This list represents a broad selection of plays that have been developed through the National Play Festival since 2008. Stay tuned for the latest plays as they become available.
National Play Festival Scripts
THERESE RAQUIN
by Gary AbrahamsNewlyweds, Therese and Camille, have just moved to Paris with Camille’s mother. Paris is nothing but hard work for Therese. She’s running a shop, humouring her mother-in-law and listening to her sickly husband’s plans for the railway administration. It all...
IN THE VIOLET TIME
by Sue SmithSet in inner city Sydney in 1931, and narrated by 12-year-old Violet, In the Violet Time tells the story of the Harwich family. Violet’s father, Liam, a Balkan immigrant, struggles to find work along the Hungry Mile of the Sydney waterfront. His efforts go unrewarded. When...
War Crimes
by Angela Betzien
WIREDANCER'S WALTZ
by Sven Swenson| BONDI DREAMING by Sam Atwell Two young Aussies await execution in a south-east Asian prison cell for drug smuggling. Th... | add to cart | |
| DO NOT GO GENTLE by Patricia Cornelius In this wondrous play, Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition is a metaphor for the elusiv... | add to cart | |
| ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS by John Fraser Pat and Ronnie work the lighthouse at Muckle Flugga—neighbour to 46,000 gannets, 200... | add to cart | |
| SWAMPLANDS by Van Badham The Diplomat, the Spy, the CIA, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Byron, Dick Cheney (a 10 foot lizard... | add to cart | |
| GOODBYE VAUDEVILLE CHARLIE MUDD by Lally Katz Published with CP-an36 Return to Earth Set in Edwardian Melbourne, this play is an evoc... | add to cart | |
| HELLY'S MAGIC CUP by Rosalba Clemente There’s a hundred fire-breathing dragons and a million bees that will sting you to d... | add to cart | |
| HEAVEN by Kit Brookman When a schoolgirl, Angela, dies in a random road accident Max gathers a ragtag group of te... | add to cart | |
| EIGHT GIGABYTES OF HARDCORE PORNOGRAPHY by Declan Greene They met online. She’s a nurse in her forties, brats for kids, trapped in a loop of cata... | add to cart | |
| DIRTYLAND by Elise Hearst What won’t Anya do to get away from her dirty, dirty land? Anya has chipped her t... | add to cart | |
| SMALL LIFE by Zoe Hogan One child teaches a younger one the complexity and intricacy of begging on a street corner... | add to cart | |
| AUSTRALIAN GOTHIC by Mary Rachel Brown Clair, an activist and nurse, is being held without charge as she is interrogated by ASIO ... | add to cart | |
| REVOLUTION by Jonathan Ari Lander A play that takes a running leap at a disenfranchised, bleak and bloody future. What if... | add to cart | |
| QUIVER by Kit Lazaroo A small group of underground scientists attempt to re-green the Earth’s now toxic su... | add to cart | |
| STUDENT BODY by Alana Valentine Kai Chai is a student who has come to Australia for a university education. So have Fon an... | add to cart | |
| RUST AND BONE by Caleb Lewis Three men, each a ball of tightly coiled fury. Eddie is a fighter, too old and broken to w... | add to cart | |
| THE NEW BLACK by Robert Reid The New Black was prompted by two media events during 2008—the first being the contr... | add to cart | |
| THE REAL WORLD by Melissa Reeves Frank: I believe in no god and I don’t need one. I don’t know why we’re ... | add to cart | |
| 19 TRAINS by Angus Cerini Writer's notes: A young man performed in a play I had written. His extraordinary skill ... | add to cart | |
| SWEETEST THINGS by Kate Rice Through interviews, emails, letters and legal documents a playwright pursues the truth lef... | add to cart | |
| WATER FALLING DOWN by Mark Swivel Water Falling Down is an intimate two-hander, a closely observed portrait of a father and ... | add to cart | |
| CROSSED by Chris Summers Five initially disparate urban Australian lives intertwine and intersect, ultimately all l... | add to cart | |
| THE MAN WITH THE SEPTEMBER FACE by Kylie Trounson It’s 1983. Jesse wants to make it big in roller skates. His coach (and Mum) Naura, r... | add to cart | |
| A BEAUTIFUL GESTURE by Ross Mueller St Paul’s Church sits beside “Ground Zero”. A tiny building on Broadway,... | add to cart |