Abstract
The most innovative Australian plays of the 1980s deal with images of Australian society and history. Alienation and parable are used as focusing devices for the examination of modern post-colonial Australia — its past, its present, its dreams and nightmares. In this endeavour the theatre of Louis Nowra is preeminent in its scope and achievement, marking him as one of the most exciting contemporary stage-writers in english (Ashcroft et al., 1989, p. 8).1
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen (1989), The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures (London: Routledge).
Cramphorn, Rex (1977) ‘Inner Voices’ Kelly (1987), pp. 42–5.
Diamond, Elin (1989), ‘(In)visible Bodies in Churchill’s Theater’ in Lynda Hart (ed.), Making a Spectacle: Feminist Essays on Contemporary Women’s Theatre (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press).
Jackson, Rosemary (1981), Fantasy: The Litrature of Subversion (New York: Methuen).
Kelly, Veronica (1987), Louis Nowra (Amsterdam: Rodopi).
Kelly, Veronica (1988), ‘“Nowt More Outcastin”: Utopian Myth in Louis Nowra’s The Golden Age’, in Bruce Bennett (ed.), A Sense of Exile: Essays in the Literature of the Asia-Pacific Region (Perth: Centre for Studies in Australian Literature), pp. 101–10.
Lamming, George (1984), The Pleasures of Exile (London and New York: Allison & Busby).
Macherey, Pierre (1978), A Theory of Literary Production, trans. Geoffrey Wall (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul).
Nowra, Louis (1976), The Misery of Beauty: The Loves of Frogman (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).
Nowra, Louis (1979a), Visions (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1979b), The Cheated (Sydney: Angus & Robertson).
Nowra, Louis (1981), Inside the Island/The Precious Woman (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1983), Sunrise (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1983a) The Song Room, in Rodney Fisher (ed.), Seven One-Act Plays (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1983), Inner Voices/Albert Names Edward (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1987), Palu (Sydney: Picador).
Nowra, Louis (1988), Capricornia (Sydney: Currency Press).
Nowra, Louis (1989), The Golden Age, rev. edn (Sydney: Currency Press).
Ridgman, Jeremy (1983), ‘Interview: Louis Nowra, Stephen Sewell and Neil Armfield talk to Jeremy Ridgman’, Australasian Drama Studies 1(20), 105–23.
Souter, Gavin (1978), Lion and Kangaroo: Australia 1901–1919. The Rise of a Nation (Sydney: Fontana).
Turcotte, Gerry (1987) ‘“Perfecting the Monologue of Silence”’: An Interview with Louis Nowra’, Kunapipi 9(3), 51–67.
Turcotte, Gerry (1989/90), Review of Capricornia, Australasian Drama Studies, 15/16, 189–191.
Turner, Graeme (1988), National Fictions: Literature, Film and the Construction of Australian Narrative (Sydney: Allen & Unwin).
Premiere dates Plays
Albert Names Edward (Melbourne, La Mama, 1976).
Inner Voices (Sydney, Nimrod Downstairs, 1977).
Visions (Sydney, Paris Theatre, 1978).
Beauty and the Beast, with Rex Cramphorn (Sydney, Sydney Theatre Company, 1980).
The Death of Joe Orton (Adelaide, State Theatre Company of South Australia, Playreading, 1980).
Inside the Island (Sydney, Nimrod Theatre, 1980).
The Precious Woman (Sydney, Sydney Theatre Company, 1980).
Royal Show (Adelaide, Lighthouse Theatre Company, 1982).
Spellbound (Adelaide, Lighthouse Theatre Company, 1982).
Sunrise (Adelaide, Lighthouse Theatre Company, 1983).
The Golden Age (Melbourne, Playbox, 1985).
Capricornia (Sydney, Belvoir Street Theatre, 1988).
Byzantine Flowers (Sydney, Sydney Theatre Company, 1989).
The Watchtower (Sydney, National Institute of Dramatic Art, 1990).
Operas
Inner Voices, music by Brian Howard (Melbourne, Victoria State Opera, 1979).
Whitsunday, music by Brian Howard (Sydney, Australian Opera, 1988).
Translations
The Lady of the Camelias, with Rex Cramphorn (Sydney, Sydney Theatre Company, 1979).
Cyrano de Bergerac (Sydney, Sydney Theatre Company, 1980).
Lulu (Adelaide, State Theatre Company of South Australia, 1981).
The Prince of Homberg (Adelaide, Lighthouse Theatre Company, 1982).
Ghosts, with May-Brit Akerholt (Sydney, Belvoir Street Theatre, 1988).
Radio
Albert Names Edward (ABC Radio, 1975).
The Song Room (ABC-FM, 1980).
The Widows (ABC-FM, 1986).
Summer of the Aliens (BBC, 1989).
Television
Displaced Persons (ABC TV, 1985).
Hunger (ABC TV, 1986).
The Lizard King (ABC TV, 1988).
The Last Resort series originator (ABC TV, 1988).
Adaptations from Nowra’s Work
The Cheated, dance work, choreography Kai Tai Chan, music Richard Vella. (Sydney, One Extra Dance Company, 1986). From his book of that name.
The Misery of Beauty, play, adapted Wendy Joseph (Melbourne, Lunar Theatre, 1989). From his novel of that name.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 1992 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kelly, V. (1992). Louis Nowra. In: King, B. (eds) Post-Colonial English Drama. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22436-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22436-4_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-22438-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-22436-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)