The RE Ross Trust Playwrights' Script Development Awards: Winners 2003 

Judges report

The judges were very impressed by the number of entries elicited in a short period, which seemed to confirm the need for an award such as this. Overall, the writing was varied in its strengths. Some submissions seemed to require more effort from the writer prior to applying for a development grant and quite a few seemed to be struggling to find their theatrical form. Some of the latter felt distinctly filmic and may, in fact, make better short films than plays. But there were many possible candidates for funding and a strong sense of artistic commitment and energy from the applicants.

Most heartening to the judges, was the extraordinary variety of the work, which stretched from naturalism to satire, from conventional language to highly idiosyncratic language and from youthful concerns to aspects of old age. This seemed to indicate the very broad nature of the writing community, its multifarious tastes and styles and the mix of audiences being catered to.

Almost all of the work, including the best submissions, supported the fundamental philosophy behind the award, that talented writers need greater support for the development and critical examination of their work before it reaches production. This is the only process by which interesting creative voices can find their feet at the critical time for exposure and not before. The judges agreed that the entrants revealed real need and appetite for testing their work with enthusiastic (but fearless) professionals before seeing it go before audiences and critics. There were no applicants whose work could not have benefitted from this process.

Winners

True Adventures of a Soul Lost at Sea by Catherine Lazaroo (Grant $4500) The year is 1852 and young Olley Fletcher reappears in a remote coastal town, several weeks after she and her father were presumed to have drowned while out fishing deep waters during a storm. She claims to have no memory of the incident, no explanation for her absence, and no knowledge of her father's whereabouts.

True Adventures of a Lost Soul at Sea explores the human need for visionary experiences. The story weaves its way through the inner worlds of four characters as they search for escape routes from painful isolation to visionary communion.

The beautifully poetic writing and the highly theatrical treatment equally impressed the judges. This is a wonderfully original story, with a highly distinctive and engaging writer's voice, able to capture quirky characters with both intensity and humour. While the script is in very good shape, further development might concentrate on some slight editing and sharpening the clarity of ideas. This submission felt distinctly like a piece of theatre.


Still Waiting by Alexandra Collier (Grant $4500)
Madeleine is not herself. It is her last day watering at a restaurant, her last day of tedium, and her last day of waiting. Or is it?

Still Waiting delves into the places that people go when they are waiting for their life to begin. Jumping between Madeleine's impending audition and the disharmonious world of the restaurant, the play focuses on Madeleine's final day - a day destined to repeat itself over and over until it's chaotic climax.

This is a light, energetic, quixotic play about anticipating change, set in a restaurant where the employees dream about other lives. The writer had a strong grasp on the structure and a fast, easy ability to find characters through humour and language. An impressive and stylish piece of writing with a strong likelihood of reaching a large and enthusiastic audience. A very sassy piece of theatre.

Further development might extend certain sections, incorporate some editing and give the writer the opportunity to test a risky structure.


The Revisionist by David Blackman (Grant $6000)
The Revisionist looks at Australia's experience of the Holocaust through what became known as the 'Demidenko Affair'. The play traces the life of Konrad Senior, a former member of the Ukrainian SS, through the imagination of Helen, the play's unreliable narrator.

This piece of writing focuses on the Demidenko affair and as such deals with important issues relating to Australian history and world events. It also draws on themes of the nature of the artist's moral and social obligations.

The current draft feels weighed down with the subject matter, but indicates real potential. The judges felt that a developmental process would allow the writer to explore the material more imaginatively and free the writing from the shackles of 'fact' to find a more creative treatment. This may mean exploring the possibility of jettisoning the linear narrative form and being more playful, structurally and theatrically. The increased level of funding would hope to facilitate possibly two workshop stages, one involving strong dramaturgical support for the writer to investigate more inventive ways of telling the story. This would be followed by a period of rewriting. A second workshopping process would involve a group of actors and a director (and possibly a designer) to explore the shape and style and test the writing.


Best Possible World by Tee O'Neill (Grant $10,000)
A young first world citizen swims out into the ocean never to be seen again. Choristers gather to tell the tale of Matilda Lynch and her involvement in a murder and arson investigation. Is she victim or aggressor? The object of prejudice or it's cunning practitioner?

Best Possible World is a theatrical study into our media-led culture that mythologises and often demonises refugees and asylum seekers.

A highly ambitious piece of theatre dealing with a non-linear structure, a vast number of characters and global themes. By turns humourous and brutal, the writer has the beginnings of a dazzling piece of theatre. The vast scope of the piece will require a very demanding developmental process and it seems in a very early stage at the moment. But both the subject matter and the form of the piece bode for a challenging piece of new Australian writing, simultaneously drawing on a rich history of theatrical story telling and feeling at the same time very much a contemporary piece of theatre. The judges believe the complex and provocative material combined with a highly distinctive voice could eventuate in a dazzling work, given serious developmental assistance.