Don in Pink

"Lovers & Haters - the turbulent times of Don Dunstan"


By Rob George and Maureen Sherlock

First produced as part of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts at the Norwood Concert Hall. Starred: Todd MacDonald as Don Dunstan with Marcella Russo, Kevin Harrington, Ming-Zhu Hii, Tom Wren, Maureen Sherlock and Kurt Geyer. Music by Quentin Eyers.

January 1978, SA Premier Don Dunstan sacks the Police Commissioner, Harold Salisbury. It’s unprecedented in Australia and marks the culmination of a bitter dispute between the conservative head of the Police Force and the activist Premier who appointed him. But while it is Dunstan who wields the axe it is Salisbury who, in some ways, wins the day. Conservative ranks in the state are outraged and pressure on Dunstan mounts at the same time as he is also beset by personal tragedy. A year later, a shattered Don Dunstan shuffles into a press conference on walking sticks and announces his resignation. The pressure has become too much to bear.

"This show satisfies an itch in the South Australian psyche by giving an entertaining narrative to make sense of a remarkable period in our history." The Advertiser

View the full website
here

Percy and Rose pic

"Percy and Rose"


By Rob George in collaboration with Maureen Sherlock

Starred: Dennis Olsen, Daphne Grey, Debbie Little and Patrick Frost.
First produced by The Stage Company directed by Brian Debnam for the 1982 Adelaide Festival Of Arts and later touring to all capital cities. The feature film "Passion" is adapted from the play. It starred Richard Roxburgh as Percy and Barbara Hershey as Rose.

Drama/ 4 characters, 2 Men, 2 Women/ Full Length, Two Acts

Pianist and composer Percy Grainger, ("Danny Boy," "English Country Gardens") had a very close relationship with his mother, Rose. There were rumours of incest. Percy was one of the world's greatest eccentrics - he experimented with bizarre music, weird clothes and sado masochism and he also tried to change the English language. Beginning with his childhood in Australia, the play focuses on Percy's relationship with his mother and its disastrous impact on the other loves of Percy's life. Percy and Rose move to London when he is a teenager in order to study with the greats. At the outbreak of World War I they move to New York with Percy joining the Army Band as a saxophonist. Rose suffers from syphilis, committing suicide while Percy is touring. With Rose's death Percy finally manages to find true love.

"The great merit of this play is that it is not just a sensation-seeking nutcracker, but a sympathetic, sensitive study of a man who was not only weak but also strong, who craved affection but felt himself unworthy, who lived his emotional life in the shadow of his mother who, despite her pathological possessiveness, was herself more sinned against than sinning."
- The Advertiser

"You must not miss Percy and Rose. How could you miss the most satisfying theatrical event of the decade?"
-The Sunday Times

Read the play here.

Errol flyer

"Errol Flynn's Great Big Adventure Book For Boys"


By Rob George
First produced in Adelaide and other productions followed in Sydney, Brisbane, the MTC in Melbourne and the Edinburgh Fringe, where it won a Best Play Award.

Comedy with music/ Multiple characters, usually played by 4 Men, 3 Women and 1 musician/ Full length, Two Acts

A musical comic book look at the comic book life of Australian film legend Errol Flynn from childhood in Hobart through white slave trader in New Guinea and finally to tragic Hollywood has-been.

From the Festival Times (Edinburgh): "Taken almost entirely from official records and Flynn's own writing, the play explores the love/hate relationship Flynn had with his own screen image, and the way that he was both encouraged and condemned in it. An excellent script from Rob George does this with humour, sadness, and rage."
"Superbly entertaining."
- The Scotsman (Glasgow)

"Fun -- a musical anti-tribute to the down-under, deep-diving lover of almost-little girls."
- The Guardian (London)
"Rapid costume and accent changes keep the show moving across three continents and 50 years for a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes."
- Festival Times (Edinburgh)
"Fascinating . . . moves at a rip-roaring pace . . . if you know nothing about Flynn, or want to know more, then this show is a must."
- The Evening News (Edinburgh)

Read the play here.


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