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Aidan Fennessy

AIDAN FENNESSY

  
Nationality:    Australian
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Creative Representation, Australia  

Aidan Fennessy is an award-winning writer, director and dramaturg. His plays have been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Griffin Theatre, HotHouse, Playbox, Black Swan State Theatre Company and many more. His play Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee won the Wal Cherry Award and was short-listed for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award. His 2002 comedy festival collaboration The Trade won the prestigious Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. His play, Brutopia won the 2010 Griffin Award and National Interest won the Peoples Choice Award at the 2012 Premiers Literary Awards. His directing credits include Peter Houghton's A Commercial Farce for Malthouse Theatre; Alan Ayckbourne's Things We Do For Love, David Mamet's Boston Marriage, Lally Katz's Return To Earth, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, John Guare's His Girl Friday plus many more for the Melbourne Theatre Company; Ross Mueller's The Glory for HotHouse Theatre, Matt Cameron's Ruby Moon for Playbox/Neonheart, David Mamet's Olleanna for HotHouse Theatre, and his own play Chilling and Killing My Annabel Lee for Playbox/Chameleon. Aidan was co-founder of the highly successful Chameleon Theatre, a member of the Artistic Directorate of Hothouse Theatre, Artistic Director of the Store Room Theatre Workshop and Associate Director at Melbourne Theatre Company.

Research:    http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/9334

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

         Art And Soul         Australia! The Show!         Big Noise         Brutopia         Chilling And Killing My Annabel Lee         Dead Ahead         Gap, The         House On The Lake         Melburnalia II         National Interest         Pidjin Flamenco         Placebo         Rosabel         Sea Monster         Silo         Slaughterhouse, The         Trade, The         Way It Works, The

Art And Soul

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Melbourne writers Matt Cameron (Whispering Death), Aidan Fennessy (The Slaughterhouse), Joanna Murray-Smith (Untitled), Tee O'Neill (Homage to Rembrandt), Melissa Reeves (Ray's Painting), Glenn Shea (Masterpiece) and Tom Wright (At Last the Famous Artist is Dead) have each written a short play in response to the same painting: Homage to Rembrandt by Australian artist Garry Shead. The set design recreates the environment of the painting and during the play the characters mirror the composition of the artwork.

1st Produced:
Fairfax Studio, Melbourne, Vic     18 Nov 2000

Organisations:
Melbourne Theatre Company

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:
one act plays

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/79761

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Australia! The Show!

Synopsis:
A rambunctious piss-take of Australian history and culture, so fast, furious and funny it had an audience of high school students hooting with laughter.

Notes:
devised by Aidan Fennessy, Jon Halpin, Jean-Marc Russ and Hayden Spencer

1st Produced:
The Butter Factory Theatre, Wodonga, Vic     2009

Organisations:
HotHouse 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:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/96566

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Big Noise

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
awards: R. E. Ross Trust Playwrights Script Development Award, 2007: joint winner

1st Produced:
-     2007

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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Brutopia

Synopsis:
Brutopia is a multi-character, multi-locale, multi-narrative ensemble drama. Over the course of a single day, the lives of six disparate individuals collide, leading to an horrific crime as a woman is bashed in a senseless attack on a dark city street.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Playbox, Australia    

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:
Drama utilising an ensemble cast to propel multiple narratives. 90 min

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Chilling And Killing My Annabel Lee

Synopsis:
Set in 'a nasty little netherworld that is neither here nor now'. a love story and murder mystery. a struggling author creates the perfect murder - and a woman is killed exactly as he described. Did he do it or didn't he? You decide

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Griffin Theatre, Sydney     1998

Organisations:
Melbourne Theatre Company/City of Melbourne

1st Published:
Currency Press in association with Playbox Theatre Centre, Monash University, 1999
http://Australianplays.org/script/ASC-1627   -

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:
full length Noir thriller

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/102064

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Dead Ahead

Synopsis:
Four writers were asked to capture the nature of transience. All Aboard (Mooney): A chance meeting. . .a flick knife; Dead Ahead (Fennessy): A ship, a captain, officers and crew - is there any solace in a thin horizon?; In Transit (Britton): A bomb blast during a concert - the conductor and a patron confront the afterlife; Feast (Learner): At a passover meal, a fragmented and grotesque family ruptures under the strain of cultural confusion and mixed metaphor

Notes:
part of Train To Transience

1st Produced:
Irene Mitchell Studio @ St. Martin's Theatre, South Yarra, 25 August-11 September, 1993] With Saskia Post, Wayne Hope, Jules Hutchinson, Aidan Fennessy And Marie-Louise Walker. Three Shorts Works By Tobsha Learner, Ray Mooney, Julia Britton And Aiden Fenn     25 Aug 1993

Organisations:
Chameleon 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:
short play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/20214

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Gap, The

Synopsis:
a docu-drama surrounding the murder of five Australian journalists at the hands of the Indonesian military in Balibo, East Timor, in 1975

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatreworks, St Kilda, Vic     01 Nov 1995

Organisations:
Chameleon 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:
historical drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/60259

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House On The Lake

House On The Lake
Dr Alice Lowe scrambles to piece together the mystery because in fifteen minutes time he'll forget everything all over again. The House on The Lake is a labyrinthine mystery that hides at its dark heart a hideous crime. From award-winning playwright Aidan Fennessy comes a taut psychological thriller where truth and memory are scattered like broken glass.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Studio Underground, Perth, Wa     06 Jun 2014

Organisations:
Black Swan State Theatre Company

1st Published:
Currency press, Australia   978-1925005387

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:
thriller

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/105525

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Melburnalia II

Synopsis:
Weaving civic history with urban myth Melburnalia No. 2 will take you on a rattling, screeching, ding-ding-dinging ride that reveals lost piggeries in the north; parental angst in the east; waiting exiles in the west; suburban symphonies in the south; and a forsaken magic hidden at the heart of the town

Notes:
written by Aidan Fennessy, Andrea James, Danny Katz, Catherine (Kit) Lazaroo and Hoa Pham

1st Produced:
Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne, Vic     2009

Organisations:
White Whale 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:
collective

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/80923

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National Interest

Synopsis:
Tony Stewart was just 21 when he was killed in Balibo in October 1975. 32 years after Tony and his television news crew were murdered, the ghosts of the past are awakened again during the coronial inquest. For Tony's mother June, these ghosts are as real and as tangible as her daughter Jane, standing in the kitchen with her. Jane wants to lay the ghosts to rest but June can't let go. Her anger and pain over what happened to her boy have not abated, no matter what the inquest findings are. Sitting in the kitchen one evening, Jane forces June to open up the old wounds and talk about her feelings. But can truth, time and love heal decades of pain? the fate of the Balibo Five shocked Australia in 1975 and the issues still reverberate today. National Interest personalises the headlines with a story of a family who lived through tragedy but refuse to be defined by it.
- nytheatre.com

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Heath Ledger Theatre, Northbridge, Wa     05 May 2012

Organisations:
Black Swan State Theatre Company and Melbourne Theatre Company

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:
90 min one act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/105556

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Pidjin Flamenco

Synopsis:
The plays are performed by an ensemble cast of five. Each cast member also directs one of the pieces. Silo (Fennessy): An old man recalls a boyhood leap of faith into a rural wheat silo; Requiem (Cameron): A death chamber for the staging of an indifferent man's rebirth; Seven Year Sleep (Theodorakis): A world of genetic breeding where adults put adolescents into deep-sleep to avoid dealing with puberty; Pidgin Flamenco (Dickins): The Eltham Ballroom dancing competition where a couple experience mid-life crisis; Thicker than Water (Saxby): An immortal vampire's restless nights are spent drinking with Zeus and the memory of his long dead wife and daughter.

Notes:
part of Rites of Passage: Silo / Requiem / Seven Year Sleep / Pidjin Flamenco / Thicker Than Water /

1st Produced:
St Martins Youth Arts Centre , South Yarra, Vic     21 Oct 1992

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:
short play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/16989

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Placebo

Synopsis:
Explores the politics of sickness and hypochondria

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carlton Courthouse, Carlton, Vic     13 Dec 1991

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:
comedy

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/13440

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Rosabel

Synopsis:
A dance / drama meditation on the life of Harry Houdini

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
St Martins Youth Arts Centre, South Yarra, Vic     02 Jun 1993

Organisations:
Chameleon 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:
dance theatre

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/18758

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Sea Monster

Synopsis:
David has a severe case of amnesia - he can only remember about half an hour. Alice has been sent to assess him - she has to determine if the amnesia is faked and whether David can be discharged from the institution

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Silo

Synopsis:
The plays are performed by an ensemble cast of five. Each cast member also directs one of the pieces. Silo (Fennessy): An old man recalls a boyhood leap of faith into a rural wheat silo; Requiem (Cameron): A death chamber for the staging of an indifferent man's rebirth; Seven Year Sleep (Theodorakis): A world of genetic breeding where adults put adolescents into deep-sleep to avoid dealing with puberty; Pidgin Flamenco (Dickins): The Eltham Ballroom dancing competition where a couple experience mid-life crisis; Thicker than Water (Saxby): An immortal vampire's restless nights are spent drinking with Zeus and the memory of his long dead wife and daughter.

Notes:
part of Rites of Passage

1st Produced:
St Martins Youth Arts Centre, South Yarra, Vic     21 Oct 1992

Organisations:
Chameleon 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:
short pieces

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/16989

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Slaughterhouse, The

Synopsis:
An artist tries to win back his muses after selling out to commercialism

Notes:
Melbourne writers Matt Cameron (Whispering Death), Aidan Fennessy (the Slaughterhouse), Joanna Murray-Smith (Untitled), Tee O'Neill (Homage to Rembrandt), Melissa Reeves (Ray's Painting), Glenn Shea (Masterpiece) and Tom Wright (At Last the Famous Artist is Dead) have each written a short play in response to the same painting: Homage to Rembrandt by Australian artist Garry Shead. the set design recreates the environment of the painting and during the play the characters mirror the composition of the artwork. event titled Art and Soul.

1st Produced:
Fairfax Studio, Victorian Arts Centre (Aust)     18 Nov 2000

Organisations:
Commissioned by Melbourne Theatre Company in 2000

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:
short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Trade, The

Synopsis:
A funny and moving play about mateship and masculinity, love and lonliness. Steve, Stewie and Gav paint houses for a living and their main mode of communication is the insult.

Notes:
devised by Marty Sheargold, Aidan fennessy and jim Russell

1st Produced:
7 Alfred Place Downstairs, Melbourne, Vic     28 Mar 2002

Organisations:
Melbourne International Comedy Festival,

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:
comedic play

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
http://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/15640

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Way It Works, The

Synopsis:
The Minister is in trouble - a Royal Commission has uncovered the double dealings he has been doing with the finances of a private/public building enterprise

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

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:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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