe, by journeys end they have reached an odd kind of understanding  one that has taken root in the shadow of the dead Presidents casket. Taking its inspiration from recorded conversations that took place between Lyndon Baines Johnson and Jackie Kennedy in the wake of the assassination, Love Field explores what it is inside one human being that engenders love in another.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
Drama 100 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Man In the Middle

Synopsis:
"If we can only live once, then let it be a daring adventure that draws on all our powers." Julian assange. How is it possible that a self-educated aussie 'Hactivist' who never finished high school could change our perception of the world and initiate a global chess game which had the greatest leaders of our time lawyering up? Man in the Middle is a Wikiplay, sourced from the public domain, refracted, redacted and re-imagined by playwright, Ron elisha. It reveals a man who sought to out the truth at any cost. the many faces and fallouts of 'the most dangerous man in the world'.

Notes:
Ron Elisha's Man in the Middle received its world premiere, under the title Stainless Steel Rat, At the Seymour Centre, Sydney, June 30 2011, produced by WHC

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre503 and Cheepuk

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/script/ASC-1620   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Pax Americana

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Perth     1984

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Montmorency, Vic : Yackandandah Playscripts, series 9, 1990   -

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:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

Further Reference:
-

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Renaissance

Synopsis:
the year is 1515, and the great Leonardo da Vinci sits vigil by the bedside of one Vincenzo di Scarpa, a former merchant, who hovers on the edge of death as he approaches his hundredth birthday. Biding his time for the old mans body, Leonardo daily visits his bedside, where he encounters Beatrice, Vincenzos young wife and the most exquisite Madonna the great artist has ever laid eyes on. Over the days that follow, Leonardo plays a delicate game between the two, convincing Vincenzo that he (Leonardo) is the devil, to whom the old man must answer for the sins of a lifetime if he wishes to avoid the knife, whilst at the same time slowly seducing Beatrice into becoming his model. all seems to be proceeding to plan until the local priest, Padre Rodolfo, makes his appearance. the arch-enemy of everything for which Leonardo stands, Rodolfo is determined to bring Leonardo to justice on a charge of necromancy, the latter carrying a possible death sentence. at the same time Vincenzo, in an attempt to cheat the devil, closes a deal with Rodolfo which will have dire consequences for Beatrice. In the end, the force of Leonardos intellect and the power of his will to enlightenment transform the lives of each of those around him in ways that are strange, wonderful and unpredictable. So much so, in fact, that each - in a very real sense - has undergone a kind of rebirth, a renaissance. With a lightness of touch that is both beguiling and compelling, 'Renaissance' is a celebration of the power of mind in the never-ending rearguard action being fought against human ignorance. In the course of this action, one of the worlds great mysteries is solved.

Notes:
Winner of the 2006 Mitch Matthews Award (Parnassus' Den Best New Script)

1st Produced:
Old Fitzroy Hotel, Woolloomooloo     2005

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
Drama with comedy 100 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Safe House

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Melbourne     1989

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Sydney : Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre Company, 1989   -

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:  3            Female:  2            Other:  with doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Schelling Point, The

Synopsis:
What do John F. Kennedy, Stanley Kubrick, Tom Schelling, Peter Sellers and Frank Sinatra have in common? Tom Schelling won the Nobel Prize in 2005 for his work in game theory. He began his career soon after World War II as an economist involved in the Marshall Plan. By the early 60s, he had become a widely respected nuclear strategist, whose connection with Robert McNamara (JFK's Secretary of Defense) meant that his influence fed directly into White House policy. Many give him (and his work) credit for the US having averted all-out nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Some also credit him with having been instrumental in moving the US towards involvement in Vietnam. at the time Schelling was publishing his work on nuclear strategy, an article he wrote of the London Observer was noticed by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick met with Schelling, and the idea for Dr Strangelove was born. In a complex and disarming work that weaves its way between the world of realpolitik and the 'reality' of film-making, the Schelling Point explores the fanciful and ultimately romantic game theory notion that human behaviour is largely rational. Using the Schelling Point - the point at which two parties who are unable to communicate can reach a common ground - as its focal point, the play undercuts the political landscape of the 60s with the personal crises of its protagonists, played out to the emotional rhythms of Sinatra's unrepentant romanticism.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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 Drama 90 min

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Stainless Steel Rat

Synopsis:
Wikileaks revealed thousands of secret government calls, this is the story of a director making a film about julian assange's rise to fame.

Notes:
aka Man In the middle

1st Produced:
Seymour Centre, Sydney     36/2011

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Tree, Falling, A

Synopsis:
Lenny lives alone. Once a busy GP at the epicentre of a vibrant family, he now has no recollection whatever of the life he has led. these days, life's chief adventure, relived each day, is the tracking down of the remote control. Into this rather desolate and shapeless life steps Lola, a friendly visitor sent from the local council. What she finds is a stubbornly independent man who sees no reason why this stranger has entered his home. Nor do successive visits render her any less a stranger, as she finds she must re-establish her credentials every single time. Despite her every attempt to provide Lenny with visual cues and aides memoire, he continues to live within the moment. the poignancy of his plight forces Lola to question the meaning of her own past, her own life, of life itself. the discoveries she makes force her to re-evaluate her future. 'a Tree, Falling' has about it a gentle humour, built into the fabric of a poignant, subtly profound work that seeks to probe the centrality of human memory as a means to understanding the meaning of human existence. along the way, themes of identity, loss, the passage of time and our connectedness to one another weave a narrative that speaks to us of the essence of the human condition. Not as a philosopher might speak, or a priest, or even a Dramatist, but as a fellow traveller.

Notes:
Nominated for A 2003 Victorian Green Room Award

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
Tragi-comedy 80 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two

Two
examines some fundamental moral concepts through the stories of a Rabbi and his German language student, as they try to reconcile their tormented pasts and renew a love of life after the Holocaust

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Perth     1983

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Sydney : Currency Press, 1985   978-0868191119

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:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two Noble Kinsmen, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Offstage, London     1987

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

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wrongfull Life

Synopsis:
Wrongful Life' is a somewhat imprecise legal term whereby a parent or child asserts that, had a doctors conduct met the required standard of care, the child would not have been born. To date, the cases brought in Australia have focused either on children born with disabilities or on failed sterilisation procedures. In the play 'Wrongful Life', Ron elisha - a practising GP - pushes the envelope just that little bit further. For Gina, nothing has ever come easily. Life has always been a struggle and, at 16, she has reached the conclusion that it is simply too hard. Put simply, life for Gina is not worth living. By dint of the discovery that, according to Ginas mother (eve), Gina was born only because eves GP (Selina) talked her out of an abortion, Gina urges her mother to take out an action for Wrongful Life on her behalf against Selina. the play traces the progress of the case, layer building upon layer and irony upon irony, until each player, pushed to the limits of logical extreme, falls victim to the inexorable voraciousness of the legal process. In a searing and searching social critique, 'Wrongful Life' seeks to examine the very meaning of life. What is it, in other words, that makes life worth living? Or not worth living. along the way, we are treated to a savvy, blow-by-blow, behind-the-scenes expose of how 'the System' actually works. Perhaps the most telling aspect of 'Wrongful Life' is that, when the curtain finally comes down, we become aware of the fact that there are no true protagonists in this piece - only victims. and we are forced to ask ourselves why.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
http://Australianplays.org/   -

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:
satire 114 min

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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