Tashmadada

Thomas Keneally & Ari Roth

in Conversation with Mark Baker



THOMAS KENEALLY & ARI ROTH

Public event
Thursday 5 July 2007,
6:45 for 7 pm,

State Library of Victoria,
Village Roadshow Theatrette
La Trobe Street, Melbourne Australia

$25, $18 VWC member
(generously supported by the State Library of Victoria)

Thomas Keneally and international guest, Ari Roth, playwright and Artistic Director of Washington DC's Theatre J, discuss Keneally's new play. Either Or had its world-premiere at Theatre J this year. The play is based on the real events of Kurt Gerstein, an evangelical Christian youth leader and SS officer who dared to attempt sabotage by alerting the West (even approaching the Pope) to what was transpiring under Nazi occupation.

Described as provocative, riveting and chilling Keneally reveals the tragic nature of a man's moral awakening. Keneally sees the play as a contemporary analogue to the many bureaucrats and technocrats in the Western world, including Australia. In describing the play, Ari Roth said, "In expurgating some of the most painful details of Holocaust history, Keneally finds a way to tell a cautionary tale for our times."

Keneally and Roth will discuss the nature of their collaboration and the themes of the play with Associate Professor Mark Baker, Monash Uni, who runs a Program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, part of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation.

Thursday July 5th, 7pm sharp until approximately 8:30 p.m.
The State Library of Victoria Village Roadshow Theatrette Entry 3,
La Trobe Street, Melbourne
$25/$18 (VWC members) - Limited Seating - Book Early
Bookings: (03) 9654 9068

Masterclass with Tom Keneally & Ari Roth

Masterclass
Friday 6 July 2007, 10 am to 1 pm,
Glenfern 417 Inkerman Rd
(cnr. Hotham St) St Kilda East
Melbourne Australia

$90, $80 VWC member
(includes lunch from 1-2 pm)

Thomas Keneally (Schindler's Ark and The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith) and international guest, Ari Roth, playwright and Artistic Director of Washington DC's Theatre J, will talk to an intimate group of practitioners addressing the issue of 'Novel versus Script' writing.

The two have recently worked closely in collaboration on Keneally's newest script Either Or.

Ari Roth: After first reading Either Or, I emailed Keneally to express my admiration, but also pointed to certain story-telling challenges I thought needed to be addressed.

Thomas Keneally: "Your notes had great resonance, and I would like to work along the lines you suggest to make the play immediate and intriguing. But above all, I am a bugger for exposition - and as you no doubt know exposition is the besetting sin of novelists, and much easier to scrape by on in the novel than on stage."

And so began a fruitful artistic collaboration that has resulted in a production described as powerful, bracing and provocative.

People attending the workshop on Friday should be published novelists and/or established theatre practitioners.

Friday 6th July
10am - l pm followed by lunch from 1-2 p.m.
Glenfern Writers' Centre
St Kilda East Melbourne Australia

$90/ $80 (VWC members) including lunch
Bookings: (03) 9654 9068

For more information down load the tashmadada flyer

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