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Section I and III (Core): Australian Drama and Theatre

9 dot points across 9 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How has Australian theatre developed as a distinctive national tradition, and what historical and cultural forces have shaped it?

The historical and cultural context of Australian theatre, including the development from colonial entertainment through to a distinctive national tradition from the 1950s onwards
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on Australian theatre history. The colonial heritage, the postwar Australian Performing Group and New Wave, the rise of state theatre companies (Belvoir, STC, MTC, QT), the prominence of Indigenous theatre from the 1990s, and how this history informs HSC prescriptions.
6 min answer →

Which contemporary Australian playwrights have shaped the twenty-first-century repertoire, and what unites and divides their work?

Contemporary Australian playwrights of the 2000s and 2010s, including Andrew Bovell, Hannie Rayson, Michael Gow, Patricia Cornelius, Joanna Murray-Smith and the major institutional companies that produce them
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on contemporary Australian playwrights. Andrew Bovell, Hannie Rayson, Michael Gow, Patricia Cornelius and Joanna Murray-Smith; the institutional companies that produce them (STC, MTC, Belvoir, QT); and the formal range of twenty-first-century Australian theatre.
6 min answer →

How does David Williamson use vernacular comedy and middle-class settings to dramatise Australian politics?

David Williamson and the tradition of Australian political comedy, including The Removalists (1971), Don's Party (1971), The Club (1977) and later works
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on David Williamson. His vernacular comic tradition, the political content of The Removalists and Don's Party, the institutional setting of The Club, and Williamson's enduring position as the most-produced Australian playwright.
6 min answer →

How has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander theatre transformed the Australian theatrical repertoire from the 1990s onwards?

Indigenous Australian theatre as a major movement in contemporary Australian drama, including Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, Jane Harrison, Andrea James, Nakkiah Lui, Leah Purcell, and the dedicated Indigenous theatre companies
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on Indigenous Australian theatre. Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman's The 7 Stages of Grieving (1995), Jane Harrison's Stolen (1998), Nakkiah Lui, Leah Purcell, and the companies (Ilbijerri, Yirra Yaakin, Moogahlin) that have built sustained Indigenous theatre infrastructures.
6 min answer →

How has Louis Nowra contributed to a darker, more European-influenced strand of Australian playwriting?

Louis Nowra and the development of Australian theatre beyond the New Wave, including Inner Voices (1977), Visions (1978), Cosi (1992), Radiance (1993) and the wider 1980s and 1990s playwriting
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on Louis Nowra. His early European-influenced plays (Inner Voices, Visions), the breakthrough mid-career works (Cosi, Radiance), the institutional shift from Nimrod to state-funded companies, and Nowra's contribution to a darker, more politically complex strand of Australian theatre.
6 min answer →

How did the New Wave of Australian theatre in the 1970s transform Australian playwriting and performance?

The New Wave of Australian theatre, including the Australian Performing Group, the Nimrod Street Theatre, the political and vernacular character of the work, and the playwrights who emerged from this period
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on the New Wave. The Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory and the Nimrod Street Theatre, David Williamson, Jack Hibberd, Alex Buzo, Dorothy Hewett, and the vernacular, political theatre that followed the Doll.
7 min answer →

How did Ray Lawler's Doll Trilogy establish a tradition of Australian dramatic realism?

Ray Lawler and the Doll Trilogy as a foundational movement of Australian dramatic realism, including the form, style, dramatic conventions and Australian cultural context
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on Ray Lawler. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1955), Kid Stakes (1975), Other Times (1976), the conventions of mid-century Australian realism, the symbolism of the doll, and Lawler's place in the history of Australian theatre.
7 min answer →

How does The 7 Stages of Grieving use dramatic form and Indigenous storytelling traditions to dramatise collective Aboriginal Australian grief?

Detailed dramatic analysis of The 7 Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman (1995), including form, structure, performance style and themes
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on The 7 Stages of Grieving. The seven-section structure based on the Kubler-Ross grief stages, the solo performer convention, the integration of monologue with song, dance and visual imagery, and the relationship between personal and collective grief.
7 min answer →

How does Summer of the Seventeenth Doll dramatise the collapse of a working-class ritual through Lawler's structure, character, and symbolism?

Detailed dramatic analysis of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1955), including structure, character, dialogue, symbolism and themes of mateship, ritual and ageing
A focused answer to the HSC Drama core dot point on detailed analysis of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. Roo, Barney, Olive, Pearl, Bubba and Emma; the lay-off ritual; the kewpie doll; the structure across three acts; and the language and stagecraft of mid-century Australian realism.
8 min answer →