n/a

n/a

Melbourne

1976

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1983

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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black comedy

One Act

2

-

-

Notes: broadcast 1975

Synopsis: An early play about an amnesiac holed up in the fantasy world of Mickey Spillane. The play explores the relationship between speech and thought in the shaping of perceptions.

-

-

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

One Act

2

9

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: Beatrice lives in a run down terrace in Woolloomooloo with her sister, her mum and her mother's current boyfriend. Thirteen years old, autistic and disconnected from her dysfunctional family, Beatrice takes refuge in her mind. There, she delights in the music and videos of a bygone era: The Thin Man, Frank Sinatra and The Rat Pack. Dragged along by her begrudging sister, Beatrice becomes involved in a community worker's bizarre attempt at a nativity performance. When her cherished music is sold, a tuxedoed Fairy Pack (an imaginative answer to the Rat Pack) come in to her life to help get the records back, solve a murder and give her the confidence to shine like a star.

Sydney

1980

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

Childrens

Youth Audience

4

4

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: beauty falls for beast etc

Sydney

1989

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

2 Acts

Play/Drama

4

2

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: Set during the First World War in Northern Queensland, it is a story of a half kanaka islander girl, Roma and a half caste Aboriginal boy, Eddie who are itinerant canecutters. Before going off to war Eddie gets Roma a job in the house of the plantation owner, Mr Harris. In his 60s and a widower he falls in love with Roma as she does with him, or does she? Eddie returns from the horror of the war to discover his girlfriend seems to be in love with both of them. The confrontation that eventually results will make Roma not only wiser but perhaps matriarch of the plantation.

Sydney

1988

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1988

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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Dramatic Saga

-

15

13

extras

Notes: novel by Xavier Herbert

Synopsis: Xavier Herbert's classic novel of racial conflict in the Northern Territory during the 30s has been expertly dramatised in this powerful and moving story of a man's journey of self discovery when he learns the truth of his Aboriginal parentage.

Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, ANZ >>>

1992

Company B

Currency Press, Australia >>>

1992

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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3 Acts

Play/Drama

5

3

doubling

Notes: -

Synopsis: A young director, Lewis gets to do his first production. The trouble is, he has mental patients for a cast and they want to do an opera, even though there is no orchestra and no one can sing. But the highly strung Mozart fanatic Roy is determined. Against the odds and amid the mayhem of the asylum, Lewis agrees. He then attempts to get the opera on the boards with the help of pyromaniac Doug; Julie, an attractive junkie; obsessive, compulsive Ruth; amorous Cherry and emotionally paralysed legal eagle Henry.

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

One Act

13

1

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: This is the tale of an aboriginal woman nicknamed Crow. She has been fighting the government for years to win back a tin mine which is rightfully hers. Mercurial, stubborn, sexy and irreverent, she never gives in even if at times she is her own worst enemy. Set in 1942 during the bombing of Darwin, this is a moving picture of an extraordinary world. A frontier melting pot peopled by nightsoil collectors, soldiers, flying ghosts, a transvestite, a chinaman with a myriad of get-rich-quick schemes and CROW'S two sons, one of whom is a travelling boxer, the other with a talent for swallowing live mice.

Sydney

1980

-

Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.austlit.edu.au >>>

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Adaptation

28

7

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Edmond Rostand

Synopsis: The swordsman poet with the large nose

Adelaide, Australia

1980

-

Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.austlit.edu.au >>>

1974

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

2

2

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: a farcical murder mystery of sorts which borders on the absurd (Nowra doing Orton). Nowra borrows Inspector Truscott from Orton's 'Loot' to investigate the death of his (Truscott's) creator. In a fast-paced romp, a small-time capitalist who runs a boarding house has all her generosities dismissed by the "Marxist polemic" of a unionised "cleaning lady" with a penchant for art criticism. "Fascist pigs" Truscott and Rogers, hell bent on smashing the criminally inclined proletariat, display some dubious investigative methods whilst sniffing around the lives and deaths of Orton and lover Kenneth Halliwell, whose coffins occupy the stage for the length of the piece.
From: Cultural Dissent, Green Left Weekly issue #34 6 November 1991.

-

2004

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Biographical

-

-

-

Notes: written by Mandy Sayer and Louis Nowra

Synopsis: tells the story of the scandal that ruined one of the 20th century's leading conductors, Sir Eugene Goossens

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

4

1

-

Notes: part of The Boyce Trilogy, an epic saga about the Boyce family, a family made wealthy through property development

Synopsis: In the final instalment of the trilogy, The Emperor of Sydney , the three sons fight for control of the company as their father lays dying in the master bedroom above the huge Beauchamp mansion living room. The company is near bankruptcy because of a huge stalled project (their father's personal vision) and they are facing a criminal investigation into the father's role in the suspicious death of the project's outspoken critic.

Melbourne

1985

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1985

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
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Epic Play

-

10

6

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: An epic play about two young hikers who accidentally discover a lost community in the horizontal forests of Tasmania. Lost in time, the group clashes with the culture of modern Australia with tragic consequences. A study based on a true story of the relationship between language and culture.

Playbox

1995

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

One Act

10

1

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: Ion Stafford, The Incorruptible, is the quintessential man of the land. Chosen by the powerbrokers to be the ideal politician he soon turns the tables on those who think they can control him and starts his own crusade for ultimate power.

Sydney

1977

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1978

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

One Act

10

3

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: This play demonstrates a preoccupation with isolation and the exercise of power through the imagination. The central character is held prisoner by men whose ignorance is matched only by their ambition. The son of Catherine the Great, locked away since childhood, is set upon the throne of Russia knowing only his name.

Sydney

1980

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1981

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

9

4

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: Louis Nowra pursues his concern with the mechanics of power and the ways convention protects the privileged from human nature in this compelling play. Set in a farming district of western New South Wales in 1912, it is demonstrated how a matriarchal imitation of English society is destroyed by an outbreak of 'holy fire', madness from a wheat fungus.

STC

1995

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

One Act

-

-

20 parts, 5 actors

Notes: -

Synopsis: 16 self contained playlets set over 24 hours from dawn to dawn in Sydney. Moving from the streets of Kings Cross to the harbour views of a penthouse apartment, connections are made between characters and situations in bizarre and revelatory ways. . . an inspector, searching for stolen abalone, is trapped by a Kurt Cobain fanatic who is about to urinate on him; a Kings Cross policeman, who's been speeding for 24 hours, questions a prostitute over stolen drugs; a gay Sydney businessman acquires a young and very brash Romanian lover. And there's an alien roaming the streets. . . the resulting picture is of a city and people existing within an almost amoral randomness but where a little kindness goes a long way.

Melbourne

1973

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Sydney

1979

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Adaptation

-

-

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Alexandre Dumas fils (La Dame Aux Camelias)

Synopsis:

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1999

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

2 Acts

Play/Drama

6

6

doubling poss

Notes: -

Synopsis: Sulawesi, 1946. As the people's movement rolls inexorbly towards the establishment of an Indonesian republic, Dutch colonial rule is on the brink of collapse. The Braak family faces the inevitable, but not before confronting the truth about their own lives and the legacy they will leave behind. A remarkable insight into turbulent times and a powerful human drama about people whose lives are set to change forever.

Adelaide, Australia

1981

-

Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.austlit.edu.au >>>

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Adaptation

14

3

-

Notes: Original playwright - Frank Wedekind (Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora's Box (1904))

Synopsis: Lulu embodies the sexual impulse, leading all to disaster; but only..

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

4

1

-

Notes: part of The Boyce Trilogy, an epic saga about the Boyce family, a family made wealthy through property development

Synopsis: The second part of the trilogy , The Marvellous Boy, unwraps the story of this notorious Sydney family. Malcolm Boyce is dying at a time when his biggest building projectand so his whole empireis threatened by protesters. He hires an important criminal, the charismatic Ray Pollard, to threaten his enemies. Malcolm gets his son, Luke, to liaise with Ray. Luke not only falls under Ray's spell but also finds himself involved with his father's mistress. The results are tragic. This story follows Luke from detachment into an emotional involvement that will be liberating and then shattering as the consequences of his and his father's moral duplicity emerge.

-

-

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

One Act

1

7

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: 1993. Sarajevo. Mira is a big-haired super-bitch, a former Miss Yugoslavia. She's running the first Miss Bosnia pageant as a morale-booster for the shattered city. Self elected organiser of this inaugural beauty contest, Mira has her own reasons for wanting it to succeed. The six contestants are a motley bunch. This is more than an chance to represent Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Miss World pageant. First prize is a coveted seat on the last UN convoy out of Sarajevo. Who wouldn't put brains and bodies on the line? Longing, love and lust mingle with the smell of fear and war and power is the ultimate ruler . . . but who has the power? Shy yet alluring Lidija, an elegant Goddess - draws you in with her mystic appeal. Who is she. . . what is her story? Why does the very presence of General Jez fill her with dread and terror? Boris is a young disillusioned soldier desperate to escape the war. Could the pageant be his ticket out? And could his connection with General Jez secure his escape? Bitchery is rife, adrenalin is the drug of choice, the comedy is bayonet sharp and the talent quest is raucously hilarious. In a world made sick by war, laughter is still the best, perhaps the only medicine. Based on a bizarre but true story, this bitterly funny play is a witty look at the politics of swimsuit parades, and a sombre condemnation of the horror of war.

Manchester, Library / touring

2006

Company B Belvoir

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

Play/Drama

1

-

-

Notes: written by Louis Nowra and David Page

Synopsis: A depiction of a mess, dangerously addicted to drugs, drink and casual gay sex. A true story of a misspent youth shown through home movies, drag routines and a host of quite ludicrous costumes
Alfred Hickling, Guardian

Sydney

1980

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1981

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

One Act

10

4

-

Notes: music by Sarah de Jong

Synopsis: Concerns power and privilege. Set in the 1920s in China, the child-like Us-ling learns that there is no place for compassion in the execution of social change.

Adelaide, Australia

1982

-

Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.austlit.edu.au >>>

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Adaptation

7

6

-

Notes: Original Playwright - Heinrich von Kleist

Synopsis:

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

2 Acts

Play/Drama

-

3

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: On the outskirts of a sleepy seaside town in Northern Queensland stands an old house shrouded in mystery. Three half sisters return to this childhood home on the eve of their mother's funeral, but they do more than just bury their mother. Their bonds are elusive, tentative, born of a broken past webbed in secrets, lies, deceit and shame. Now driven by needs long buried, and a half conscious but burning desire to know the truth and exorcise the ghosts of the past they unleash secrets on this one night that will change their lives forever. This is the one night of the year when the tide goes out and they can walk across the mudflats to the island. . ..if they have the courage.

Adelaide, Australia

1982

-

-

-

I don't think the play has been published but you could try abebooks.com
or the playwright direct where their email is shown at the top of the page

-

-

-

-

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Adelaide, Australia

1982

-

Script in the Hanger Collection, Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Australia. http://www.austlit.edu.au >>>

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

6

4

-

Notes: -

Synopsis:

Melbourne

1992

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1992

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

5

4

2b 3g

Notes: -

Synopsis: It is 1962 and the world is worried about the Cuban missile crisis, except for Lewis, a youth on the cusp of manhood, growing up in a Melbourne housing commission suburb. He is preoccupied by flying saucer, much to the disgust of his friend Brian who can think only of losing his virginity. Lewis finds a natural soulmate in local tom-boy, Dulcie, who has her own confusions about approaching womanhood. And then out of nowhere Lewis's errant father returns to stay, as if he had never gone.

Adelaide, Australia

1983

-

Currency Press, Sydney

1983

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click, otherwise
(below) are AbeBooks for secondhand & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

-

Play/Drama

7

6

-

Notes: -

Synopsis: The garden of an Australian country estate, the sixtieth bithday celebrations of patriarch and scientist Clarrie Shelton, the "tribal get-together" of the family, the comings and goings of their friends and relations over an Easter weekend that begins at twilight and ends at sunrise. In this foreboding atmosphere of privilege and pleasure Louis Nowra explores the mysterious chasm between what we do and what we dream and say. The family of a pastoralist gather for his 60th birthday and revive old loves and fears. Unspoken disorders flare up with the suddenness of a bushfire, doing violence to the people and the land.

-

-

-

Currency Press, Sydney

-

If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased