The Rivers of China

Year for Search
1988
Author
Annotation

A play with two threads, both concerned with the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923. Born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp). One thread is about the actual experience of Mansfield in the Gurdjieff Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France, where she died of TB. The other thread is set in a future gender-role reversal Australia. In this thread Mansfield is recreated in a man's mind, and the play looks at her/his experiences.

Published Date

1988

Publisher
Currency Press
Place Published
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Keywords
Full Text

1988 De Groen, Alma (b. 1941). The Rivers of China. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Currency Press. “Introduction” by Elizabeth Perkins (ix-xv). Rpt. in Australia Plays: New Australian Drama (London: Nick Hern Books, 1989), 339-97. Play was first performed by the Sydney Theatre Company on September 9, 1987, having been workshopped the previous year. VUW

A play with two threads, both concerned with the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923. Born Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp). One thread is about the actual experience of Mansfield in the Gurdjieff Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, France, where she died of TB. The other thread is set in a future gender-role reversal Australia. In this thread Mansfield is recreated in a man’s mind, and the play looks at her/his experiences. The female author was born in Aotearoa/New Zealand and moved to Australia in 1964. She has also lived briefly in Canada, England, and France.o

Additional Publishers

Rpt. in Australia Plays: New Australian Drama (London: Nick Hern Books, 1989), 339-97.

Info Notes

 Play was first performed by the Sydney Theatre Company on September 9, 1987, having been workshopped the previous year.

Author Note

The author (b. 1941) was born in Aotearoa/New Zealand and moved to Australia in 1964. She has also lived briefly in Canada, England, and France.

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