Season 2022

Touching the Void
By David Greig
Based on the memoir by Joe Simpson
Directed by Petra Kalive

This production contains coarse language, some mature themes and content of strong impact (tragic/graphic accidents, extreme physical and emotional distress, death). 

Recommended for ages 15+ / Year 10+

Scripted dialogue contains description and physical enactment of:

Accidental / tragic death or graphic injury

Death

• Multiple mentions/enactments of Joe’s death (graphic detail)
• Mention of multiple climber deaths incl Mallory, Kurz, Peru
• Simon believes he has killed Joe
• Dead (ghostly) Joe attends his own wake
• Joe, momentarily, enjoys the feeling of life slipping away

Graphic injuries

• frozen hand
• falling – on flat land and mountain
• rock to head
• breathing difficulties
• graphic description of falling off the mountain
• Body freezing
• bleeding mouth
• frostbite
• dehydration
• badly broken leg / smashed leg
• broken ankle
• perineal damage
• Physical enactment of climbing while in acute physical distress
• Joe is lying in what he considers his own ice tomb
• Simon describes Joe’s injuries and journey on the mountain

 Enacting / description of severe pain/injury

• Broken leg from mountain fall
• Lowered down the mountain
• Joe lies crumpled on a ledge
• Joe's agonising falls
• Joe hops with extreme pain
• Joe collapses
• Joe refusing to die

Torture / violence towards another

• Sarah intermittently hits, shakes, grabs and slaps Joe in an attempt to keep him moving

Extreme crying / emotional distress

• Joe cries out in distress and screams in pain regularly as he tries to navigate his descent with broken limbs in freezing temperatures

Being killed / acting dying / acting dead

• Joe is fading; he just wants to die and sleep

Portraying a mental health condition

• Severely dehydrated Joe sucks stones for water
• Hallucination due to pain, hunger and fatigue 

Fun Home
Book and Lyrics by Lisa Kron
Directed by Dean Bryant

This production contains coarse language, mature themes, sexual references, sexual-identity struggle and vilification, and references to suicide.

Recommended for ages 15+ / Year 10+

Scripted dialogue contains description and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religiously sensitive commentary

• The use of ‘goddammit’ throughout the script

Child sexual abuse

• It is implied that Bruce sexually propositioned a minor (Mark)
• Song – lyrics imply improper propositioning of minors

Struggles with gender identity/sexuality incl. vilification of homosexuals

• Homosexual parent
• Rejection of identity – Alison does not want to be a lesbian
• Alison comes out to her parents
• Alison’s mother is upset by Alison’s sexual identity

Adultery

• Bruce (the father) has relations with men while married (to Helen)

Overtly sexual language & behaviour /comments/innuendo

• The song Changing my major to Joan refers to ‘Changing a major to sex with Joan, a minor in kissing Joan. Foreign study to Joan’s inner thighs. A seminar on Joan’s ass in her Levis’
• Joan kisses Alison, who is flummoxed for a beat, then lunges at Joan in an uncontrollable and totally inexperienced onslaught of pent up lust.
• Alison leaps on Joan and they tumble into bed.
• Bruce puts his hand on Helen's shoulder in a gesture that only he and Helen notice is awkward
• Roy unbuttons his shirt

Suicide

• Alison’s father commits suicide by stepping in front of a truck (captioned and mentioned)
• Alison’s father's suicide enacted: ‘Why am I standing here?’ Glare of headlights. Unbearable, deafening sound of a blaring car horn. And then he’s gone.

Description of medical procedures

• Pete asks Bruce how someone will be prepped for a funeral because of the physical damage from IV’s. The response is that all signs of trauma will be removed and the deceased will look peaceful.

References to drug use

• Joan invites Alison to her room for a joint. She does.

Dysfunctional / separated families

• Bruce and Helen verbally abuse each other off and on stage

Conversations about death

• The story is set in the Bechdel Funeral Home. As such, death is something that is treated conversationally by the characters throughout.

Admissions
By Joshua Harmon
Directed by Gary Abrahams

This production contains coarse language, adult themes and racially sensitive commentary.

Recommended for ages 16+ / Year 11+

Scripted dialogue contains description of:

Racially sensitive commentary

• Roberta and Sherri, both white, discuss Blackness quotas of students of colour at a mainly white academic high school
• Roberta expresses viewpoints such as ‘I don’t see colour’
• Roberta uses the phrase ‘dark-skinned ones’
• Roberta and Sherri discuss in terms of skin colour and whether someone is ‘Black enough’
• Ongoing discussion about a Black student and whether he was accepted into Yale because of his race
• Roberta discusses students by race: ‘That’s two whites, one Black, one Asian, one Hispanic’
• Roberta and Sherri discuss the brochure for the institution in terms of how many students of various races are in the photos
• Sherri references ‘reparations for slavery’

Sensitive cultural/religious commentary

• Charlie mentions the Holocaust, Auschwitz and the persecution of Jewish people

References to terrorism and genocide

• Charlie references the Rwandan genocide
• Charlie references the Holocaust
• Bill references young men joining ISIS
• Ginnie remarks ‘If I were a terrorist, I’d blow this whole place right up’

References to child sexual abuse

• Characters mention a local baker who is known as a ‘child molester’

Ableist references

• Bill tells Charlie his life will be okay because he ‘doesn’t have Down syndrome’

References to suicide

• Sherri is momentarily concerned that Charlie may have committed suicide

Graphic imagery

• Roberta references a mouse found dead and rotting
• Sherri jokes about harvesting a kidney for money

Scripted dialogue contains enactment of:

Culturally sensitive acts

• Charlie performs a ‘Sieg Heil' 

The Heartbreak Choir
By Aidan Fennessy
Directed by Peter Houghton

This production contains coarse language, mature themes, references to sexual assault and references to suicide.

Recommended for ages 15+ / Year 10+

Scripted dialogue contains description and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religiously sensitive commentary

• Use of the following text: holy crap, hell/damn them to hell/bloody hell, Jesus, Christ/God, far be it for me to step on any religious toes, especially if they're in sandals.
• Barbara states: ‘polite silence has been doing the work of the Catholic Church’

Racially sensitive commentary

• Barbara says (without ill intent): ‘I think I may be too white for that song’
• Aseni recounts the history of Zimbabwe, the arrival of the British South Africa Company and the ensuing division

Child sexual abuse

• Child abuse in the church: Barbara tells the choir about Caro admitting she was abused by the church as a child
• Aseni abruptly states to Peter (Caro’s widower) that she was molested by the priest
• Barabra describes in detail that Caro was ‘raped. Three times. Maybe more. When she was eight... only stopped when she got her period’
• Barbara details how they should pursue ‘the Department of Justice... make a submission to the Royal Commission... Tell [Caro's abuse] story’
• Peter explains he's made a submission to the Royal Commission
• Mack references the church hall where the abuse took place

Sexual harassment / assault / advances

• Mack mentions an attempt of molestation backstage. She escaped with a kick to the assailant’s testicles.

Overtly sexual language / inappropriate comments / innuendo

• Aseni asks ‘What is Tinder? He's making fire?’ Mack replies (tongue in cheek) ‘Depends how fast he's doing it’
• Savannah describes her lips as sealed; Mack replies ‘Ah yes… but which ones?’

Suicide

• Caro was abused by the church as a child and three weeks after divulging this information to her choir group she ‘hung herself from the Coolabah tree in Victory Gardens’
• Peter asks Barbara why the choir split up; he offers: ‘is it because [his wife's] suicide is a sin in the eyes of the church?’
• Peter explains to his son why Caro killed herself: ‘She was in a lot of pain and didn't know how to get out’
• Barbara admits she ‘missed the fault line’ not seeing Caro's suicide coming
• As Peter tries to explain to his son why his mum killed herself he bursts into tears and stands, breathing heavily, trying to squash it down.

Loss of a loved one

• Peter discusses joining the choir with Mack to ‘get closer’ to his late wife
• Beau describes his grief about losing his mum: ‘It's like something big happened… and now there's nothing’
• Peter describes how ‘pissed off’ he is with himself that his wife didn't feel she could tell him about being sexually abused
• Beau admits he burnt the church hall down after learning what happened to his mum

Serious illness

• Barbara’s sister has a terminal brain tumour, which Barbara slowly comes to term with over the course of the play.

Mental health

• Mack takes anxiety medication
• Barbara sympathises with Peter about the challenges of living with someone with mental illness (his wife): ‘[it's] like climbing an Everest that never ends... you were exhausted’
• Barbara describes Savannah's ‘anxiety condition’ where she communicates ‘only to certain people in certain situations’

Fat-shaming / discussions of body image

• Peter and Mack argue about whether either of them is fat, with Mack throwing insults (in jest)
• Mack (in jest) grabs Peter's muffin top singing ‘must be jelly 'cause jam don't jump like that’... there's a feisty standoff between the two
• Mack is rambling: ‘Do you think I'm fat? I'm fat aren't I?... Fat little fingers’ 

The Sound Inside
By Adam Rapp
Directed by Sarah Goodes

This production contains coarse language, references to suicide, terminal illness, euthanasia and mature themes.

This production also contains moments of bright lighting effects.

Recommended for ages 16+ / Year 11+

Scripted dialogue contains descriptions and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religiously sensitive commentary

• Bella describes her version of God as being ‘selfish… short penis… gamey breath and gout’

Sexism / overtly sexual language / inappropriate comments / innuendo

• Bella says ‘Like many single women [in] higher education, I've been accused of being a lesbian. And a witch.’
• Christopher jests often with sexual references including a joke about drawing a circus clown with a naked toddler, quipping that he has a thing for naked toddlers (he does not), ‘digital chlamydia’ ‘legendary cocksman’, ‘yeah she popped my cherry... semi-chaste erotic experiences’, walking-in on his uncle ‘having sex with a taxidermy pheasant’
• Bella describes having sex with a man she meets at the bar who shouts ‘Good pussy! Good pussy!’ at her during intercourse

Suicide

• Christopher (joking): ‘these days the novelist has to either be good at Twitter or commit suicide’
• Bella describes researching ways to commit suicide and admits to purchasing lethal drugs.
• Bella lists ways to kill herself: asphyxiation, floating to death in a warm bath, death pod, lethal injection, muscle relaxant causing paralysis and cardiac arrest.
• Bella graphically details her death, explaining the drugs to Christopher. He repeats the sequence.
• Bella describes the burn in the back of her hand as she receives the first injection

Murder

• Christopher and Bella are reading Christopher's novella which describes a graphic murder: ‘strikes Shane over the back of the head… until his brains spill out… cleans the mess… frisks the pockets [gifts the murder weapon to his mother]’

Accidental / tragic death / graphic injury

• Bella and Christopher discuss the death of an author by pulmonary haemorrhage exacerbated by emphysema
• Christopher gives a synopsis of Bella's novel in which the protagonist breaks his neck and dies
• Bella tells the audience that Christopher is found dead, face down in the snow

Loss of a loved one

• In a summary of herself, Bella states that both her parents are dead
• Bella briefly references Mary Shelly had a lost child by the time she was seventeen

Serious illness

• Bella describes her experiences of being diagnosed with stomach cancer, including lapses in her health and aggressive treatment
• Bella describes sensations/experiences associated with her cancer including sharp stabbing stomach pains, lost consciousness, a constellation of malignant tumours, chemotherapy and hair loss
• Bella describes her mother's rare stomach cancer and the symptoms including: looking unrecognisable, hairless, wheezing, addicted to morphine, chemical breath, blindness and memory loss.
• Bella knows odds of survival are low and she does not want to experience the agony she has witnessed others endure
• Bella asks Christopher to help her die with a three part injection

Mental health

• Christopher mentions he suspects his mother is agoraphobic
• Christopher describes his phobia of being alone with a baby: ‘I might throw it out the window’

Physical acts

• Christopher spits on Bella’s floor 

Come Rain or Come Shine
By Carolyn Burns, Tim Finn and Simon Phillips
Based on the Story by Kazuo Ishiguro
Directed by Simon Phillips

This production contains coarse language and mature themes.

Recommended for ages 15+ / Year 10+

Scripted dialogue contains descriptions and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religious / racially sensitive commentary

• Blasphemy, including: God/Oh my God, Oh Christ/Cripes/Christ's sake, Jesus, Bloody Hell/What the hell
• ‘The Portuguese depressive still there?’ referring to Ray's flat mate in Spain

Cheating / incest / affairs

• Charlie believes Emily has been 'thinking' about having an affair for years and speculates who with
• Charlie admits in the song This Girl that he has been fantasising about his dentist

Dysfunctional or separated families

• Charlie describes going through a ‘sticky patch’ with Emily, likening it to being in ‘solitary confinement’
• Charlie describes his deteriorating relationship with Emily ‘It’s got so bad, it’s like Stalingrad… I’m a do-nothing loser’

Objectification

• ‘We had this coffee-table book full of arty pictures of young gay men posing in African Casbahs’

Sexism / overtly sexual language / inappropriate comments / innuendo

• Charlie sings along with My Sharona by The Knack, including lines such as ‘always get it up for the touch of the younger kind’
• Charlie to Ray (in jest) ‘See ya later masturbater’
• Charlie to Ray about the damaged notebook ‘If she finds out, she's going to saw your balls off’ & ‘I have to save my balls from certain destruction’
• ‘Get his bloody arse together!’
• ‘You drank all day and screwed all night’

Suicide

• Emily recounts how Charlie asked what she would do if he committed suicide, she described him as 'too chicken' to actually do it and threatened to 'saw his balls off'

Addiction

• Discussing Ray's unemployed alcoholic girlfriend and her vomiting at a party

Violence

• As part of a dream sequence the following is described: ‘It feels like having this corkscrew driven into your guts and then twisted, you devious, snooping, insubstantial, whining loser’

Emotional distress

• Charlie sobs quietly
• Ray clutches his stomach, rocking – panicking
• Ray does a strange, agonised dance of anxiety, then he drinks wine straight from the bottle

Sexual acts / tension

• Emily kisses Ray on the cheek and top of the head
• Charlie charges out of his room, roaring, to Emily's delight. He tackles her onto his shoulder and runs around the room with her, screaming.

Animalistic behaviour

• Ray acts like a dog – drops onto all fours and wrecks things 'using his nose and teeth as much as possible'

Laurinda
A new play by Diana Nguyen with Petra Kalive
Based on the novel by Alice Pung
Directed by Petra Kalive 

This production contains coarse language, adult themes, bullying and sensitive racial commentary including description of racial violence.

Recommended for ages 13+ / Year 8+

Scripted dialogue contains descriptions and physical enactment of the following:

General racial discrimination and racially sensitive commentary with a focus on Asian background

• Racially discriminatory behavior towards Lucy
• Racially derogatory comments towards Lucy
• Racial generalisations and assumptions
• Casual racism / benevolent racism / unintentional racism
• The acquiring/commodification of First Nations art
• Lucy’s parents were traveling to Australia by boat and threatened by Thai pirates

Bullying / racial slurs / personal attacks

• Direct and indirect bullying of students and teachers (Asian and Anglo backgrounds)
• Teacher is pranked: Dr Vanderwerp drinks from a cup with a tampon in it, sits on a desk covered in pigs blood
• Violent acts of ‘accidental bullying’ including the breaking of a student’s finger (Katie)
• Asian hate / violence is described
• Use of the word ‘Chink’ to Lucy during a heated exchange

Sexual harassment

• Chelsea, a student, is sexually provocative towards Dr Vandewerp
• Insinuation of sexual misconduct with a teacher (Dr Vandewerp)
• Harassment of a teacher (Dr Vandewerp)
• Provocative student dance: three students dance provocatively for Dr Vandewerp, in front of the whole class 

Portraying a mental health condition

• Lucy has a psychological ‘break’ – her personality splits, and she spends much of the play talking with her alter-ego. 

Cyrano
By Virginia Gay (after Edmond Rostand)
Directed by Sarah Goodes

This production contains coarse language, sexual references and mature themes.

Recommended for ages 15+ / Year 10+

Scripted dialogue contains description of:

Derogatory comments about particular demographics

• Roxanne insults Cyrano accusing her of being ‘as bad as the old white guys who used to tell this story’

Sensitive cultural/religious commentary

• Blasphemy: God, Oh my god, Christ, Get the hell out
• Cyrano speaks to Yan, referencing Roxanne: ‘let’s not Solomon this baby’

Struggles with gender / identity / sexuality

• Chorus question whether Cyrano is a 'he', 'she' or 'they' in this version of the play

Cheating / incest / affairs

• Chorus references how Roxanne is Cyrano's cousin in the original version of the story

Sexism

• 2 proclaims ‘women don't care about how someone looks’
• Yan discusses women with Cyrano, implying they are confusing: ‘women, huh?...am I right?’
• Yan describes a soldier's approach to women: ‘a soldier would… just take her, right?... throw her over a shoulder, here's your happily ever after’
• Roxanne and Cyrano discuss men as being emotionally stunted unable to talk about their feelings

Overtly sexual language / strong sexual language / inappropriate comments / innuendo

• Cyrano jokes, ‘Did I ever tell you the one about the dildo farmers? They had a terrible problem with squatters’
• Roxanne uses sexual innuendo: ‘there's a lot to be said for a well-placed six inches’
• Roxanne is flirting with Yan: ‘those invisible fingers, impish, getting up under skirts, inside jackets...’
• 3 flirts with Yan: ‘Bodies make sense. [...] Your body particularly’
• Yan seduces Roxanne: ‘I want you. I want to do everything to you. On you. I want to touch your breasts’
• Roxanne uses sexualised language: ‘what is the opposite of a panty dropper?’
• Cyrano and Roxanne describe in detail different aspects of a sexually charged first kiss
• Roxanne to Yan/Cyrano: ‘I wanna fuck you’
• Cyrano about Roxanne: ‘she's fucking herself with my words’
• Yan to Roxanne: ‘I will come for you, I will fuck you... I will fuck you hard... and a lot... really hard’
• Roxanne describes sex with Yan: ‘like fucking the statue of David’, ‘it's huge’, ‘I came a lot’
• Cyrano jokes about purchasing a sex toy: ‘so, me with a dick. I mean... there are places I can buy...’
• Roxanne describes Yan: ‘this big, throbbing, dripping, beautiful man’
• Yan sniggers at the sexual connotations of the phrase ‘happy ending’
• Cyrano: ‘Pain is necessary’ Roxanne ‘kinky’
• Roxanne analogises her relationship with Cyrano to a predatory one between an older man and a younger woman

Intimacy – kissing / sexual gestures / sexual intercourse / intimate touching

• Cyrano and Roxanne are huddled together, inadvertently/not consciously intimate
• Scripted direction: ‘[Roxanne] rubs herself up against [Yan]’
• After Yan attacks 2, 3 tries to calm him by stroking Yan’s body
• 3 directs Yan to ‘put you head between my knees’, Yan does. Whilst done to comfort Yan, who is hyperventilating, the action is intended as comic sexual tension by placing his head near her groin
• Cyrano takes Roxanne up in her arms. They're face to face. The moment before the kiss
• In the Yan and Roxanne love scene, Cyrano is under the balcony subtly echoing sexual physical gestures
• Roxanne measures out the size of Cyrano's nose, implying it is the perfect size for a penis
• Yan climbs up the scaffolding and kisses Roxanne
• Yan and 3 kiss
• Cyrano and Roxanne kiss as the lights fade

Violence / torture / bullying

• 2 encourages Cyrano to kill Yan
• Yan threatens to kill 2
• Roxanne recounts having been physically attacked and her shock at ‘crumpl[ing] like a cliché’
• 3 references animal harm: ‘I call on Ye Gods, I beat my chest, slaughter deer and pour libations’
• Yan violently rushes 1
• Yan lunges at 2. 3 and Cyrano restrains him
• Cyrano verbally bullies 3 by displaying prowess, diminishing 3's skills as a performer/improviser. Cyrano then intentionally intimidates and threatens to fight 3.

Murder / genocide / mass murder / death

• Cyrano jokes about her nose causing genocide if she were to sneeze and spread COVID-19
• Song lyric references death: ‘to the rollin’ of the hearse’

Mental health

• Self-esteem: 3 refers to always having felt small (implied as feeling insignificant)
• Addiction – song lyric references drug use: ‘and a problem when she's stoned’
• Fat shaming / negative body image / self-degradation
  • Cyrano's nose is often described negatively: ‘she's aware it's repellent’, ‘like a car crash on your face’. Cyrano tells a series of self-depreciating jokes/monologues about her nose
  • Cyrano discusses feeling hope and then losing hope because of her body image
  • Yan compares himself to an overweight Chris Pratt, with the connotation that the 'better' version of Chris Pratt is not overweight. He then accuses 1 of being a ‘feeder’, with the connotation that overweight is bad.
  • Cyrano and Roxanne discuss body image and what life would be like if they looked different
  • Cyrano speaks in reference to her body: ‘this thing that can never satisfy you. never satisfy anyone’
• Loneliness and longing
  • Chorus discuss how having all of Cyrano's attributes must make life lonely; Cyrano agrees it does
  • Song lyric directed at/about Cyrano re-emphasises her loneliness: ‘on her lonely way back home’
  • Cyrano questions longs for joy and hope and love
  • 3 speaks to the audience telling them that everyone feels ‘loneliness and longing’
  • 3 reminds everyone that it's normal to have self-doubt

Vulgar / crass language

• Yan describes his body as: ‘The cape of my flesh’, disgusting the others.

Living in poverty / financial hardship

• Cyrano references drought and hardship when joking about her nose: ‘First there was the drought, then the mouse plague’

Significant movement of set / scenery

• Streamers shoot out of cannons over the audience, making a loud bang 

Girls & Boys
By Dennis Kelly
Directed by Kate Champion

This production contains frequent coarse language, mature themes and descriptions of graphic violence, family abuse and suicide.

Recommended for ages 16+ / Year 11+

Scripted dialogue contains descriptions and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religiously sensitive commentary

• Blasphemy including: I swear to Christ, Christ sake, God, Oh my God, Jesus, Jesus Christ

References to dictators, genocide or extremists

• The protagonist describes an argument with her husband over mass shootings; she wonders at our shock of incomprehensible violence: ‘It just seems to be a thing that we do… those lads who go off to Syria... idiots that blow themselves up for Islamic fucking State… or Ukrainian Nationalists’ describing it all as ‘male impulse’

Sexual harassment/assault/advances

• The husband mocks sexual advances from two models: ‘sex with you would be an act of necrophilia… like wanking into a pretty dress’

Cheating / incest / affairs

• When the husband says ‘get your fucking hands off me’, the protagonist realises ‘he was having an affair’
• The protagonist talks about her husband's infidelity and the ‘colour of hurt’ that crept up on her

Sexism

• The protagonist describes the sexist treatment of Veronica at work: ‘[they] snide about her for being tough... then for being tough and childless… then for getting a child… it was disgusting’
• ‘men are, in general, absolutely cocking awful at being in power: in general’

Overtly sexual language / strong sexual language / inappropriate comments / innuendo

• The protagonist describes having ‘extremely drunk, doggy style sex’ after being sick and thinking ‘if he doesn't come soon, he's going to fuck me right into that puddle of puke’

Suicide/ murder / tragic death / violence / graphic injury

• The husband murders his children and then jumps off the balcony onto the concrete road below. He survived.
• The husband kills himself in prison by swallowing the broken end of a plastic spoon and forcing bread into his gullet
• The protagonist explains why it is hard to kill a human being because the mental and emotional distance required
• The protagonist signposts ‘this is the hard bit’ and then tells the audience ‘my children were stabbed to death’
• The protagonist describes in graphic detail the murder of her son
• The protagonist describes in graphic detail the murder of her daughter
• The protagonist describes the husband showering and cleaning himself up after the murders
• The protagonist considers how things may have been different if she had murdered her husband first
• The children play violent imaginary games where they ‘cluster bomb the skyscrapers’, imagine burning people, and ‘send in the Taliban’
• The protagonist will keep applying for jobs ‘banging my head against the wall until the wall breaks or until my neck is a bloody stump’
• The protagonist suggests if you haven't experienced ‘insane love’ break up with your partner or (with a laugh) ‘kill yourself’
• The protagonist describes the care and hatred that simultaneously exist, and wanting to cause another pain
• The protagonist describes her thoughts about her husband's infidelity: ‘[the feeling] had transformed into a burning, ferocious white-hot anger that was so intense I could actually feel my skin sizzling’
• The protagonist describes the day the police came to the work to give her the news of the murder of her children

Serious self-degradation

• ‘my drinky, druggy, slaggy phase: and I mean slaggy… it was dirty, messy’

Loss of a loved one

• The protagonist talks to her children throughout the play, but she understands they are not there.

Abortion

• The protagonist describes her husband's physical reaction to the news of her pregnancy: ‘he starts to shake… the fear… not wanting’ and so she decides in the moment to terminate.

Domestic violence / psychological abuse

• The protagonist tells her husband she wants a divorce and there is a description of his reaction: ‘it's not aggressive physically… but emotionally it's brutal, it's warfare, it is unrestrained genocide’
• The husband on his wife's happiness: ‘I don't fucking care if you're happy... if you're never fucking happy again, that doesn't matter to me at all’
• The protagonist gives statistics on family violence/annihilation, such as a child is nearly three times more likely to die ‘at the hands of a parent than to be killed by a stranger’
• The protagonist explains annihilation is about ‘losing control... exerting control... denying control to others... they do not snap. They plan. They know what they're doing. Those four months with a not a peep out of him? Planning’ 

Sunshine Super Girl
Written & Directed By Andrea James

This production contains mild coarse language, adult themes, flashing lights and haze.

Recommended for ages 12+ / Year 7+

Scripted dialogue contains descriptions and physical enactment of the following:

Culturally / religiously sensitive commentary / acts

• Blasphemy – God knows what
• Girly wallpaper is projected on the walls with the words 'Living White' overlaid

Direct discrimination towards a character / person

• The press give Evonne nicknames such as ‘Dusky’ and ‘Biscuit-coloured’
• Despite being a low-ranked player, Evonne's first time at Wimbledon she plays centre court ‘the Wimbledon Freak Show’
• The Italian's chant ‘Chocolato’ at Evonne's game in Rome
• Evonne is offered to play in the South African tournament as an ‘honorary white’
• Evonne recounts ‘being turned away from discos... they let my white friends in and wouldn't let me in’

General discrimination towards a race

• Evonne describes a trip to the cinema where she was relegated to the front with the other Black kids
• Evonne describes the South African tournament with ‘black seats’ at the back of the stadium

Racial slurs / racist acts

• An opponent shakes hands limply with Evonne: ‘Well that's the first time I've ever had the pleasure of playing a nigger’
• Evonne tells Isabel and Bob she's been called a nigger: ‘I don't wanna get used to that’
• The word 'nigger' is projected around the court

Bullying

• After Evonne loses the semi-finals of the US open, 'The best loser of them all' is projected around the space

Racially sensitive commentary

• A car approaches the house and the kids run inside: ‘all us kids knew to look out for the Black car’
• Mrs Martin feels the need to flag with Mr Edwards: ‘The girl- she's dark… She's an Aboriginal’
• Mr Edwards tells Evonne he's enrolled her in elocution lessons
• A reporter insensitively describes ‘a slim brown Aboriginal girl from the bush, playing tennis on a posh Sydney court’
• Bob tells Evonne ‘You're a blackfella living in Australia. That's political’
• Evonne is unable to attend a Rights March; her friends tease ‘Well, when we get our land rights, I suppose we can give some of it back to Evonne’
• The first questions the press ask Evonne after her match are ‘Can you throw a boomerang?... Can you speak Aboriginal?’
• Isabel and Bob beg Evonne to boycott the South African tournament where she is being made an ‘honourary white for a week’

Sexual harassment / assault / advances

• Mr Edwards (coach) makes an inappropriate advance wanting to run a bath and show her a few moves also referring to Evonne as ‘my pet’
• Evonne yells for someone to hear her as Mr Edwards makes drunk, sexual advances
• Mr Edwards goes to exit but then doubles back and attempts to kiss Evonne on the cheek; she avoids him
• Mr Edwards sits next to Evonne and puts his hand on her knee: ‘You know, if it's boys you're interested in…’
• Mr Edwards (drunk) grabs Evonne and forces her to dance. Evonne struggles against his grip.

Sexism

• Mr Edwards drunkenly accuses Evonne of playing like a C grade player and asks if she would prefer to be a housewife
• Evonne dismisses Mr Edwards as her coach; he subsequently accuses her of ruining her career by getting married: ‘you won't win Wimbledon with a baby on your hip!’
• After Evonne wins the quarter finals of Wimbledon ‘the Press have a field day with my 'housewife status'... Mrs Cawley Mops Up!’

Living in poverty / financial hardship

• Evonne begs her mum to let her play in a tournament but she has no tennis shoes or dress. Her mum tells her ‘money's a bit tight...I haven't got any material left… Dad's work is a bit quiet’
• Isabel and Bob remind Evonne ‘don't forget ya mob back home living under the poverty line... tennis is a whitefellas game anyway’

Dysfunctional or separated families / divorce

• Evonne doesn't go home for her Dad's funeral and is not forgiven by her mother

Loss of a loved one

• Mr Edwards bluntly tells Evonne her dad has died: ‘run over. Left by the side of the road. He's dead’ 

SLAP. BANG. KISS.
By Dan Giovannoni
Directed by Katy Maudlin

This production contains coarse language, and references to gun violence and homophobia.

Recommended for ages 14+ / Year 9+

Scripted dialogue contains description and physical enactment of the following:

Violence incl. war/combat

• 16-year-old Immi is on her way home when a security officer stops her to check her bags and ID, a familiar routine that irritates Immi.
• Later, she sees her flag jammed behind bins, and her anger toward her oppressors grows.
• Confronted by a security officer on the street, Immi slaps him.

Depicting fear/humiliation

• Immi’s family are concerned about the repercussions of her actions, and soon she is arrested and imprisoned. Immi’s slap was captured on camera and goes viral.

Direct discrimination towards a character/person

• Leon and Beau, empowered by Immi as a symbol of resistance, plan a protest. Morrie stands up for a stranger being intimated on a train, and Vida comes face to face with a law enforcement officer at a protest.

Distressing/graphic descriptions or references

• 16-year-old Sofia is at school, bored and waiting for the final bell. An alarm sounds, and suddenly an active shooter enters the classroom. Sofia is wounded and some of her peers are killed, including her friend Rebecca.
• At Sofia’s school, she hides in a cupboard and reflects on safety drills, until police escort her out of the school. Overhearing a journalist offering “thoughts and prayers”, Sofia speaks her mind to the camera. Her speech is broadcast widely, prompting Sofia to plan a march for gun control.

Kissing

• In the carpark of a small-town Woolworths, 16-year-old Darby is preparing to break the world record for the longest kiss with another boy from his school, Daniel. Darby’s friend Jasmine livestreams the kiss on her phone.

Struggles with gender identity/sexuality incl. vilification of homosexuals, androgyny etc.

• In the Woolworths carpark, a Slurpee is thrown at the boys from a passing car, along with homophobic slurs, but onlookers gather around Darby and Daniel to protect them. The boys’ kiss attracts a growing crowd of supporters in the carpark.