​We read two short plays in December, then headed over to a café to celebrate the end of another year of play reading.  The first play was Family Party, a comedy, with the second play a thriller, The Spider Ring.  It was interesting to read the two contrasting plays.
 
Family Party was written by Pamela Hansford Johnson and C P Snow around 1950.
The setting is a living room of a semi-detached house in the North Midlands in England, around 1950.  Three sisters are keen for their great aunt to leave them something in her will.  A visit by the great aunt results in a totally unexpected bequest seen by the sisters as outrageous.  The ‘party’ consists of the three sisters and two of their daughters.  The contrast between the characters of the sisters, the cousins and the great aunt made for a fun play.
 
The Spider Ring was written by Mabel Constanduros and Howard Agg in 1958.
The setting is an old English cottage in a remote country area in the UK.  A newlywed learns that her controlling husband’s first wife died in suspicious circumstances, and realises her life is in danger too.  Lorna is excited about plans to travel to South Africa where Frank has used her inheritance to buy a farm.  All is upset when their landlady visits unexpectedly and recognises a ring (the spider ring) she had given to Frank’s first wife.  Mrs Bland informs Lorna and heads off to call the police.  Just as it looks like Frank is about to strangle Lorna, the police arrive and the curtains close.  With good timing when performed, this would be a very entertaining thriller.

Joy Shirley

Peter George, charismatic academic, idealist, lover of life, is dead. His three wives and his daughter come together to arrange his funeral. So begins a fascinating retrospective on George's life. Life After George offers an insight into social change across three decades, from the student barricades of the late 1960s to the new Millennium.

The play is set in Australia in the year 2000 but the characters spend time remembering events from the past as far back as the 1970s. 

The university has been central to change, and it is on this stage that George played out his brilliant and tempestuous career.  An important point raised in the play was the start of the corporatisation of the universities in the late 20th century/early 21st century.  The play embodies the spirit of each of the decades.  Covering three decades, the characters of the wives reflect the culture of the eras in which they lived.

This play had one difference from the other Hannie Rayson plays we have read.  It did not have the same level of comedy relief.  We did enjoy the play and look forward to opportunities to read more of her play when available.
​
For our December class we will have two short one act plays. The first is 'Family Party' which is a comedy and the other one is 'The Spider Ring' a mystery/suspense.  We'll  then head off together for a “coffee” to celebrate another year of reading some great plays.


​Joy Shirley

Our September play was “Strangers on a Train”.  This was written by Craig Warner and is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith.

The play is set in America in the 1950s.

Architect Guy Haines wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, Miriam, in order to marry the woman he loves, Anne Faulkner.  While on a train to see his wife, he meets Charles Anthony Bruno, a psychopath and alcoholic playboy who proposes an idea to "exchange murders" –  Bruno will kill Miriam if Guy kills Bruno's father.  Neither of them will have a motive having never met the vicitm, and the police will have no reason to suspect either of them.  Guy does not take Bruno seriously, but Bruno kills Guy's wife while Guy is away in Mexico.

Playwright Craig Warner acquired the stage rights to Strangers on a Train in 1995 and wrote both theatrical and radio adaptations of the story.  The radio version was recorded and broadcast by the BBC and released on CD in May 2004.  A West End production of the play ran from November 2, 2013, to February 22, 2014.

This was a change from the comedies we have often covered this year.  It is a dark play with Bruno developing a fixation on Guy, perhaps as the result of latent homosexuality.  As this develops, he stalks Guy, even sending letters that damage his professional reputation.  During this time Guy loses all his spirit, the basis of his love of drawing and architecture and is driven to commit the murder of Bruno’s father. 

Bruno’s relationship with his mother is interesting.  It could be a bit of an Oedipus complex.  And he is also the centre of her world.  She eventually rejects him when she learns the truth.  His alcoholism destroys his health, and he is told he can never drink alcohol again or he will die. Having destroyed his own health, his mother’s care and with Guy refusing any sort of relationship, Bruno kills himself in front of Guy.


​Joy Shirley

​Our play for August was “Summer of the Seventeenth Doll” by Ray Lawler.  We chose the play as Ray Lawler recently passed away and we thought it a fitting tribute.  It is set in Australia, in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, in the summer of 1953.

Barnie and Roo have just returned from Queensland, where they have been working as sugar cane cutters.  This is the period of “the layover”, five months of sex and fun which they traditionally share with two city women, named Olive and Nancy.  This has been the pattern of the past seventeen years.  As always, Roo has brought Olive a kewpie doll as a present – the seventeenth doll!  

But things have changed.  Nancy has married, so Olive has invited Pearl Cunningham – a rather hoity-toity woman – to take over as Barnie’s date.

Also on the scene are Kathie "Bubba" Ryan, a 22-year-old girl who has been coveting Olive and Nancy's risqué lifestyle from her neighbouring house almost all her life, and Emma Leech, Olive's cynical, irritable, but wise mother.

The Summer is full of tensions.  Roo and Barnie are feeling old.  The new-comer Pearl is much less fun than her predecessor.  Roo has had a bad season up north.  He is broke and is forced to take a humiliating job in a paint factory.  His mateship with Barney is under strain following a dispute between them back in the cane-fields.

Roo is tired.  He can’t face another season of cane-cutting and he asks Olive to marry him and settle down.  But Olive is furious.  She wants her old life, her old freedom, back.  For her, marriage is the very opposite of life.

In the final scene, the two men leave together, the Summer prematurely ended. And we know that there will be no eighteenth doll. The party is over.

The play was enjoyable to read using Australian vernacular of the era.  It is quite intense, covering the breakdown of the relationships.  Each character viewed the events from a different direction.  Only Pearl and Emma saw that the fun and freedom were coming to an end.

​...News just in from Shirley “Our play for September is Strangers on a Train by Craig Warner.  It sounds interesting, it’s based on a book by Patricia Highsmith”.


Joy Shirley

Our play for July was “Breath of Spring” by Peter Coke.  The play is set in London in the 1950s.

Breath of Spring is a comic romp about five British pensioners who are unexpectedly revitalized when they happen into a life of crime.  Her fortune diminished, Dame Beatrice hosts middle-aged 'guests', plus Lily her maid, in her London home.  To repay Dame Beatrice for giving her a job despite her criminal past, Lily presents her with a mink stole which has been filched from the next flat.  Horrified, Dame Beatrice and the Brigadier, a former army officer, swing into action.  The Brigadier deploys his 'troops', including a vivid vocal coach and a dithery china restorer, to return the fur.  The whole campaign is so invigorating they decide to retain this excitement in their lives by pinching furs and giving the proceeds to charities.  Everything goes well until a loss is reported and Scotland Yard comes calling.  The maid is horrified to discover what has been going on behind her back but agrees to employ her talents to bail the amateurs out of trouble if they agree to never touch another fur.  She succeeds, the police leave, and life returns to its humdrum ways until someone remembers that it was only furs they had promised not to touch!

We had read this play several years ago, but it was just as enjoyable with a second reading – a real hoot.  It was a period piece with some interesting but very British characters representative of the era.

Joy Shirley

Our play for June was “Room to Move” by Hannie Rayson.  The play is set around Melbourne suburbs in the 1980s.  It is a great script that makes a great foundation for a good night out at the theatre.  Its plot has a strength based on its simplicity, telling the story of 29-yearold lodger, Bernie who moves in with 62-year-old widow, Peggy.  She is looking for company and he is looking for refuge. Meanwhile, Peggy’s children, Virginia and Roger, are just looking for a drama to deflect from their own problems.

The script mostly involved interaction between pairs of people – for example Peggy and Bernie, Roger and his wife, Virginia and her partner, or other combination of pairs.  On stage it would probably be set up as three different zones, with each highlighted when a particular pair of people is involved. 

No character had more involvement which made it an excellent choice for a play reading as no-one had a greater role.  It was interesting though to as we had to concentrate on when the focus moved from one pair to another.

One cultural point brought out during the play was around the issue of problems felt by a couple when the male is not the breadwinner in the family.  Interestingly, this was also an issue in our last play, “The Prisoner of Second Avenue”.  Many of our plays have involved issues that are still pertinent today and this was no different.
​
A play enjoyed by all

​Joy Shirley

Our play for May was “The Prisoner of Second Avenue”.  This was another play by Neil Simon, written in the 1970’s.

The story revolves around the escalating problems of a middle-aged couple living on Second Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City.  Mel Edison has lost his job after 22 years and struggles to cope with being unemployed.  The action occurs during an intense summer heat wave and a prolonged garbage strike.  Edison's plight is made worse as he and his wife Edna deal with noisy and argumentative neighbours, loud sounds emanating from Manhattan streets up to their apartment, and a broad-daylight burglary of their apartment.  When Mel can't find a job, Edna goes back to work.  Mel eventually suffers a nervous breakdown, a prisoner of his own mind and the Second Avenue apartment that is their home.  His brother, sisters and mostly Edna to try to restore him to a new reality.

This is a two-act play, set in the apartment.  Most of the action involves only Mel and Edna.  The other roles were quite minor in comparison.  For the play reading we swapped parts between Acts 1 and 2.  This gave more class members an opportunity to take a role.

We always enjoy Neil Simon plays, and this was no exception.  While it is the story of the struggles and mental breakdown, there are moments of lightness that helped make the play less depressing.  It did bring out the issues of mental breakdown, hence the title “The Prisoner of Second Street”.

As with other plays we have read lately, it also covered some issues that are still causing concern today, things like materialism (they did not need all the useless nick-nacks), $2 items in $3 of packaging.

The dynamics between the siblings was interesting – the different characters were brought out well.  One other notable point was the way Mel and Edna’s roles were reversed when he could not find a job.  He showed no recognition that when he was working, she was facing the same issues he faced once he was “stuck” at home – a prisoner in their apartment on Second Street.

From Shirley Swallow - "The play for June is Room to Move by Hannie Rayson. We’ve read a few of hers over the years and they are usually quite amusing and enjoyable."


Joy Shirley

Our play for April was Deception by Barbara Rose.  It is a play about deception, infidelity and tragedy.  No-one in this play is entirely honest!  A murder is planned and a murder is committed - and, in the end, the audience is deceived.

Charlie Caine is married to Sylvia, a woman 30 years younger than himself.  She and Charlie's best friend, Doug Blackman, are having an affair and plot Charlie's murder.  But Doug is also having an affair with someone else from the office.  Charlie’s PA seems to have a crush on Charlie.  When Charlie and Sylvia go away for the weekend, the trip ends in tragedy.  Overall perhaps the greatest deceiver is Charlie!

This was a black comedy that was enjoyed by the class.  There were hints during the play of the characters of each of the major players.  Charlie was a very intelligent business executive but was also ruthless.  He was not one to take action without giving it a lot of thought and planning, but then he would pounce.  Doug was a bit of a lady’s man and quite smarmy.  Sylvia was a self-centred gold digger.  All of this came through via the dialogue in the play.  And the plot unfolded smoothly.

​Joy Shirley

Our play for May is The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon. It should be fun.  We’ve enjoyed the other plays of his we’ve read.

Shirley Swallow

Our play for March was A Ghost on Tiptoe, a comedy written by Robert Morley and Rosemary Anne Sisson.  First performed in London in 1974, starring Robert Morley in the major role, Cuthbert Barnstable.

Barnstable learns he is suffering from Blum’s Disease and has only 18 months to live.  He at first decides to keep it a secret from all but one friend – Henry.  But he cannot resist the temptation to let people know.  He is disappointed by the reactions.  In the end he discovers he is actually well, setting off for a new life.

The action takes place in the sitting room of Cuthbert Barnstable’s house in West London over a period of around 8-9 months.

This was a delightful play displaying a subtle sense of humour.  We found the second act was a bit flat after the fun of the first act.  It was written in 1974, but covered some topics that are current today, such as gender identification.  The characters were well drawn, with Henry a wonderful foil to Barnstable.  One drawback was the title as we were unable to understand its relevance to the story of the play.

April's play is 'Deception' by Australian playwright, Barbara Rose.

Joy Shirley

​Another year of Play Reading and everyone was ready.

Our Play in February was “The Winslow Boy” by Terence Rattigan

The action takes place in Arthur Winslow’s house in London, extending over a period of around two years just before World War I.  The play is based on Arthur’s fight to clear his son's name after Cadet Ronnie Winslow is expelled from the Royal Naval College for allegedly stealing a five-shilling postal order.  To clear the boy's name was imperative for the family's honour.  The boy's life would have been wrecked by an indelible stain on his character which would have followed him throughout adulthood.  The most respected barrister of the day was also persuaded of his innocence and insisted on the case coming to court.  On the fourth day of the trial, the Solicitor General accepted Ronnie’s innocence.
The play is based on the facts of a well-known case, but the characters are from the author’s imagination.  It is against the background of the lead up to the first world war and the suffragette movement.

The class enjoyed reading the play.  While it was about clearing Ronnie’s name, his role was relatively small.  Arthur and Caterine (Ronnie’s sister) perhaps play a greater role in their determination to clear his name.  But it does take a toll.  Arthur’s health fails. Catherine’s fiancé breaks their engagement.  Overall, the “hero” of the play was probably around justice and right.


​Joy Shirley

We read two short one act plays in December.  These were both described as “short plays for women”.

The first play was Five Freaks A’Fiddling by Stuart Ready

The play takes place in the staff area of a department store, Bilstons.  It was about a group of charwomen who impersonate influential customers to promote an aspiring 'Miss Bilston' who cannot attend her interview because she has had to go to the doctor.  The doctor diagnoses chickenpox.  Her mother is determined that her daughter will win the title.

It was an easy comedy that gave us some laughs.

The second play was Full Steam Ahead by Kaye Macaulife.  This was also a comedy.
The members of the Guild are putting on an unrehearsed play reading. The play, co-incidentally entitled "Full Steam Ahead", is about the old level crossing keeper and a young mother trapped with her innocent baby in the path of the oncoming Night Express. Dramatic intensity is heightened by the Guild's tea urn, which rumbles menacingly throughout the proceedings, threatening imminent explosion if not pacified by the only member of the Guild who understands it.

It was a relaxed way to end our 2023 year of Play Reading.  Now we are looking forward to some new plays in 2024.  Our play for or first session on Wednesday 7 February at 9:30am is The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan.  It should be good
​
Joy Shirley

The play is a three-act drama which takes place on a single night in April 1912.  The play focuses on the prosperous upper middle-class Birling family, who live in a fictional industrial town.  The family is visited by a man calling himself Inspector Goole, who questions the family about the suicide of a young working-class woman.  The play acts as a scathing criticism of the hypocrisies of society and reflects Priestley's socialist political principles.
 
The family consists of Arthur Birling, his wife, Sybil, his daughter Sheila and his son Eric.  They have been joined by Gerald Croft to celebrate his engagement to Sheila.  As they finish their meal, Inspector Goole arrives, with news of young woman’s death by suicide.  What follows is his questioning of everyone about their knowledge of the woman.  It appears that each of them had a role in her suicide.  As the Inspector leaves, questions are raised as to whether he really was an inspector, whether there had been only one woman, and whether she was in fact dead.  But whether true or not, they had all had some negative interaction with a young woman.

Overall, it seems that only the two young people felt any remorse for how they had treated a young woman, with Gerald not concerned about how he treated a young woman, and the two parents only interested in avoiding the impact any scandal would have on their lives.  There is an interesting twist at the very end of the play.

An interesting play highlighting the culture of the era and the blindness of the more affluent to the impacts of their actions on working class people.

We have two one-act plays on December 6th - Five Freaks a Fiddling and Full Steam Ahead followed by coffee at the Benalla Art Gallery.

​Our play for October was Rumors, a farce by Neil Simon that premiered in 1988.  Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author.  He wrote more than 30 plays and several movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays.  This is the second of his plays we have read this year.
 
The play starts with Ken Gorman and his wife, Chris Gorman, at the 10th anniversary party of Charlie Brock, the Deputy Mayor of New York, and his wife, Myra.  Unfortunately, things are not going quite to plan.  All the kitchen staff are gone, Myra is missing, and Charlie has shot himself in the head.  Gradually other guests arrive and chaos ensues.

The play revolves around the four couples who are invited to the party.  Myra and Charlie do not appear on stage during the play, although there are two lines from Myra off stage at the end of the play.  Chris and Ken, as the first to arrive, try to keep the problems from the remaining guests, but gradually everyone gets to know the story.  This creates the chaos as different people appear and disappear.  Finally police appear to investigate a car crash and end up asking about reported gun shots.

We had a great time reading this play.  Laughs were plentiful.  With only a small group attending we were still able to share the parts and create a picture of the action.
 
Our play for next month will be An Inspector Calls by J B Priestly.


​Joy Shirley

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene Trilogy. It precedes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.

Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays.

The play is set in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York in September 1937.  It is a comedy focused on Eugene Morris Jerome, a Polish-Jewish American teenager who experiences puberty, sexual awakening, and a search for identity as he tries to deal with his family, including his older brother Stanley, his parents Kate and Jack, Kate's sister Blanche, and her two daughters, Nora and Laurie, who come to live there after their father's death.  Jack's health suffers as he works two jobs to support the extended family. Stanley faces problems with his own job, when he stands up to his somewhat tyrannical boss; cousin Nora, whom Eugene has a crush on, is eager to be a paid dancer in a Broadway musical, though the family's circumstances do not allow it; and the younger cousin Laurie has heart problems and is a source of annoyance for Eugene.

This is a study of the various relationships within families, between the siblings (Eugene and Stanley, Nora and Laurie, and Blanche and Nora).  After Kate and Blanche had a major row, Blanche realises the need for self-respect rather than self-pity.  And a row between Blanche and Nora also results in a much-improved relationship.  During all the ups and downs, Jack is the wise father/uncle who holds the family together.  An underlying theme is the need for conversation as otherwise resentments can fester.

Having enjoyed ‘Brighton Beach Memoirs’, we will be reading ‘Rumours’, also by Neil Simon, at our October meeting on Wednesday 4th October, 9.30 am to 12, Classroom 1.


​Joy Shirley

Our play for August was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

This play is based on a novel by Muriel Spark.  The script was written by Jay Presson Allen.  Jean Brodie is a teacher at an all-girls school in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the 1930s. Brodie is known for her tendency to stray from the school's curriculum, to romanticize fascist leaders like Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco, and to believe herself to be in the prime of life. Brodie devotes her energy and attention to girls she sees as special or mouldable, who are referred to as the "Brodie Set".  At the start of the play, the Brodie Set is composed of four 12-year-old junior schoolgirls: Sandy, Monica, Jenny, and Mary.  The play follows them through to their final year.  Act 1 covers from 1931 to 1933, Act 2 from 1933 to 1936, and Act 3 in the girls’ final year two and a half years later.

Each act is introduced in the current day with a reporter from the USA has flown to Edinburgh to interview Sister Helena who has had a book published that became a best seller.  Then we go to the various scenes involving the schoolgirls and Miss Brodie.  We found this an interesting way to set the picture.

After reading the play we discussed some comparison with our June play, Monday Sacrifice.  Both plays were set in an all-girls school.  The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie focussed on a group of students, but Monday Sacrifice focussed on a group of teachers.  They both covered a teacher who recognised the value of the humanities, a culture that still has problems today.  There perhaps the similarities ended, with the relationship between Miss Brodie and the schoolgirls the focus of the plot.  Miss Brodie had an interesting mind and approach to her students.  Whether this was a healthy relationship or not is open to debate. 

​We enjoyed the play which left us with things to think about.

​The play for our next session on Wednesday 6th August from 9.30 to 12 in U3A Room 1 is Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon.  It does sound good.

Our play for July was “Chaim’s Love Song” by Marvin Chernoff.
​
Chaim Shotsky, is a retired mailman in Brooklyn, an American Tevye who tells his life story to Kelly Burke from Iowa.  His story includes interaction with a philosophical baker who is a Holocaust survivor with many secrets, his son and daughter, a matchmaker to end all matchmakers, movie star pigeons, and a host of Israelis.  Chaim's story is a love song for life.  It is full of innocence, tragedy, struggle, humour, humanity and ultimately triumph.

The play is set in a very small city park in Brooklyn.  When Chaim meets Kelly, she is at first suspicious of his intentions.  Gradually as he tells his story, she relaxes and she talks about her loneliness.  They become friends.  Kelly’s up tight persona changes, even reflected in the way she dresses, with her costume an important part of the play – it could even be considered an extra “character”.  It certainly reflects her growing relaxation.  Chaim also finds comfort in development of his relationship with his wife.

The play is predominantly about the two of them with the characters Chaim talks about appearing at the side of the stage or just voices from off stage.  It takes place mainly over four consecutive days, with a short scene at the end of the play set three weeks later.

The group enjoyed the play, finding it a “feel good” story.  With some of the characters, particularly Chaim, being Jewish, reflecting the correct accent was a challenge, with one member of the class doing a good job.  We did change our “players” for the second act to give Chaim and Kelly a rest, and others an opportunity for a larger role.

Our play for August is 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'.  We did read it a few years ago, but have a few new members now and are looking forward to reading it again.


Joy Shirley

Our play for June was “Morning Sacrifice” by Dymphna Cusack.
​
Dymphna Cusack, was born in 1902 and the play was set in Australia in 1938 (published in 1943).  The characters were representative of the era, with the ideals and prejudices of the time.  For example, the possibility of being expelled for being found kissing a boy.

Played over three acts in the Easthaven Girls High School pre-WW2, it is not a comedy, and does have some nastiness – at times quite sad and hard to accept.  The setting is the staff room, mainly Monday, with the third act including a final scene the following Thursday morning.  All the characters are women, with many contrasting characters – harsh, hypocritical, fawning, quiet, meek and motherly.  It is all there.

The central focus of the play is an increasingly bitter struggle between the teachers over the fate of Mary Grey, a senior student at the school accused of immoral behaviour.  Mary was caught kissing a boy at a school dance.  Kingsbury, the deputy head who is magnifying the affair for her own ends, wants to shore up her authority over Easthaven's seven teachers and Woods, the school's head. Three of the seven teachers line up behind Kingsbury; three of the remaining teachers speak out in favour of Mary Grey.  It is left to the most junior of the teachers to break the deadlock.  The pressure placed on her by Kingsbury leads to her suicide.

Our discussion after reading the play covered the issues of how the era focussed on rote learning and cramming for a series of external tests.  There had been a lot of focus on administration and lack of recognition for the arts.  In the play music was considered only half a subject and of no value to the girls’ future.  Much of this has changed today, with a greater recognition by many of the value of the arts.  Although there is great concern today about the administrative load placed on teachers.  And the curriculum changes over the years may not have yet got the balance right.

An interesting but emotionally difficult play.

Our play for July is Chaim’s Love Song by Marvin Chernoff, recommended by David at the Victorian Drama League


​Joy Shirley

Our play for June will be “Morning Sacrifice” by Dymphna Cusack, set in the staff room of a Girls’ High School just before the 2nd World War.

Shirley Swallow

‘84 Charing Cross Rd’ proved to be a charming, funny and poignant play for the April Play Readers.

A love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer in New York, and Frank Doel a used book dealer at 84 Charing Cross Rd. in London.

Over two decades, they exchange gifts, recipes, ideas about books and current world events brought together by their mutual love of books, stories and words. Whilst never meeting in person, and being separated both geographically and culturally, they develop an enduring and charming relationship, encompassing friends, workmates and family members.

Through the dramatization of their letters, we are able to get a picture of the political, economic and social conditions of both countries as well as the two main characters as they develop over the twenty years of letter writing.

It was interesting to find that the play was based on real events and a real book shop.
An enjoyable read, we found ourselves so wanting Helene and Frank to meet. Spoiler alert! They never do!

Pat Treleavan

​Our play for March was 'Parramatta Girls' by Alana Valentine.

Set in 2003, the play is based on the testimony of dozens of old girls from The Girls Training School in Parramatta.  It is a dramatization 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 from award-winning author Alana Valentine. 

For the girls, crimes and misdemeanours such as playing truant or running off with a boyfriend could result in being charged with being in moral danger.  Young women from dysfunctional families were also “put away”.  Particularly confronting was that these girls were often charged with being neglected – they were the victims but were the ones punished.  This was brought out by the girls playing a court room scene.

The play was confronting, but excellently written.  The characters were well drawn and interesting.  There were contrasts in characters and backgrounds as to how the girls ended up in the Paramatta Girls Home as it was known.  But also contrasts as to the impact their years in the home had on their future lives.  The writing was perceptive and inciteful.

In discussion after reading the play some of the class members were able to talk about their experiences with young people who had spent time in a similar institution.  And we discussed what, if anything, has changed with the treatment of young people who find themselves with problem behaviour.

Joy Shirley

Our play for February was Hotel Sorrento, by Hannie Rayson.  Set around 1988, it was first performed in 1990.  This was a vivid, moving and funny play which explores the concept of loyalty both to family and country.  Three sisters come together after ten years: Hilary who lives in Sorrento with her father and son; Pippa visiting from New York where she works in advertising; Meg who returns home from England with her English husband after her new novel Melancholy is shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  Unspoken aspects of their shared past, jolted by the autobiographical flavour of Meg’s book haunts the reunion.

Marge, a teacher with a holiday home in Sorrento, reads the novel and finds it captured an Australia she knows.  Her friend Dick is worried by Meg’s expatriate status. This interest draws them into the family where the issues of culture, patriotism and using the past are battled out.

In the first act, the setting shifts between London and Sorrento.  All the action in Sorrento in the second act.  Relationships are well established in the play.  The history of the different personalities and eventually some background as to why the two younger sisters left Australia comes through.

Our final play reading for the year was a fun short one act play called “Continental Customs: A play in one act for women” by Leonard de Francquen.

The play is set in a Customs house somewhere in Europe in the early 20th century.  Five ladies are ushered into an office like room and left while their “captor” heads off to seek further orders.  All the women seek to find out why they are being kept captive and each of them has a guilty conscience about something they have done while in Europe.

The five ladies are from very different backgrounds.  The characters are Irene (on her honeymoon), Ruth (a lady on a business trip), Caroline (travelling with a man who is not her husband), Nell (who inherited some money and is out to see life) and Edwina (who is a dance teacher).  After being caught up in revealing their secrets, each is worried.

Their captor (Petrina) returns to tell them they will be kept until an important government official is found.  Before leaving them Petrina adds that the Captain of the guard would like one of the women to join him in his house.  The women assume the worst about why the captain would want a ‘visit’ by one of the women.  It is only at the end after the official has been found (locked in a building bathroom) that Petrina tells Nell (the other women having already left the room) the captain’s reason for wanting a visit was quite innocent – he wanted his wife to learn how to make English tea.
​
As this was a short play (only 30 minutes) we were able to discuss how well the playwright had developed the different characters well.  Finally we headed to a café to celebrate another year of Play Reading.

​Joy Shirley

​Our sympathy is extended to John's wife Janice, who is also a member of U3A Benalla.

Margaret Jenkins
​Beverley Lee

We had eight eager members at our recent Play Reading group. We read the play ‘The Garden of Granddaughters’, a comedy written by Australian Playwright Stephen Sewell in 1993.

“Max, a world-renowned Australian conductor, returns unexpectedly to Melbourne with his wife Moriley, for a family reunion.

Their three daughters Michelle, Fay and Lisa, are in various stages of decline, success and reproduction. Their granddaughters are full of hope, promise and childhood dreams.

Most of life’s questions are avoided and ignored in this loving comedy by one of Australia’s most important playwrights.”

There were lots of laughs as we read through the play.

It was also great to welcome back Jenny Mckenna.

If you feel like you would like to join us in enjoying reading plays on the 1st Wednesday of each month from 9.30am to 12noon in the U3A meeting room at the Seniors’ Community Centre, you would be most welcome. 


John Ellis