The Ravens at Venus Theatre, Nov 2-26

THE RAVENS
By Alana Valentine
Directed by Deborah Randall

November 2 – 26, 2017
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8pm; Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm.

Location: Venus Theatre.

PARENTAL ADVISORY: Adult themes.

The Ravens is about Kira, a trying-to- be-ex sex worker in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. When she receives a large victim’s compensation payout, deciding what to do with the money becomes more of a problem than a relief. A friend from her former life feels that she is ‘owed’ by Kira, and moves back into her life and her flat. Then a chance meeting with Nina, a young social work student working at the local chocolate shop, seems like it might give Kira the courage and support she needs to finally get the violent Marg out of her life. An encounter with one of Nina’s old age clients at a nursing home focuses Kira’s determination but now she wants to help her friend Nancy, who is still working at a brothel but living in a dominating lesbian relationship. Finally Nina suggests that she might use the money for her and Nancy to put on a play – a version of Shakespeare’s poem The Phoenix and the Turtle. It’s a routine Kira and Nancy used to do as a striptease for an old client – can they learn to change themselves, phoenix like, into something other than they have been for so long? Can love – of life, of self, of friends – be resurrected and transformed by art? As an evocative radio play, The Ravens won the 2015 BBC International Radio Writing Award from the BBC World Service. Venus Theatre is delighted to be presenting the world premiere of the stage play – a visceral, provocative work of fierce insight and compassion for womens’ struggle out of violence.

Tickets are $40 or $20 for Friend of Venus. Buy tickets here.