alphabetical author index

Daisy in the Dreamtime

  • Lynne Kaufman
  • Full Length Play, Drama, 1910s / WWI
  • 3M, 3F
  • ISBN: D89

"Captivating!"

Variety

"Powerful...mesmerizing...written with heart and sensitivity...truly compelling theatre!"

Tolucan Times

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 85 minutes

  • Time Period: 1910s / WWI
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Strong Language, Sexual Content

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student
In 1913, an Irish emigre, Daisy Bates, pitched a tent in the Australian outback and lived there with the Aborigines for 30 years. She fed them, doctored them, and recorded their stories and rituals. She was the first white woman to be initiated into Aboriginal Dreamtime. Her only enemies were the Trans-Australian Railway and Annie Lock, the Lutheran missionary. Daisy's people called her Kabbarli, the great white spirit of the never-never. This is her story and theirs. 

The play explores Daisy's life and why she abandoned her husband, child and all the comforts of civilization to live in the bleakest place on earth with the most primitive people and proclaim herself blessed. It traces the spiritual quest of a woman in a culture that is free of the two great obsessions of modern civilization: the pressure of time and the accumulation of goods. 

REVIEWS:

"Captivating!"

Variety

"Powerful... mesmerizing... written with heart and sensitivity... truly compelling theatre!"

Tolucan Times

"Extraordinary! Rarely do we find a play like Daisy in the Dreamtime."

Back Stage West

"Stunning! Critics' Choice!"

Los Angeles Times

  • Casting: 3M, 3F
  • Casting Attributes: Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle), Minority casting

Name Price
Daisy in the Dreamtime Script Order Now

In 1913, an Irish emigre, Daisy Bates, pitched a tent in the Australian outback and lived there with the aborigines for 30 years. She fed them, doctored them, and recorded their stories and rituals. She was the first white woman to be initiated into aboriginal dreamtime. Her only enemies were the Trans-Australian Railway and Annie Lock, the Lutheran missionary. Daisyes people called her Kabbarli, the great white spirit of the never-never. This is her story and theirs. The play explores Daisyes life and why she abandoned her husband, child and all the comforts of civilization to live in the bleakest place on earth with the most primitive people and proclaim herself blessed. It traces the spiritual quest of a woman in a culture that is free of the two great obsessions of modern civilization: the pressure of time and the accumulation of goods. Unit set. Approximate running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

$19.95