Just how far can artificial intelligence take us? Can it deliver genuine companionship and more for the lonely, elderly and ailing? Those questions are answered in the resounding affirmative by playwright Jose Rivera in his dramatic and comedic work Your Name Means Dream. Aislin (Caroline Lee), of Polish Irish extraction (and whose name means dream…
Caroline Lee takes the stage as June, a woman of a certain age who hasn’t spoken to another person in more than a year. So, over that period – apart from accidentally speaking out aloud – she has lived in silence. Now June is taking us, the audience, into her confidence to break the drought and explain…
Loneliness. Pain. Emotional connection. Desire. Sexual kinks. Consent. That is US writer Clare Barron’s Shhhh, which has its Australian premiere at Red Stitch Theatre. Bold, confronting and, on occasions, perplexing, it is a play that concerns itself with sexual assault, rape culture, mental and physical wellbeing, and the sisterhood. Playwright Shareen (Jessica Clarke), who suffers from a…
Wittenoom, the former town and declared contaminated site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia was, in short, a death trap. During the 1950s and early ‘60s, it was Australia’s only supplier of deadly blue asbestos. The mine was shut down in 1966. Wittenoom, the play – a work of fiction – uncovers just how toxic an…
Power and control shift constantly in the drama The Cane, which is set in England. On the verge of retirement after 45 years in the job, Edward (Dion Mills) is a deputy school head. It is Sunday and his wife, Maureen (Caroline Lee) – who also used to be a teacher – has been busily preparing for his…
