Stephen Measday – March 12 2017

Stephen is a scriptwriter, playwright and author of 17 internationally published books for younger readers. At the age of 16, he “talked his way” into the media by becoming ABC correspondent for Crystal Brook, South Australia and later became a full-time journalist before deciding to write for theatre, film and television. Stephen has won an Australian Writers Guild (AWGIE) Award for the radio drama, Partners, and a Media Peace Award from the United Nations Association of Australia for an episode of A Country Practice. He has been Script Editor for Hi-5 (series 3-12) and Hi-5 House (series 3-4), has written for Erky Perky, New Macdonald’s Farm, Blue Heelers, GP, Wicked, Mirror, Mirror 2, The Ferals, Ship to Shore and Skytrackers 2. He has written an original feature film, The Time Game (also published as a novel). Stephen’s other plays include The Plainclothes Hamlet and Blow Fly Blow and his books include The Giant Spiders, A Pig Called Francis Bacon and My Friend Roger Bacon as well as his current time travel novel series, Send Simon Savage.

Sample image: Isabella Beeton

Well Beeton!
Australian Script Centre, 2014;
100 minutes; 2 female, 1 male
Audience age: all ages, children, teen, young adult, adult
English journalist, editor and writer, Isabella Mary Beeton, best known for her Book of Household Management, was the Delia Smith, Margaret Fulton, Julia Child of the Victorian era and became famous throughout the world. In Well Beeton!, she is magically transported to the set of a top rating television show where she gets involved in a fierce, competitive cook-off with Australia’s ‘Queen of the Outback Chefs’, Dawn Dawson. Isabella and Dawn are not only from different eras and different countries, but also hold fervently different attitudes to food, cooking, housekeeping and personal relationships. Clashes are inevitable. A delicious feast of food and fun ,Well Beeton! involves the audience in a dramatic cooking show that crosses Knives and Time, with an entertaining focus on both past and contemporary attitudes to food and household chores.

Sample image: Mark Twain

Mark Twain Down Under: The Most Beautiful Lies
Australian Script Centre, 1988; 90 minutes; 0 female, 1 male
Audience age: young adult, adult
This play recreates an evening with Mark Twain during his highly celebrated and successful tour of Australia in 1895. Railway food, sharks, the Melbourne Cup, gold strikes and the witty explanation of why “reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” are explored in this humorous and entertaining look at Australia through the eyes of America’s most celebrated author. Based on the writings of Samuel Langhorne Clemens – better known by his pen name, Mark Twain – this play in two acts is ideal for regional touring.