Name: FLOWERS &amp; O JIM
SKU: ASC-1237
Price: 5.40 AUD
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FLOWERS & O JIM

$5.40 – $10.00

Flowers is a duologue—a simple character study of opposites. An older man (Louis) is in a park, picking flowers. He is challenged by Jim: "That isn't allowed." In four pages, Keene evokes a strong mise-en-scene where one character takes what he wants with no thought of others and the other, far more aware of what is public and what is private, will not allow him to have his way easily.

O Jim is a monologue from the body and spirit of a dissociated man: "I have no light in me, I've gone dark." It becomes clear in the monologue that Jim, who we have met in Flowers, has an undisclosed psychiatric condition. His speech is raggedly poetic, visceral and despairing.

Daniel Keene's collaboration with director Ariette Taylor—the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project—was critically acclaimed both locally and overseas.

Flowers and O Jim were first performed as part of KTTP Season 12 in 2001. The evening was entitled Mysteries and was a mash-up of five plays: Bearers of Light, A Foundling, O Jim, The Eyes and Flowers.

Form/Style: poetic drama (short) and monologue
Length in minutes: 15
Cast: 2 total
Roles: 2 male identifying
Cast age groups: 18+
Audience age: young adult, adult
Publisher: Australian Script Centre

MONOLOGUES
GALLERY
LINKS & DOWNLOADS
PRODUCTION HISTORY

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Jim

Male | 40s | 5 to 10 minutes
Starts on page 6

EXTRACT: There are places people don't come back from/They go dark there and there's no light in them any more people have a light in them sometimes the light goes out a good man a bad man the light can go out in him and it never comes on again/ It happens to some/ Man or woman or child/ Yes I know/ Sometimes I have to speak about it/ I live with it every minute of every day and every night/ Because let me tell you the simple fact that I have no light in me I've gone dark/

TWO TAKES ON TRUTH AND LIES

FIONA GRUBER, THE AUSTRALIAN, OCTOBER 2008

Whilst discussing the 2008 production of ' Lower Depths' by Maxim Gorky, Director, Ariette Taylor and the Australian's Fiona Gruber reflect on the aesthetic influences of the Keene/Taylor project, in particular a furniture repository belonging to the Brotherhood of St Laurence that was a cornerstone of many Keene/Taylor productions.

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

Keene Taylor Theatre Project : programs and related material collected by the National Library of Australia, accessible for research purposes.

45 DOWNSTAIRS

A brief history of 45 Downstairs, host to a number of productions included in the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project.

MELBOURNE THEATRE: THE WITNESS

RICHARD MURPHET, REAL TIME ISSUE #43, JUNE-JULY 2001

Richard Murphet's survey of Melbourne's theatre scene in the early 2000s, in which he discusses the Keene/Taylor Theatre Project.

DANIELKEENE.COM.AU

Daniel Keene's website, containing interviews, extracts, introductions and production histories.

KITCHEN TABLE INTERVIEW: DANIEL KEENE

ALISON CROGGON, THEATRENOTES.BLOGSPOT.COM.AU, NOV 2010

"For the first time I can remember, Daniel Keene has two productions on at once in his home town... Since he lives in the same house as I do, I sneakily exploited our proximity to ask him some questions. And, eventually, he answered them."

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