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Ben Ellis

BEN ELLIS  

 Nationality:    Australian
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Cameron Creswell Agency  


Ben's plays include Unrestless (Old Vic Coming Up Festival); The Captive (Finborough); The Final Shot (Theatre 503); and 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Bush/Latitude). He is well known in Australia for works including Falling Petals and These People. Ben has won the Patrick White Playwrights award, Wal Cherry Play of the Year and was shortlisted in 2008 for the Bruntwood Prize.

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

 360 Positions In A One Night Stand         50 Ways To Leave Your Lover         Between Us         Brilliant Allies         Eighty Eight         Falling Petals         Final Shot, The         Hacked         Life For Beginners         Modern Living @ Its Fines         Outpatients         Poet No 7         Post Felicity         Speed Date         Story of the Red Mountains         These People         Wall Project, The         World At One         Zombie State

360 Positions In A One Night Stand

Synopsis:
One election, two actors, five writers, ten characters and 360 positions. a play about love and sexual politics

Notes:
written by Nick Marchand, Ben Ellis, Victoria Gleeson, Tommy Murphy And Emma Vuletic

1st Produced:
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Company:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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50 Ways To Leave Your Lover

Synopsis:
an evening of heart break and misery

Notes:
By Lucy Chillery, Ben Ellis, Stacey Green, Lucy Kirkwood, Ben Schiffer

1st Produced:

Company:
commissioned by Latitude Festival, Suffolk

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:
60 min Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Between Us

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
The Production Company presents The Australia Project II: Australia Strikes Back!, A program of new works by Australian playwrights. The following description is from the show's press release: "Twelve Acclaimed Australian playwrights create pieces based on their perceptions of the United States. The Australia Project II: Australia Strikes Back! includes new plays from some of Australia's most celebrated playwrights. The Production Company's work promotes And deepens cultural exchange between the United States And Australia And encourages Artists to explore the relationship between the two countries."
- nytheatre.com

1st Produced:

Company:
The Production 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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brilliant Allies

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Originally performed As part of "all Of Which Are American Dreams"

1st Produced:
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Company:
Theatre In Decay

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:  1            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Eighty Eight

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
entrant for the Royal Exchange Theatre's Bruntwood Playwriting Competition 2008

1st Produced:
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Company:
-

1st Published:
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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Falling Petals

Ben Ellis
In the town of Hollow a strange ilness is killing off the small children, HSC students Tania, Sally and Phil think they will remain unnaffected and focus their energies on getting the highest results possible to get out of their small town and childhoods. as the town is quarinteened and more and more people start to fall ill, the dynamics change. Tania and Phil now focus even more on getting out even as their friends start to die around them. They have plans to trick the guards, get to the next town. Sally meanwhile is falling sick.

Notes:
This is A gritty unattractive, moving And sickening piece of theatre. extroadinarily well written And quite distrubing. (author Info)

1st Produced:

Company:
The Production Company

1st Published:
Currency Press, Sydney,    978-0868197067

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 90 mins Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  2            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Final Shot, The

Synopsis:
"How can you take a man's death and turn it into television?" a loving family preparing for the end. a filmmaker struggling to stay. a nation hungry for its next TV dinner. How far should you go to put something on screen? What should you film? What shouldn't you? a final breath. a dying wish. a living need. Ben Ellis's searing new play forces us to confront life's final taboo.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Company:
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1st Published:
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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hacked

Synopsis:
all across London, phones are being hacked. Only now it's playwrights stealing the stories of brave volunteers. Will they score a scoop, or will they have to use a little artistic licence? and which will make the better story: the facts or the fiction?

Notes:
Playwrights: Ben Ellis, Marcelo Dos Santos, Dominic Cavendish, Dawn King, Anna Jordan, Matt Hartley. Curated by Derek Bond And Lisa Cagnacci

1st Produced:

Company:
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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:
collaborative piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Life For Beginners

Synopsis:
"Some people described a plague, others a cloud. Some people found God, others lost him. Over one hundred people claim the incident caused them to fall in love." Tony meets himself but younger. Emma and Sam meet but can never touch. Eva meets Quinn before either goes too far. Nina's not sure she should ever have met James. And Mark tries to stop Hayley making a tit of herself on national TV. In a play that spans all ages we explore the magical and joyful moments in our everyday lives.

Notes:
written by By Alice Birch, Ben Ellis, Matt Hartley, Lizzie Nunnery and Rex Obano

1st Produced:

Company:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Modern Living @ Its Fines

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
part of writer's block

1st Produced:

Company:
Operating 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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Outpatients

Synopsis:
Troy is a diabetic who needs the signature of his soon-to-be retired doctor in order to keep his driving licence. Beetle and Snail are middle-managers trying to reform St Peter's Hospital, where a nurse called Rebecca has developed multiple personalities to cover for all of the cutbacks. With the funding cuts so severe that even the stairs have stopped working, will Troy ever see his clean bill of health autographed?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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-

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

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Poet No 7

Synopsis:
the world's infatuation with America - a kind of fugue for four voices

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Company:
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1st Published:
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Music:
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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:
60 min One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Post Felicity

Ben Ellis
bitingly funny portrait of a self-obsessed couple, a fiendish employer, and their bizarre reactions to a tragic event. It is a savage satire of three baby-boomers fighting in a mire of their own waking. Fiercely theatrical, this deeply black comedy has been awarded both the inaugural Malcolm Robertson Prize and The Patrick White Playwright's award

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
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Company:
-

1st Published:
Currency Press, Sydney,    978-0868196746

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 One act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Speed Date

Ben Ellis
No-one can forget the moment they heard the news. September 11th, 2001 sent shockwaves across the globe. It was a day that was supposed to change the world forever.Ten years on, a team of major writers and thinkers explore our responses to the defining event of our times in a new production from Headlong, creators of the multi award-winning ENRON. Rupert Goold's theatre company transforms a former trading hall into an immersive theatrical experience, taking you from the tranquil setting of St Katharine Docks on the River Thames to the bright blue skies of downtown Manhattan and beyond.

Notes:
part of Decade: Two towers. Ten years. Twenty plays. Ten years After 9/11, twenty international writers respond to the defining event of our times. Published here Are their individual plays, which woven together formed the basis of Decade, An immersive theatrical production from Headlong theatre company. The writers: Samuel Adamson, Mike Bartlett, Alecky Blythe, Adam Brace, Ben Ellis, Ella Hickson, Samuel D. Hunter, John Logan, Matthew Lopez, Mona Mansour, DC Moore, Abi Morgan, Rory Mullarkey, Janine Nabers, Lynn Nottage, Harrison David Rivers, Simon Schama, Christopher Shinn, Beth Steel, Alexandra Wood.

1st Produced:
Commodity Quay, St Katharine Docks, London E1W 1aZ    01 Sep 2011

Company:
Headlong

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 piece

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Story of the Red Mountains

Synopsis:
Set on the night of the Australian anti-communism referendum in 1951, the production focuses on a group poised to act on the coming result. This new work explores politics, violence and isolation  asking if it could have been a good thing if the referendum went another way

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Carriageworks, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh NSW    10 Oct 2012

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:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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These People

Ben Ellis
The story of what a "typical" Australian father, mother, daughter and son become when confronted with the stories of asylum-seekers: nightmares, dreams and, sometimes, penguins. Transforming the play's documentary material (which includes court and inquiry transcripts, statements by immigration ministers, interviews with detention centre workers and asylum-seekers themselves) - the play highlights the Dramatic Australian response to the refugee story of recent times, with terrifying consequences for the lives of father, mother, daughter and son in their Sydney home.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Company:
-

1st Published:
Currency Press, Australia, aug 2004   978-0868197440

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

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Wall Project, The

Synopsis:
A collaborative writing project looking at the idea of a wall and its metaphors. 'Ellis uses the Middle East as a setting, in a scene where a boy has a bomb strapped to his body, in what Bendall says is a snapshot of community reaction to a wall appearing in the middle of a zoo. Wright deals with convicts being transported to Botany Bay while O'Neill examines the global sex trade in a thriller setting, with questions about the divide between the first and third worlds....Her script examines the plight of an East European sex slave, inspired by a story she heard while a Drama student in London 20 years ago.' 'Tearing Down the Walls', The Age, 31 May 2005.
http://www.austlit.edu.au/run?ex=ShowWork&workId=C%23F$q

Notes:
written by Tee O'Neill, Tom Wright and Ben Ellis

1st Produced:
Theatre@Risk Company in Melbourne    Jun 2005

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:
five scenes

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
AustLit BRN: 744731

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World At One

Synopsis:
In a time when Jordan's love life is the only war-zone people want to read about, gossip mags swamp the newsagent shelves and PR gurus make the millions, we stage three short plays on the theme 'SELLEBRITY'.

Notes:
Griff Phillips writes About comebacks, secrets And lies, Fleur Smith on how far celeb-wannabies will go And Ben Ellis looks At who holds the puppet strings.

1st Produced:

Company:
-

1st Published:
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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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Zombie State

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

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:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Apart from very popular and world touring productions, many performing arts events are largely forgotten about in a matter of months. Traces may remain in various collections, but few collecting agencies, such as libraries, catalogue each flyer or program individually. Hence, unless one knows that an event took place at a certain time in a certain place, tracking down such an event as part of a research project is often a matter of chance. Where research needs to be carried out on high profile and well-documented productions only, this is not a problem. However, both the historian and the analyst will attest that the cultural, political, or sociological context in which a performing arts event takes place is also of major importance, as are the other events that took place in close proximity, either in place or time. A good overview of such productions provides us with a 'social document' that can greatly enhance cultural studies in ways that extend far beyond the narrow confines of theatre history. For instance, data such as this can be used to monitor the health of communities, particularly when used in association with data obtained from other social science disciplines. When one researches a particular playwright one might want to know about all the productions of plays by that author; if one wants to investigate what choices a particular audience had over a period of history and compare this to, say, an ethnic breakdown of the population, one would need to know broadly all the events that took place during that time. If one wanted to do a statistical analysis on the shift in popularity of a genre over one or more generations, it is important to have knowledge of most of the relevant major and minor performance events that took place. In this context, issues of aesthetic quality and the professionalism of a production - which will of course have an impact on such studies - are not the determining factors when deciding to include or exclude events, since all events are the raw material for such research.