Currency Press is a leading performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works.
History
Currency Press was founded by
Katharine Brisbane, then national theatre critic for The Australian newspaper, and her husband
Philip Parsons, a lecturer in Drama at the
University of New South Wales.[1] After Philip's death in 1993, Katharine remained at the helm of the company until she retired as Publisher in December 2001 to devote her energies to
Currency House, a non-profit association dedicated to the Australian performing arts.[2] Currency press is currently run by her son Nicholas Parsons
Description
Currency Press is a leading Australian specialist performing arts publisher, and its oldest independent publisher still active. It is located in the
Sydney suburb of
Redfern.
Blackrock by
Nick Enright – It's Toby Ackland's birthday party down near the surf club – and that means grog, drugs and fun; by the morning a young girl is dead – raped and bashed with a rock. Included by the
Australian Society of Authors in its list of Australia's 200 best literary works
The Chapel Perilous by
Dorothy Hewett – expressionist/epic drama. A defiant young poet engages in a quest for love and freedom, while oppressed by authority figures and disappointed by unsatisfactory lovers, ultimately finding only a limited fame.
The Club by
David Williamson – a play set behind the scenes of a football club; a head-on tackle of brawn versus bureaucracy
Così by
Louis Nowra – winner of the 1992 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award – Play Award
Dead Heart by Nick Parsons – winner of the 1994 Australian Human Rights Award, the 1993 NSW State Premier's Literary Award – Play Award and the 1993 AWGIE Award for Drama
Don's Party by
David Williamson – on the night of the 1969 election, guests drink heavily and snipe about their failed aspirations and the emptiness of their lives
The Ham Funeral by
Patrick White (1948) – part lyric poem, part gothic drama, a dark and vulgar investigation of he human condition
Hotel Sorrento by
Hannie Rayson (1990) – winner of the 1990 AWGIE Award – Stage Award, 1990 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Drama and the 1990
Green Room Award for Best Play.
Macquarie by
Alex Buzo – traces the decline of Governor Lachlan Macquarie's authority in the infant colony of New South Wales; it was the first play published by Currency Press
The Rivers of China by
Alma De Groen (1987) – winner of the Premier's Award in both NSW and Victoria
The Season at Sarsaparilla by
Patrick White – neighbours are held by their environment, waiting with determination, but little expectation, for the inevitable cycle of birth, copulation and death
Speaking in Tongues by
Andrew Bovell (1996) – winner of the 1997 AWGIE Award – Stage Award; this is the play upon which Lantana was based
Stolen by
Jane Harrison – this tender and moving story brought the tragic history of the Stolen Generations to the Australian stage; winner of the 2002 Kate Challis RAKA Award
The Time is Not Yet Ripe by
Louis Esson – a political comedy from 1912 in which the forces of socialism, feminism and conservatism fight out an election and an engagement to marry
The Woman in the Window by
Alma De Groen – supported by the Literature Board of the
Australia Council and short-listed for the 1999 NSW Premier’s Award for Drama[4]
Blue Murder by Ian David – a powerful and frightening story about police corruption and Sydney's underworld
Chopper by
Andrew Dominik – goes inside the mind of Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, one of Australia's most notorious criminals
Muriel's Wedding by
P. J. Hogan – Muriel, an unhappy young woman in dismal surroundings, sets out to overcome obstacles such as her family, her joblessness, and her obsession with 70s glam rockers ABBA
Rabbit Proof Fence by Christine Olsen – three Aboriginal girls are forcibly removed from their outback families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of official government policy