Currency Press is a leading performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works.

History

Currency Press was founded by

Katharine Brisbane Katharine Brisbane AM (born 1932) is an Australian journalist and publisher, well known for her writings as a theatre critic. Early life and education Katharine Brisbane was born in Singapore in 1932, to David Williams, a civil engineer, ...

, then national theatre critic for ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' newspaper, and her husband

Philip Parsons The Australasian Association for Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (ADSA), formerly the Australian Drama Studies Association, is an academic association promoting the study of theatre in New Zealand and Australia. History The Australian ...

, a lecturer in Drama at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. After Philip's death in 1993, Katharine remained at the helm of the company until she retired as Publisher in December 2001 to devote her energies to Currency House, a non-profit association dedicated to the Australian performing arts. Currency press is currently run by her son Nicholas Parsons

Description

Currency Press is a leading Australian specialist performing arts publisher, and its oldest independent publisher still active. It is located in the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

suburb of Redfern.

Awards

In 2011, Currency Press received the Dorothy Crawford Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession at the

AWGIE Awards The AWGIE Awards is an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Australian Writers' Guild, for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The awards began in 1967. The awards are judged by over 50 writers, most of whom are previou ...

Selected titles

Plays

* '' Away'' by

Michael Gow Michael Gow is an Australian playwright and director most famed for his 1986 work '' Away''. Early life As a student at Sydney University, Gow acted and directed with the Dramatic Society from 1973-1976. After graduation, Gow went on to act pr ...

(1986) – winner of the 1986

New South Wales Premier's Literary Award The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

– Play Award *''

Blackrock BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...

'' by

Nick Enright Nicholas Paul Enright AM (22 December 1950 – 30 March 2003) was an Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director. Early life Enright was born on 22 December 1950 to a prosperous professional Catholic family in East Maitland, New So ...

– It's Toby Ackland's birthday party down near the surf club – and that means grog, drugs and fun; by the morning a young girl is dead – raped and bashed with a rock. Included by the

Australian Society of Authors The Australian Society of Authors (ASA) was formed in 1963 as the organisation to promote and protect the rights of Australia's authors and illustrators. The Fellowship of Australian Writers played a key role it its establishment. The organisati ...

in its list of Australia's 200 best literary works * '' The Chapel Perilous'' by Dorothy Hewett – expressionist/epic drama. A defiant young poet engages in a quest for love and freedom, while oppressed by authority figures and disappointed by unsatisfactory lovers, ultimately finding only a limited fame. * ''

Cloudstreet ''Cloudstreet'' is a novel by Australian writer Tim Winton published in 1991. It chronicles the lives of two working-class families, the Pickles and the Lambs, who come to live together in a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Aust ...

'' by

Justin Monjo Justin Monjo (born 1963, New York) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and actor, best known for his work on ''Farscape'' and penning the Farscape movie in 2014. He is the son of children's author F. N. Monjo III and the great-great- ...

(1999) – an adaptation of

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Fr ...

's classic novel, and winner of the 1999 Gold AWGIE Award * '' The Club'' by

David Williamson David Keith Williamson AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, on 24 February 1942, and was brought ...

– a play set behind the scenes of a football club; a head-on tackle of brawn versus bureaucracy * ''

Così ''Così'' is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra which was first performed in 1992 at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Set in a Melbourne mental hospital in 1971, ''Così'' is semi-autobiographical, and is the sequel to his p ...

'' by

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

– winner of the 1992 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award – Play Award * ''

Dead Heart ''Dead Heart'' is a 1996 Australian film. It was written and directed by Nick Parsons, and starred Bryan Brown, Angie Milliken, Ernie Dingo, Aaron Pedersen and John Jarratt. As a play, the piece was staged by Belvoir St Theatre, directed by ...

'' by Nick Parsons – winner of the 1994 Australian Human Rights Award, the 1993 NSW State Premier's Literary Award – Play Award and the 1993 AWGIE Award for Drama * ''

Diving for Pearls Diving for Pearls was an American melodic rock band founded in 1984 whose self-titled debut album was released in 1989. A follow-up album, ''Texas'', was issued in 2006 without much fanfare. The band takes its name from a line found in the 1983 ...

'' by Katherine Thomson – winner of the 1991 Victorian Premier's Award – Louis Esson Prize for Drama * ''

Don's Party ''Don's Party'' is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. The play opened on 11 August 1971 at The Pram Factory theatre in Carlton. Plot Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and ba ...

'' by

– on the night of the 1969 election, guests drink heavily and snipe about their failed aspirations and the emptiness of their lives * ''

The Ham Funeral ''The Ham Funeral'' is a play by Australian writer Patrick White. It was written in 1948 and is loosely based on a painting by William Dobell, ''The Dead Landlord''. Plot The play is set in a filthy rooming house in the depressing context of pos ...

'' by

Patrick White Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987. White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, ...

(1948) – part lyric poem, part gothic drama, a dark and vulgar investigation of he human condition * '' Holding the Man'' by Tommy Murphy (2007) – an adaptation of

Timothy Conigrave Tim Conigrave (19 November 1959 – 18 October 1994) was an Australian actor, activist and author of the internationally acclaimed memoir, '' Holding the Man.'' Education and career Conigrave was born in Melbourne, and attended the Jesuit-run X ...

's best-selling memoir * ''

Hotel Sorrento ''Hotel Sorrento'' is a 1995 Australian drama film directed by Richard Franklin. Three sisters reunite in the sleepy Australian town of Sorrento after a ten-year hiatus. One of the three has written a book called ''Melancholy'' which is a thin ...

'' by

Hannie Rayson Hannie Rayson (born 1957) is an Australian playwright and newspaper columnist. She is recognised as one of Australia's most significant playwrights. Biography Rayson was born in Melbourne, Victoria and graduated from the University of Melbourne ...

(1990) – winner of the 1990 AWGIE Award – Stage Award, 1990 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Drama and the 1990

Green Room Award The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne. The awards were started in 1982 when Blair Edgar and Steven Tandy formed the Green Room Awards A ...

for Best Play. * ''Macquarie'' by

Alex Buzo Alexander John Buzo (23 July 194416 August 2006) was an Australian playwright and author who wrote 88 works. His literary works recorded Australian culture through wit, humour and extensive use of colloquial Australian English. Biography Ear ...

– traces the decline of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's authority in the infant colony of New South Wales; it was the first play published by Currency Press * The Man from Mukinupin by Dorothy Hewett (1978). Romantic romp through Dark and Light in a Western Australian wheatbelt town * ''

No Sugar ''No Sugar'' is a postcolonial play written by Indigenous Australian playwright Jack Davis, set during the Great Depression, in Northam, Western Australia, Moore River Native Settlement and Perth. The play focuses on the Millimurras, an Austral ...

'' by Jack Davis – winner of the 1992

Kate Challis RAKA Award The Kate Challis RAKA Award is an arts award worth , awarded annually by the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia to Indigenous Australian creative artists. It is awarded in a five-year cycle, each year in a different area of the arts: ...

for Drama and the 1987 WA Premier's Book Awards – Special Award * '' Norm and Ahmed'' by Alex Buzo shows race prejudice as a profoundly irrational force in the behaviour of ordinary Australians * '' Out of the Ordinary'' by Alex Vickery-Howe * ''

The Removalists ''The Removalists'' is a play written by Australian playwright David Williamson in 1971. The main issues the play addresses are violence, specifically domestic violence, and the abuse of power and authority. The story is supposed to be a microc ...

'' by

– winner of the 1972 AWGIE Award – Best Stage Play and Best Script, as well as the

Evening Standard Award The ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are the oldest theatrical awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. They are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre, and are organised by the ''Evening Standar ...

for Most Promising Playwright. Included by the

in its list of Australia's 200 best literary works * ''The Rivers of China'' by

Alma De Groen Alma De Groen is an Australian feminist playwright, born in New Zealand on 5 September 1941. Biography Alma Margaret Mathers, born in Manawatu, grew up in Mangakino, a small township founded to serve a hydro-electric power station in the North ...

(1987) – winner of the Premier's Award in both NSW and Victoria * ''

The Season at Sarsaparilla ''The Season at Sarsaparilla: a charade of suburbia in 2 acts'' is a 1962 play by Australian writer Patrick White. It concerns three households, the Pogsons, the Boyles, and the Knotts, in the fictional suburb of Sarsaparilla. This play was wr ...

'' by

– neighbours are held by their environment, waiting with determination, but little expectation, for the inevitable cycle of birth, copulation and death * ''Speaking in Tongues'' by

Andrew Bovell Andrew Bovell (born 23 November 1962) is an Australian writer for theatre, film and television. Life Bovell was born on 23 November 1962 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia and completed his secondary school education in Perth. He graduated from t ...

(1996) – winner of the 1997 AWGIE Award – Stage Award; this is the play upon which ''

Lantana ''Lantana'' () is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in ...

'' was based * ''

Stolen Stolen may refer to: * ''Stolen'' (2009 Australian film), a 2009 Australian film * ''Stolen'' (2009 American film), a 2009 American film * ''Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story'' (2010 film), a film based on the real life kidnapping of baby Kahu Durie ...

'' by Jane Harrison – this tender and moving story brought the tragic history of the Stolen Generations to the Australian stage; winner of the 2002 Kate Challis RAKA Award * ''

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll ''Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' is an Australian play written by Ray Lawler and first performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne on 28 November 1955. The play is considered to be the most significant in Australian theatre history, and a " ...

'' by

Ray Lawler Raymond Evenor Lawler (born 23 May 1921) is an Australian actor, dramatist, and theatre producer and director. His most notable play was his tenth, '' Summer of the Seventeenth Doll'' (1953), which had its premiere in Melbourne in 1955. The ...

(1955) – a defining moment in Australian theatre history, and a beacon in the Australian dramatic canon * '' The Time is Not Yet Ripe'' by

Louis Esson Thomas Louis Buvelot Esson (10 August 1878 – 27 November 1943) was an Australian poet, journalist, critic and playwright. He was a co-founder of the Pioneer Players. His second wife, Hilda Esson (nee Bull), had a career in theatre besides wor ...

– a political comedy from 1912 in which the forces of socialism, feminism and conservatism fight out an election and an engagement to marry *''The Woman in the Window'' by

– supported by the Literature Board of the

Australia Council The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

and short-listed for the 1999 NSW Premier’s Award for Drama Seven of these plays have been included in the Australian Society of Authors' list of Australia's 200 best literary works.

Screenplays

* '' Blue Murder'' by Ian David – a powerful and frightening story about police corruption and Sydney's underworld * '' Chopper'' by

Andrew Dominik Andrew Dominik (born 7 October 1967) is an Australian film director and screenwriter. He has directed the crime film '' Chopper'' (2000), the Western drama film ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'' (2007), the neo-noir ...

– goes inside the mind of Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, one of Australia's most notorious criminals * ''

Muriel's Wedding ''Muriel's Wedding'' is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by P.J. Hogan. The film, which stars Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Jeanie Drynan, Sophie Lee, and Bill Hunter, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambi ...

'' by

P. J. Hogan Paul John "P. J." Hogan (born 30 November 1962) is an AACTA Award-winning Australian film director and writer. Early life Hogan was born in Brisbane, Queensland. As a teenager, he lived on the North Coast of New South Wales and attended Mt ...

– Muriel, an unhappy young woman in dismal surroundings, sets out to overcome obstacles such as her family, her joblessness, and her obsession with 70s glam rockers ABBA * '' Rabbit Proof Fence'' by Christine Olsen – three Aboriginal girls are forcibly removed from their outback families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of official government policy * '' Strictly Ballroom'' by

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962), known professionally as Baz Luhrmann, is an Australian film director, producer, writer and actor. With projects spanning film, television, opera, theatre, music and recording industries, he is re ...

and

Craig Pearce Craig Pearce is an Australian screenwriter and actor. Pearce's acting credits include a regular role in soap opera '' The Restless Years'' in 1981, guest roles in '' Bellamy'', '' E Street'' and ''G.P.'', and film roles in ''I Can't Get Started ...

– an exuberant story about the struggle for love and creativity in a world limited by greed and regulation

References

External links

*
Guide to the Records of Currency Press
National Library of Australia {{Authority control Arts in Australia Australian Plays Book publishing companies of Australia Performing Arts in Australia Theatre in Australia