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Catherine Fargher

CATHERINE FARGHER

  (1961 - )
Nationality:    Australian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Curtis Brown (Australia)Pty Ltd  

Catherine Fargher is a performer, writer and teacher working in radio, contemporary performance, new media, television and Theatre. as a writer, Catherine has had over twenty scripts produced for companies including the Sydney Opera House, Sidetrack Theatre, Vitalstatistix, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, the Jessica Wilson Company and the Australian National Broadcasting Corporation. Her bioethical fable Dr egg and the Man with No ear was adapted for new a media/puppetry production at the Opera House in July 2007 and will tour to Chicago (ReDMOON) in 2008 and New York (New Victory Childrens Theatre) in 2010.. Her performance/Installation BioHome will be performed at the experimental art Foundation (Sa) art and Biotechnology event in October 2008. Catherine has performed widely in cabaret and contemporary performance in Australia. In 1998 she toured with other Australian, UK and New York artists for 'It's Queer up North' in Manchester, Glasgow, Warwick and London as well as WOW Cafe New York. In 2002 she was funded by the Australia Council New Media Fund for the Motherload project, exploring genetic science and human reproductive futures with performance writers Maude Davey and Heather Grace Jones. She is currently teaching at University of Wollongong School of Creative Arts in writing for performance and radio production. She has recently completed her Doctorate of Creative Arts at UOW, under supervisors Merlinda Bobis and Brogan Bunt. Her plays the Violin Player and the Jetty are currently under commission to aBC radio national airplay

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

         Body Ophelia - Installation Texts, The         Body Ophelia, The         Dr Egg And the Man With No Ear         Jetty, The         Marigold Hour, The         Succulent         Violin Player, The         Woman Who Knitted Herself A Child, The

Body Ophelia - Installation Texts, The

Synopsis:
the Body Ophelia explores the uncharted territory of one of Shakepeare's most enigmatic characters, charting the psyche and explorations of Ophelia off the stage; the time and space between her silence and her madness. the piece also explores the case studies of Sigmund Freud and Joseph Breuer from their landmark 'Cases in Hysteria', published in 1893 and seen as crucial in the charting of the subconscious in the 20th century. the Body Ophelia attempts to respond to Luce Iriguary, Helene Cixcious, Monique Wittig and Melanie Klein's call for the exploration of the female psyche as a means of bringing subjectivity to the Patriarchy. Ophelia can write her own body, and explore nature, erotica and body memory as powerful healing forces. Finally the piece explores contemporary body/mind displacement, including anorexia and bulimia, especially where it related to Lady Diana Spencer, and the role the popular media played in this depiction. This script is based on a new media installation performance incorporating sound, video and surveillance monitors. This performance explored notions of "performing" the hystEric, as well as the absent body of Ophelia, issues of surveillance and the notion of an empty space - signifying Ophelia - which has been projected onto and filled with a number of performative and theoretical notions (including romanticism, grunge, sexuality and abuse narratives). This informed elements of the video work. the piece had distinct performance spaces including Ophelia's chamber, the Freud couch and lecture theatre, surveillance spaces, daytime TV gossip space, drowning/bath space and a academic/critical a/V space. the play creates three distinct Ophelias, as well as multiple parts that can be played by these three performers or a larger cast. the multi-voice form is flexible and diverse, allowing directors and performers to explore a range of styles and staging options, from sound/video/surveillance to music, puppetry, comedy and realism.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
-    -

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:
Full-Length 75 mins Installation-based performance

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  Variable cast - up to 15 roles, 8F, 7M

Further Reference:
-

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Body Ophelia, The

Synopsis:
the Body Ophelia explores the uncharted territory of one of Shakepeares' most enigmatic characters, charting the psyche and explorations of Ophelia off the stage, the time and space between her silence and her madness. the piece also explores the case studies of Sigmund Freud and Joseph Breuer from their landmark 'Cases in Hysteria', published in 1893 and seen as crucial in the charting of the subconscious in the 20th century. the Body Ophelia also attempts to respond to Luce Iriguary, Helene Cixcous, Monique Wittig and Melanie Klein's call for the exploration of the female psyche as a means of bringing subjectivity to the Patriarchy. By reclaiming the power of the erotic and identifying with the power of the male phallus as a means to experience the psychic development of desire, Ophelia can write her own body, and explore nature, erotica and body memory as powerful healing forces. Finally the piece explores contemporary manifestations of 'the HystEric' including anorexia and bulimia.

Notes:
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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:
75 min Drama, comedy, puppetry, mixed media

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dr Egg And the Man With No Ear

Synopsis:
a sad man has lost his ear and his wife in an unfortunate accident with a snappy bull terrier. His wife dead, he tries to live a happy life with his young daughter, but he cannot overcome his craving for a new ear. One day he locates a mysterious scientist, Dr egg, and is offered a previously unthinkable possibility; Dr egg can try to grow him a new ear. But first he needs a small piece of flesh from his precious daughter. the Man refuses to harm her, but is increasingly tortured by his desire for the ear. Finally his curious daughter breaks out of this protective shield and finds her way to Dr egg's laboratory to give him the flesh herself. Before their very eyes, the ear grows, but it does not stop there. a new life is made. and it looks a lot like her. Should her creation live or die? Dr egg, the daughter and the sad man are faced with a dilEmma.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Sydney Opera House    2007

Organisations:
Jessica Wilson Productions, Sydney Opera House, Chicago Redmoon Theatre

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:
Puppetry/New Media

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Jetty, The

Synopsis:
the script explores the construction of the Wangaroo jetty (South Australia's longest wheat transporting jetty on the Yorke Peninsula) in 1924, just before the depression years through the eyes of a young rail engineer, Jack French and his new bride elsa. as elsa experiences the trials and tribulations of frontier life, and makes the aquaintance of the her local aboriginal neighbours, Jack is dealing with troubles of his own including labour strife and a Texan railway boss, aB Whales. On a larger canvas the play explores the illusion of progress and the meteoric rises and falls from working to middle class in Australia prior to and during the depression. It also reflects upon similar notions in contemporary globalised economies and initiatives that make up the current national push for progress, such as the Telstra optical fibre rollout and most recently the national broadband rollout. 'the Jetty' radio play been commissioned for aBC airplay, and was recorded during March 2010. the radio version has had Dramaturgy from Hilary Bell over two drafts through a Playworks/Varuna fellowship. It has also had composer Phillip Johnston working on the 20's style jazz and blues instrumentation of the five songs in the script.

Notes:
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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:
45 min verbatim Drama

Parts:
Male:  7            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Marigold Hour, The

Synopsis:
Is it the smell of a Lily that makes it alluring before you have even laid eyes on it? the strong scent drifting towards you on the hot summer night air, making you no more than a sensual beast, drawn dumbly forwards to sniff it's nectar moist insides, to fondle it's pollen doused stamens? Welcome to the monstrous gorgeous gardens of desire, home of assorted hothouse flowers, delicate pansies, and the hardened succulents of the lesbian and gay underworlds. You might even meet the ghost of Don Dunstan! the Marigold Hour is a luscious, comic and erotic performance monologue by cabaret and performance artist Catherine Fargher, who has previously created work for cLUB beNT, Taboo Parlour, It's Queer up North (UK) and WOW Cafe (New York), Sidetrack Performance Group, theatre of the Deaf and Death Defying theatre. On the road to FeaST 2000, don't forget to smell the roses.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
Vitalstatistix National Womens Theatre Company, Port Adelaide, S.A    2000

Organisations:
Vitalstatistix

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:
75 min Tragicomedy/poetic erotica

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Succulent

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Peacock Theatre, Hobart,    2001

Organisations:
Terrapin Puppet Theatre

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:
Puppetry

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  Puppetry and video

Further Reference:
-

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Violin Player, The

Synopsis:
the Battle of the Somme 1918. . .a young man with a violin. . . Recreation leave and Mustard Gas . . . a great uncle lost. . .His diary discovered. . .a young man busking in Paris 1981. . .his great uncles violin stolen at a Paris station. . . a piecing together of song, sound and memory.

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:
45 min verbatim Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Woman Who Knitted Herself A Child, The

Synopsis:
the Woman Who Knitted Herself a Child follows a woman scientist as she does an extraordinary thing: she is knitting herself a child. the piece explores the reveries of a woman as she tries to make sense of a changing and highly technological world of new genetic futures. Working at the 'coalface' of genetic research, cloning transgenic organisms, she explores the possibilities she is creating through her work and the miraculous futures promised by cloning, IVF, stem cell technology and dolly the sheep. In her inner world, the mitochondrial/ subconscious space, she knits together the ancient knit and purl stitches, and the constantly evolving strands of DNa double helix. Throughout the play, memories of her past emerge, as a child and as a pregnant teenager making a decision on her reproductive future, and finally the growing wish for her own child. the play incorporates original composition and soundscapes by Matthew Fargher and Jane Ulman, creating a sense of enchantment and menace as she creates these new 'beings'.

Notes:
Recorded At ABC Radio Audio Arts Studios, November 14-17th 2004. First Broadcast Dec 19th 2004. Repeat Broadcast Nov 14 2005.

1st Produced:
Abc Radio National Airplay    2004

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:
Radio 30 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  3            Other:  Variable cast - 10 roles, 6F, 4M

Further Reference:
-

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