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DOLLY STAINER OF KEW COTTAGES
$5.40 – $15.00
This play is based on the real life story of Dolly Stainer. Dolly was admitted to Kew Idiot Asylum as a child of five in 1915. It was to be her home for the next seventy five years. A neglected and recalcitrant child, she was labelled a 'lunatic’ from admission, although she most certainly was not. Dolly soon learns how things operate at Kew and her natural abilities earn her the status of ‘working girl’, running the laundry and looking after other residents. How does Dolly develop her powerful, loving and complex personality in this institution? Dolly’s poignant story highlights her world of institutionalised care in twentieth century Australia. An earlier version of this play was published by Currency Press and listed for VCE Theatre and Drama Studies.
- drama; naturalism and non-naturalism; based on a true story
- 70
- 3 total
- 2 female identifying, 1 male identifying
- history
- 12 to 16, 16 to 18, 18+
- teen, young adult, adult
- Australian Script Centre
- LINKS & DOWNLOADS
- PRODUCTION HISTORY
REVIEW: DOLLY STAINER OF KEW COTTAGES
CAMERON WOODHEAD, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 22 AUGUST 2006
"Brown selects a succession of memory-like episodes. Some capture poignantly the transition of Kew Cottages from Dolly's prison to her home: her early mistreatment by doctors; her sense of belonging as head of the asylum's laundry; the close bond she developed with her favourite nurse. Other episodes deal wryly with Dolly's small moments of defiance, such as stealing a packet of cigarettes, or revenge on a drunken employee."
DOLLY STAINER OF KEW COTTAGES
KATHERINE LYALL-WATSON, 365 PLAYS, 15 MAY 2011
"Janet Brown was inspired to write this play when she read Kew Cottages: the World of Dolly Stainer by Cliff Judge and Fran van Brummelen. Dolly Stainer was institutionalised at Kew Cottages when she was five years old. She stayed there for 75 years as an inmate but also as a worker: managing the laundry and nursing, feeding and changing the young children."
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