''Bombshells'' is a play by Australian playwright

Joanna Murray-Smith Joanna Murray-Smith (born 17 April 1962) is a Melbourne-based Australian playwright, screenwriter, novelist, librettist and newspaper columnist. Life and career Murray-Smith was born in Mount Eliza, Victoria; her father was the literary editor ...

Synopsis

Six monologues made famous by the diva Caroline O'Connor, exposing six women balancing their inner and outer lives with humour and often desperate cunning. They range in age from a feisty teenager to a 64-year-old widow yearning for the unexpected.

References

{{reflist Australian plays 2004 plays

First Production

''Bombshells'' was first presented by

Melbourne Theatre Company The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1953 as the Union Theatre Repertory Company at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne, it is the oldest professional theatre com ...

at the Fairfax Theatre,

Victorian Arts Centre Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...

, Melbourne, Australia, on 28 December 2001, with the following production team: *Performer: Caroline O'Connor *Director: Simon Phillips *Designer: Shaun Gurton *Composer:

Elena Kats-Chernin Elena Davidovna Kats-Chernin (born 4 November 1957) is a Soviet-born Australian pianist and composer, best known for her ballet ''Wild Swans''. Early life and career Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent (now the capital of independent Uzbek ...

*Lighting Designer: David Murray This production was revived at the same venue from 26 February 2004 and transferred to the York Theatre,

Seymour Centre The Seymour Centre is a multi-purpose performing arts centre within the University of Sydney in the Australian city of Sydney. It is located on the corner of City Rd and Cleveland St in Chippendale, just south-west of the city centre. The b ...

, Sydney, Australia, from 30 April 2004. A reduced version—consisting of four monologues—was presented as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th century Britain, 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done ...

, Edinburgh, Scotland, from 6 August 2004. The performer again was Caroline O’Connor, directed by Simon Phillips. This production—now consisting of all six monologues—transferred to the

Arts Theatre The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. History It opened on 20 April 1927 as a members-only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamber ...

, London, England, on 3 September 2004. Four of the monologues from ''Bombshells'' were televised by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

in November 2003.