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What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson

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What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER Snodger Media and Ronin Films http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Introduction Playbox. Rayson has also written the highly acclaimed plays Scenes from This study guide to accompany What I a Separation, Life After George, Two Wrote: Hannie Rayson has been written Brothers, Inheritance and The Glass for senior secondary students. It pro- Soldier. Her television writing credits vides information and suggestions for include Seachange and an episode of learning activities in English, Literature, the ABC series Seven Deadly Sins. Theatre Studies and Drama. Rayson was the joint recipient of the What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson is a short Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award in film about Australian playwright Hannie 1996 and has won both the Victorian Rayson. Dr Tess Brady interviews Ray- and NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. son and provides a critical introduction In 1999 Rayson received the Maga- to Hotel Sorrento, Inheritance, Life zine Publishers’ Society of Australia’s After George and Two Brothers. What I Columnist of the Year Award for her Wrote: Hannie Rayson also includes a regular contributions to HQ magazine. discussion of many of Rayson’s other Rayson made playwriting history when plays and an investigation of her ap- Life After George became the first play proach to writing for the stage. to be nominated for the Miles Franklin Award. What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson is one title from a four-part series spotlight- About the filmmakers ing Australian playwrights. The series offers students information about the Dr Tess Brady – Presenter ideas and processes of the playwrights Dr Tess Brady is a highly respected as well as the opportunity to hear what editor, researcher and teacher of writ- the playwrights have to say about their ing at university level. She was the work. Other titles available in the What I co-founding editor of the international Wrote series include: online scholarly journal TEXT and has published children’s picture books, • What I Wrote: Matt Cameron adult radio drama, crime fiction, short • What I Wrote: Louis Nowra stories and popular non-fiction. Her • What I Wrote: Katherine Thomson most recent publication is Creative Writing: Theory beyond practice, with Further information about the series Nigel Krauth. can be found at <http://www. whatiwrote.com.au>. Hannie Rayson Catherine Gough-Brady Hannie Rayson is a graduate of Mel- – Director bourne University and the Victorian Catherine Gough-Brady is a documen- College of the Arts (VCA) and has an tary filmmaker. She has made works Honorary Doctorate of Letters from La for a variety of media. Gough-Brady Trobe University. A co-founder of The- has produced and directed educational atreworks, she has served as Writer-in- videos and web sites. Her ‘docugame’ Residence to the Mill Theatre, Playbox Docks Dispute <http://www.docks Theatre, La Trobe University, Monash dispute.com> is currently used in University and Victorian College of the tertiary management and industrial Arts. relations courses. Rayson is recognized as one of Austra- lia’s most significant playwrights. Her first major success was Hotel Sorrento, a Playbox/Theatreworks co-production, which won several prizes including the Australian Writers Guild Award. Her next two plays Falling From Grace and Competitive Tenderness premiered at Using What I Wrote: ence of and attitudes to theworld in • ‘What I find drives me is engaging which she lives have influenced the with the national conversation.’ Hannie Rayson construction of the text. Work in a – Hannie Rayson in the classroom small group tocomplete the analysis. Develop a PowerPoint presentation Drawing on What I Wrote: Hannie Teachers may select from the following to communicate this information to Rayson and your knowledge of Ray- activities to support students’ viewing the class. son’s plays, make a list of the issues and close analysis of What I Wrote: that Rayson has brought to audi- Hannie Rayson. • A writer’s relationship with his or her ences’ attention. environment is a central concern The writer’s context of Hotel Sorrento. What does Meg • Do you think Rayson’s plays have the ‘Ordinary people’s lives are incredible Moynihan claim she writes about? power to influence people’s response material for art.’ to real world events and issues? – Hannie Rayson Views and values ‘Hannie is a playwright of really big A significant aspect of Rayson’s plays ‘Being curious about the way that the ideas. Her plays engage in the conver- is her fascination with family. She uses world works and the way people live is sations that are on the front page of family as a stage to play out her quest important.’ the daily paper.’ for understanding people’s complexi- – Hannie Rayson – Dr Tess Brady ties. Hotel Sorrento has family at its core, as does Life After George, In- • As you view What I Wrote: Hannie ‘I’m interested in the intimate and the heritance, Two Brothers and The Glass Rayson, compile a list of statements personal and the private … we’re all Soldier. that describe Rayson’s place in soci- connected in some way to family.’ ety. – Hannie Rayson • As you view What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson, compile a list of statements • What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson claims Hannie Rayson’s plays are intellectu- that explain Rayson’s interest in fam- that Rayson writes about familiar ally robust. It is theatre that tackles the ily. territory – inner urban landscapes. big issues and provides a contempo- Is this true of the playthat you are rary vision of Australian society. While • ‘Family provides Rayson with a deli- studying? her plays advocate a particular social ciously dysfunctional group of people or political stance, the drama is never varying in age and jobs and some- • Use the internet, critical essays and black and white. Through her charac- times social background.’ Discuss commentaries to compile a detailed ters, Rayson articulates a variety of the validity of this claim by drawing summary of the contexts that shape beliefs and while we may disagree with on one of Rayson’s plays. Why do Rayson’s work as a playwright. Dis- many of these beliefs, Rayson brings you think Rayson uses family as a cuss your findings with others in the us to an understanding of why the platform to explore complex ideas class. characters take such stances. and issues? • Drawing on one of Rayson’s plays, • Do you think of Rayson as a political determine how Rayson’s experi- writer? Critical perspectives lived his life with passion and gusto. He • Use the Internet, critical commentar- was charismatic, careless and some- ies and reviews to arrive at a detailed times cruel, but he never failed to revel knowledge and understanding of the in life’s offerings and to celebrate the critical reception of Rayson’s writing. importance of the life of the mind. What viewpoints do you support? What viewpoints do you refute? In Life after George, Rayson investi- gates why those studying at universities The plays are no longer students but customers and considers how such a corporate Hotel Sorrento agenda has changed education. Her ‘At the core of this play is a family main character Peter George supports struggling with loyalty, loyalty to each education as Rayson would like it to be, other and loyalty to their own story.’ a liberal, classical education for life. – Dr Tess Brady • Do you like Peter George? Or is ‘like’ In Hotel Sorrento, the Moynihan family the wrong word to use? is the context for Rayson’s discussion of personal and Australian identity. • ‘I wanted to create a man who was Meg Moynihan insists that her second committed and believed truly in novel ‘Melancholy’ is fiction but her scholarship.’ sisters do not agree. Hilary and Pippa – Hannie Rayson believe that Meg has invaded their pri- vacy and revealed the secrets of their What moments and statements in shared past. The sisters claim that Life After George show this to be Meg may have changed the names but true? she has still written her family’s story. Rayson acknowledges that George is a • Do you agree with Brady’s reading of mass of contradictions. She draws on Hotel Sorrento? a poem by Walt Whitman to justify her assessment of George and to explain • Discuss Rayson’s anecdote about her interest in creating complex char- seeing Hotel Sorrento performed in acters. London. • Compile a profile for one of Rayson’s • Drawing on pertinent quotations characters. Use moments and state- from Hotel Sorrento generate a dis- ments from the play to highlight the cussion of loyalty. contradictions that are evident in the character’s nature and behaviour. • Hotel Sorrento was made into a feature film by Richard Franklin in • What I Wrote: Hannie Rayson men- 1995. Information about the film and tions Rayson’s resignation from the reviews are available on the internet. board of the Victorian College of Arts Develop a detailed comparison of a was prompted by discontent and scene from the play and the same a difference of opinion. Read and scene in the film. Describe how Ray- discuss Rayson’s public statements son’s scene is recreated in the film about university education: and evaluate the effectiveness of the • Degrees of Separation: The Univer- adaptation. sity and the Spirit of Enquiry (2001): <http://www.flinders.edu.au/alumni Life After George /alumni-community/investigator Life After George begins at Peter -lecture-2001.cfm>. George’s funeral. His wife, two ex- • Keynote address at the Regional wives and daughter have gathered to- Arts Australia first national confer- gether to bury him. Through a series of ence, Mt Gambia, 1998: <http:// flashbacks, the play narrates George’s www.countryarts.org.au/ccd/docs/ personal and political journey.
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