“Citizen Jane will challenge young people, their parents and teachers to know and understand our system of government.” – The Hon. Matthew Foley, Minister for Arts 2002.
The directive was enough to make any writer quake in his/her boots: write a play for grades 4-9 which will focus upon, illuminate and explain the Queensland Constitution, and encourage in the students both active citizenship, and later, participation in our system of government. Wonderful! Try to make it palatable and engaging. Tricky! And could it please require only three actors and not be over 50-minutes? Impossible! Naturally we seized the opportunity presented to us by the Queensland Arts Council in league with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and set to work. While it was imperative to explore the concepts central to our brief accurately, we challenged ourselves to give the play as much theatricality as possible. What did we come up with? A zany play containing 30 characters, with songs, thought-transference helmets, lightning bolts, sea rescues, brain-swaps, cabinet meetings, confused identity and a bill reading live on stage with audience participation! Here is the blurb:
“Jane Newman is young. She has a few worries about the world. Ted Cook is the Premier. He only has to worry about Queensland. So what do they have in common? Not much, until, as the result of a bizarre, inexplicable and totally weird accident – they swap brains! How will Jane find her way through the corridors of power, and learn how to keep Queensland on course? And how will Ted persuade anyone to let him back into Parliament House and get him out of cheerleading practice?”
Citizen Jane was commissioned by the Premier’s Department of the Queensland Government, in association with the Queensland Arts Council and Matrix, to celebrate the consolidation of the new Queensland Constitution. It premiered on Queensland Day, June 6th, 2002 at Bundamba State High School with Minister for Employment, Training, Youth and the Arts, Matt Foley, playing a cameo live on stage! The highly successful and popular show then toured Regional Queensland schools throughout 2002, culminating in a show in Townsville in September to coincide with the first sitting of parliament outside Brisbane in Queensland history. The play then had a return season in 2003, touring to South-East Queensland.
The June-September 2002 Queensland tour visited: Jimboomba, Boonah, Nerang, Mudgeeraba, Tamborine Mountain, Yangan, Killarney, Warwick, Stanthorpe, Texas, Inglewood, Goondiwindi, Boonah, Kalbar, Peak Crossing, Beaudesert, Yeppoon, Rockhampton, Mt Morgan, Biloela, Moura, Springsure, Emerald, Capella, Tieri, Blackwater, Clermont, Moranbah, Dysart, Charters Towers and Townsville.
Writers: Helen Howard and Michael Futcher
Director: Michael Futcher
Designer: Bruce McKinven
Composer: Phil Slade
Cast:
Charlotte Gregg: Jane Newman, Governor, MP for Four-Mile Creek
Danny Murphy: Ted Cook, David, Mr Johnson, Cheerleader
Daniel Pitt: Constitution Man and all the others.
It was revived in 2003, where it continued touring to SE Queensland schools.
Cast:
Antonia Strakosch: Jane Newman, Governor, MP for Four-Mile Creek
Danny Murphy: Ted Cook, David, Mr Johnson, Cheerleader
Stefan Cooper-Fox: Constitution Man and all the other parts
PUBLISHED BY PLAYLAB PRESS, June 2002.