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A spine-tingling romantic thriller. Charlotte is a Berliner through and through. Tom is a foreigner, travelling around Europe. After meeting in a bar, sparks fly between them and she invites him to spend the night at her place. As they navigate the ritual of seduction, their desire gives way to secrets that cannot be ignored and questions neither of them can answer. Does young love stand a chance against the suffocating reach of the past? Joanna Murray-Smith is one of Australias most celebrated playwrights, captivating audiences from Melbourne to Broadway and the West End. This riveting NEXT STAGE commission premiered for Melbourne Theatre Company as part of its 2021 season. A powerful mix of thriller, romance and ethical dilemma, Berlin will keep you guessing until the very end. (3 scenes, 1M, 1F).
"Little gems, as observant as anything in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads."--Guardian
A reconciliation between a mother and the daughter she gave away at birth. Anna is a successful film editor in her 40s who has defined herself through her political conscience. Living alone in a cold, stylish apartment she believes she has come to terms with her history, until a young woman called Billie arrives at her door. Billie acts in soap operas, doesn't believe in political action and wants a mother. Together these two fractured women confront the implications of distance; between then and now, between generations and between the one who gave away and the one who was let go.
A comedy that deftly walks the tightrope between satire and farce proving the female of the species is not only deadlier, but funnier than the male.
Pools. Tennis courts. Luxury station wagons. Welcome to Sunnyside. Olivia wants to sleep with her teacher. Harry wants a B&O sound system. Alice want a cure for writer's block. Molly wants to move in with the pool man. Justin wants to kill his mother. Grace wants to be famous, even if she is only eleven. And Scarlett wants what she can't have and will do anything to get it. 'Eloquent, rich, vivid . . . Murray-Smith's novel presents a mirror to the realities of noughties living, where no one is what they seem and relationships are changeable as the house prices' Scotland on Sunday 'Joanna Murray-Smith demonstrates a Stoppardian git for pithily combining intelligence, wit and pathos' Independent (UK)
THE STORY: Somewhere in the Swiss Alps, grande dame of crime literature Patricia Highsmith lives with an impressive collection of books, and a somewhat sinister collection of guns and knives. She finds solace in her solitude, her cats, and cigarettes. But when a mysterious international visitor arrives at her perfectly secluded home, her love of fictional murders becomes a dangerous reality.
Sadie and Ed meet Martin and Chloë at a holiday resort and instantly hit it off, despite coming from completely different worlds. When Martin saves Ed's life, everyone knows the debt can never be properly repaid. But Ed is rich and Chloë and Martin have a need so great it seems divine providence when Ed, wanting to show his gratitude, gives the young couple a year to decide on an appropriate gift. Yet when the year is up, surely Chloë and Martin's wish is something no-one could possibly grant? Wrapped in Joanna Murray-Smith's glinting dialogue, The Gift is a witty examination of our modern moral confusions. (3 male, 2 female).
When seemingly happily married couple Tess and Curtis announce that theyre calling time on their 20-year relationship, Bonnie and Annie are devastated. Who will they have cosy foursome dinners with? What will happen to their carefully planned couples trip to Bhutan? And what will become of all their shared history? Joanna Murray-Smiths Three Little Words will have anyone who feels settled in matters of the heart shaking in their boots. The power of social connection and the interdependence of friends are thrust under her highly polished microscope revealing that, when it comes to love, things can shatter at any moment.
A play that tackles, with wit and verve, tough questions about celebrity, motherhood and the ethics of adoption.
When a great singer lets her voice float out over the anonymous crowd, or form the grooves of thousands of records, or flow through radios into millions of homes across the world, she makes countless unknown connections with people. The singer has her story and the listener hers, and should those stories touch each other, there can be magic. (1 act, 5 female).