#AWW2019 Patricia Cornelius playwright

• Author: P. Cornelius
• Title: Boy Overboard
• Reading time: 1 hour
• Produced:  2005, Australian Theatre for Young People
• List of Challenges
• Monthly plan
• List of Plays and theatre links

Introduction:

1. Patricia Cornelius is one of Australia’s best playwrights.
2. Unfortunately her artistic “hands are tied”.
3. There’s not much wiggle room if you adapt a novel
4. for the stage.

Main Characters:

1. Jamal – (12) Afghan boy: protective of sister, Bibi. Jamal has a very big passion for soccer.
2. Bibi – (9) Afghan girl: very courageous personality and also has a passion soccer.
3. Omar –  Afghan boy: Jamal’s good friend, very poor and has no real family.
4. Rashida – meets Jamal and Bibi (no parents), becomes like their mother.
5. Andrew –  is an Australian that they meet during the campsite.

Structure:  30 scenes (no acts)

Motif:

1. Candlestick – heirloom, represents ‘guiding light”; sold to smugglers for escape
2. Soccer ball  –  represents future happiness

Conclusion:

1. Adapted for the stage by Patricia Cornelius from
2. Morris Gleitzman’s best-selling novel (2002)
3. Boy Overboard reveals  a deeply
4. …human side of the asylum seekers issue.
5. Ms Cornelius is one of Australia’s best playwrights.
6. Her play Don’t Go Gentle is extraordinary.
7. My expectations were high….but this play is
8. written for a young adult audience
9. …and the dialogue reflects that.
10. Patrica Cornelius  adapts a novel for the stage
11. ….which limits what she can write.
12. This is a play geared for junior high-school production.
13. #PlayForNicheAudience