Cyberbile & GroundedMulti-award winning playwright Alana Valentine brings us two plays that deal head-on with teenage issues fraught with difficulty -- bullying, belonging, isolation, identity. "Cyberbile" is a candid, moving and sometimes shocking glimpse into the on-line world of today's teen generation. Based on interviews conducted by students -- from PLC Sydney -- with teachers, parents and their fellow students, the play is a verbatim-based drama which speaks from and to the hearts of Australia's young adults. Sometimes frightening, more often courageously funny, "Cyberbile" is a play for any parent who is worried about their child's relationship to the on-line community or any young person who wants to understand how to survive the bullying that technology can uniquely unleash. Set against the backdrop of one of the most intriguing events in Newcastle's recent history -- the grounding of the Pasha Bulka -- "Grounded" is a coming-of-age tale centred around Farrah, a young Novocastrian with a fascination for Newcastle's industrial port, a fascination none of her peers share or comprehend. Through her obsession, the play explores universal themes of isolation, belonging and identity and that time in your life when the obsessions of childhood, get grounded in reality. |
