MINE is a theatre play co-created, co-written and co-produced by Noel Maloney and Angie Black. The play is about consent, and the devastating impact violence has on the lives of two young football players and their community. The work explores male friendship and discourses of violence amongst young men. It has been created for use in senior secondary schools, as a resource to support the Victorian Education Department’s Respectful Relationships program. It was initially presented as a performed reading in 2023 for the Darebin Arts’ Autumn FUSE Festival. This phase of the project is described in an earlier research statement. This current research statement refers to the rewriting, rehearsing and presentation of the play as a full production for senior secondary students at Northcote Senior Secondary College and Haileybury College in 2024.<p></p>
NTRO Output Type
- Live Performance of Creative Work
NTRO Output Category
- Live Performance of Creative Work : Play
Place
MelbourneVenue
Northcote Secondary College, Haileybury CollegeNTRO Publisher
Play (live performance)Start Date
2024-06-03End Date
2024-10-31Medium
co-creator, writers and producersResearch Statement
This research is in the field of scriptwriting and applied theatre. The production for schools asks, how can a theatre performance engage young people to reflect on how storytelling perpetuates violence and myths around consent? Following its presentation at FUSE, the play was revised and re-written to heighten drama, deepen characters, enrich its world, and strengthen themes for secondary school audiences.
The project incorporates educative content about gender-based violence and consent into a compelling dramatic narrative, exploring how young people use norms and narratives to reinforce behaviours, values and attitudes. Drawing on Mike Leigh’s character-based improvisational methods and Alana Valentine’s approach to verbatim theatre the work applies an emergent and reflective approach to topical theatre making that values engaging audiences imaginatively and sees writing as an integrated process. An adaptable, open-minded approach to rehearsal discoveries and rewrites fostered greater engagement and dialogue within the work. Sarah Woodland, senior lecturer in applied theatre at VCA, recognises MINE's value for wellbeing education and collaborates on adapting it for school tours.
Students and teachers at Haileybury College and Northcote Senior Secondary College were highly positive about the performance. An audience survey was conducted, with 97% agreeing that the story was emotionally powerful, and 87% believing the performance encourages reflection and dialogue about men's violence and damaging behaviours. In a letter of support following the production, Nicholas Waxman, head of drama and theatre at Haileybury, and Vice Present of Drama Victoria, the peak body for the state’s drama teachers, echoed these findings. He reported that students were deeply engaged throughout the performance, and that the emotionally charged and nuanced story sparked important reflections on their own attitudes and values concerning gendered violence.Size or Duration of Work
60 minutesAffiliation
Angie Black, University of Melbourne
