For just over 100 years an institution for the mentally ill has stood on little Peat Island, in the lower Hawkesbury. It was decommissioned in 2010; quite empty now, it remains a locked facility just as it had always been. And eerie. The last residents were dispersed into the wider community. In this, they echoed the fate of the Darkinjung people, original custodians of this country - their community was scattered just as intentionally, and effectively, if not quite so brutally. It is not ...

Henry Kendall was once regarded as Australia's finest poet, compared favourably with Wordsworth. His poetry was romantic, sentimental in its celebration of the Australian bush he loved. But he was more Henry Lawson than John Keats: a self-pitying wife deserter, cadger and drunkard. And it ran in the family. From 1859, Kendall published prolifically in newspapers and periodicals. But he struggled to support a wife and children through poems and articles, his first poetry book was a financia...

This book examines the extraordinary life of George Collingridge de Tourcey, a landscape painter of the late nineteenth century, just ahead of the Australian impressionists. When he emigrated from France to Australia he grew passionate about the possibilities of his new country, and worked tirelessly to contribute to it - not least for his "Discovery of Australia" (1895), in which on the evidence of ancient maps he argued controversially for Portuguese and Hispanic pre-discovery ...

Just Adrian is a patchwork tour of a legendary playwright, poet and activist’s life in the theatre. It is a fascinating first-hand account of groundbreaking productions featuring figures like Kenneth Tynan, Peter Brook and Peter Hall as well as adventures in alternative theatre. These writings explore Adrian’s many interests, from drama for children to musical theatre, in a voice that combines playful irreverence with compassion and insight. Taken together, they are a funny, moving testame...

An epic play in two acts, The Siege was commissioned by the National Playwright Commissioning Group and written especially for performance in schools.It tells the story of the Swados family, citizens of Arden, a town under siege. Working in collaboration with teenagers from schools across the UK, Adrian Mitchell has created a vibrant and topical text which speaks with the voices of young people. The expertise and talent of thousands has been shared under the guidance of a leading p...

Adrian Mitchell's triumphant musical adaptation for children of Browning's The Pied Piper. Premiered at the Royal National Theatre and performed throughout the world.

Includes the plays Tyger Two, Satie-Day/Night, Man Friday and In the Unlikely Event of an EmergencyFour plays with music. In Tyger Two, William Blake continues his fight against fashionable fools. Satie-Day/Night celebrates Eric Satie. Man Friday offers Friday’s view of the empire-building Crusoe. The Unlikely Event of an Emergency takes us for a bumpy ride on the worst airliner in the world.

The Mammoth is the greatest sailing ship ever built. It is to carry Princess Alysoun from Norway to Scotland, where she is to marry King Andrew the Bold. But she falls in love with Sir Patrick Spens, the bravest captain to sail the seven seas. This is a passionate, funny, subversive celebration of a play.

Come On Everybody brings together poems from a dozen collections published by Adrian Mitchell over five decades, from Poems (1964) to Tell Me Lies (2008). His poetry's simplicity, clarity, passion and humour show his allegiance to a vital, popular tradition embracing William Blake as well as the ballads and the blues. His most nakedly political poems -about war, Vietnam, prisons and racism -became part of the folklore of the Left, sung and recited at demonstrations and mass rallies. His ch...

It should have been a paradise, but paradise is what you lose, it is what you might have had. An elderly woman who has lived for many years on a tropical island off the Queensland coast with her beachcomber husband waits for help from the mainland. For three harrowing days, alone. He has died, his body lies in their cabin just up from the beach, and while she awaits help she reviews her reclusive life there, of nearly 25 years with him. She is a woman with a glint in her mind's eye. "...

"There were likely to be deserts enough for Goliath to feel quite at home, he said. But that gave rise to a puzzle as to why we would want to go exploring there. Never mind. My task was to record what we saw." By his training as a profilist - a silhouette painter - Ethan Dibble has learned to take a sidelong view of life. When he arrives in early colonial South Australia he has no idea of what to expect; but with his knack for observation and detachment, and a wry sense of humour...

A cruel conqueror has captured the Spanish city of Fuente Ovejuna. As his reign of terror builds, the townspeople look within themselves to find the courage to overthrow him. The eminent Spanish playwright Lope de Vega based his best-known play on a historical incident that took place in 1476. Written in the early 17th century, the play remains a timely meditation on honor and selflessness in the face of oppression.Recorded at the DoubleTree Guest Suites, Santa Monica in June 1993....