Böcker av Alana Valentine

The inmates of The Girls Training School, Parramatta had about as hard an upbringing as you can get in Australia. But theirs is also one of the great untold stories of making good in tough times. PARRAMATTA GIRLS: Based on the testimony of dozens of GTS old-girls and this vibrant play is a joyous and harrowing dramatisation of the experiences of eight inmates and their reunion forty years later. Interspersed with song and storytelling, this is a tribute to mischief and humour in the face of hardship and inequality (8 female). EYES TO THE FLOOR: Chronicles the experience of girls sent from Parramatta Girls Home to the Hay Girls Home for even more brutal, punitive treatment. Written to be played by young adults, this moving work emphasises the childlike vulnerability of the inmates in a world where they must find connection with each other in order to survive. Artfully woven with movement, chorus work and poetry, it is a compelling companion work to Parramatta Girls (4 male, 7 female).

Wild, unpredictable, and deeply vulnerable, Barbara and her sister René are singing for their lives. Barbaras been trying to make it in Sydney, but when their mothers health deteriorates, the sisters embark on a pilgrimage back home to country. Full of painful, unfinished business for Barbara, their return sends her into a downward spiral. Can Barbara find a way to resolve the past in time to preserve love in the only family she has known? Through music that ranges from punk-inspired explosions of rage, to tender rock and soul ballads full of yearning, Barbara and the Camp Dogs is a gob-spit of fun, frenzy and family that finds beauty in honesty and hope in confronting the past.

The court case captivated a nation. A mother accused of murdering her child, her claim that the baby was taken by a dingo denied and discredited by zealous police and a flawed legal system. The media circus, the rumours, the nations prejudices laid bare. And in the eye of the storm: Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Over three decades, from baby Azarias death to the final coroners report, the publics fascination with Lindy seldom waned. The National Library holds a collection of more than 20,000 letters to Lindy. From sympathy to abuse, from marriage proposals to death threats, the correspondence traverses the gamut of responses to Lindys story. Letters to Lindy draws on this correspondence and interviews with Lindy herself. It is an enthralling, revealing, and long overdue dialogue between Lindy and the nation; a portrait of the wisdom and resilience of a grieving mother. This new work by award-winning playwright Alana Valentine ( Ladies Day, Parramatta Girls) explores the publics relationship with one of Australias most iconic figures. (2 acts, 2 male, 2 female).