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It is February 1954. In a home for pregnant and wayward girls somewhere in Australia, a group of young women are coming to terms with being hidden away because of the shame of breaking society's taboos. With little in common except their condition, the women work in the laundry, singing, arguing and laughing together under the supervision of the Sisters of Mercy. When a young Italian migrant woman arrives, tensions and prejudices surface and finally erupt just as the young Queen passes by on her Royal Visit.
Originally written as a graduation piece for acting students at QUT Academy of the Arts.
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Female | Teen | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 90
EXTRACT: Look at my skin. It's coloured, see? Black. (the others don't know how to cope) Oh, does that shock you? Have I shocked you, Sister? Martha's shocked, aren't you, Martha? With your missionary zeal and raging guilt and standards. Even Mildred, honest, outspoken Mildred. Even you can't look me in the eye and say I'm black. And Felicity-bloody-Elizabeth, nose in the air, plum in the voice. Well, the pretending's over, everyone. So don't come the I'm-better-than-you-are bit. We're all here together, having babies where the world can't see us..
Female | Teen | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 92
EXTRACT: Well, I want to be one of the crowd. So I went out, a good Catholic girl, and I screwed. You surprised, Mildred? I screwed this poor unsuspecting boy. Oh, it's all right. He wants to marry me now. Well, he's nice enough. Make a lovely husband for someone. But not me. I'm not ashamed of what I did. I loved it. I'm a woman, my body's made for love. But I did it to be one of the crowd. And what happens?
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