Blackrock: the play

by Nicholas Enright

It’s Toby Ackland’s birthday party down near the surf club — and that should mean heaps of grog, drugs and good clean fun. But by the morning a young girl is dead — raped by three boys and bashed with a rock.

Who is responsible? The boy? The girl? Or the whole town.

Blackrock is an intimate and strongly shaped human drama which examines the social forces behind the impulse to violence in individual lives.

Genres: Plays, Drama

72 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ellen Spes]

Poorly written by a U of M grad. Go figure.

[CATastrophe]

I had to read this for an assignment. So, I only read what I needed to and decided not to finish the rest. Which means I’m not rating it, because I don’t rate books I DNF.

[Ash]

Horrific. Terribly Australian but that was the point. Culture at its worst a very tough text to teach in schools.

[Kirsten]

I read this book as it is on the reading list for my 11-ATAR class. The play Blackrock is based on the rape and murder of 14-year old Leigh Leigh in Victoria, Australia. Nicholas Enright illustrates the possible dialogues between the murderer and rapist. The question he tries to answer is why did it take them such a long time to confess to there actions, what have they discussed to try and get away with it and most importantly what were their motives.

The play is short and easy to read within an hour. It is engaging, uses lots of slay and represents the nonstandard Australian accent well and really explores teenage behaviour.

[Jamie Renee]

Based on a true, gruesome story about a 14 year old who was raped and murdered.
I am doing a group study on this for my drama class and honestly, it left me wondering what really happened, so I looked it up.
It's harsh, victim blaming at its finest, gruesome, but very interesting.

[Chris Patrick Hansen]

I loved property of the clan, so I figured I ought to read its “final product” play. It’s a disturbing look at mateship, and a confronting reflection of how silence now breeds violence later. Honestly, as strong as the text is I’d suggest you try to watch this somewhere rather than read it. Still, it’s a great play to make you feel like shit.

[saanvi]

i <3 adding stuff i read for school onto goodreads (every single woman here deserved better, banish all men except for heath ledger)

[Lucy]

Solid /heart-breaking. Written 25+ years ago but undeniably still valid today.

[Jess]

I read this for my English class. I knew straight away that I would enjoy this. The fact that it was the most realistic Australian text I've read in a long time helped. It brought up a lot of questions of what I would personally do in that situation, how would I react etc. Good, short, excellent read.

[Sam]

A harshly and brutally honest portrayal of Australian adolescence. I read this play for acting class and gobbled it up. It's incredibly honest and well crafted. It's truly a must-read for anyone interested in the realities and issues that young Australians face.

[Kate Hutcherson]

Read this script for two classes at high school. Was a very deep script which really opened up my eyes to the world that im about to venture into.

[Brooke white]

swagalicious loved it it was delciious