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The Card Players & Who Do You Think You Are by Peter Kocan
These two on-act plays were presented at Wyong on the 8th and 9th May 1981, directed by Bonnie Bryant. Both plays were also entered in the Newcastle Drama Festival, The Card Players being presented in the afternoon session on Saturday 23 May 1981, and Who Do You Think You Are? performed in the evening session later that day, as the final performance of the festival. There were five nominations received for the two plays. Yvonne Berry-Porter and Malcolm Wallace were nominated as Best Supporting Actress and Actor for Who Do You Think You Are? These two unfortunately did not win. However three nominations were converted to awards: Bob McKettrick as Best Actor and Sue Dippel as Best Actress from The Card Players and Peter Kocan won the Adjudicator's Special Award as author of both plays (he also played The Stranger in Who Do You Think You Are?). The two plays were also entered in the Central Coast Eisteddfod on 19 June 1981. Who Do You Think You Are? won first prize in the One Act Play category. The Card Players won second prize! The Card Players is an adult drama of inmates in a psychiatric ward who struggle to find their own humanity amid the squalor of their ruined lives. Peter Kocan (in a former life) spent a long time at Morisset Psychiatric Hospital from the late 60s to the late 70s. He is currently a professor of English at the Queensland University, has written many plays and was a solid actor for the group performing in dozens of plays from the late 70s to the late 90s. Peter has not licensed further performances of The Card Players probably because it is emotionally a little too close to home for him. This is unfortunate as it is a real cracker of a piece with the potential to win any drama festival it is entered into. Who Do You Think You Are? is about a man undergoing hypnosis at a research institute who escapes, believing himself to be a rabbit. He hops into Lady Buffington's garden just as she and her daughter are about to welcome the new vicar. It has been performed probably half a dozen times during the history of the group, as it's an absolutely hilarious visual and aural comedy. Who Do You Think You Are? and The Card Players Programme (pdf file, 199,518 bytes)
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