SUDAN

Sudan tells the story of the last of the last surviving male white rhinoceros, portrayed as an aging male patient at a medical facility who is on the verge of a physical breakdown. With him are Frank, his nurse, who looks on him with compassion and love, and Cathy, his doctor, who looks on him with almost clinical detachment.

The playwright, Christine Davey, has been quoted as saying “It ended up being a play about friendship, you start writing something and you think you know what it’s about and then it transforms into something else.

“It went from ‘how dare we as humans cause extinction’, to the lengths we go to care about someone.”

NO VELVET DIVORCE

No Velvet Divorce is Tasmanian writer Jessica Montrose's debut play. It takes place over several years as Phoebe and Nick come to terms with the end of their marriage. Nick seeks validation in the arms of his new lover, while Phoebe seeks to build financial independence before embarking on a journey of renewal. Dealing with themes of redemption, recovery from trauma, reconciliation and the end of love, No Velvet Divorce deftly captures two people at their most emotionally vulnerable, exploring how they respectively find their way back to positions of apparent stability.