Tasmania’s notorious Point Puer boys’ prison was a place to be feared because of its regime of stern discipline and harsh punishments.
The prison near Port Arthur was the British Empire’s first reformatory built exclusively for juvenile male convicts and about 3000 boys were sent there between 1834 and 1849.
Now a play by Werribee’s Alaine Beek based on the lives of boys at the prison is a finalist in an Australia-wide competition.
Point Of No Return is one of three productions shortlisted in the national one-act play competition run by Playhouse Players, a Melbourne-based community theatre society.
Developed with the help of Werribee Secondary College student Chris de Zeeuw, Point Of No Return will be directed by Mrs Beek and performed by the college drama club at the Richmond Theatrette, in Church Street, next month.
“It centres on five boys in prison and starts with a new boy being introduced to the group,” she said. “He’s more educated than the others, who are more streetwise, and the play centres on how he fits in, the group’s hierarchy, how friendships change and how they stand up to the mean, old guard.”
Mrs Beek says the roles are performed by boys of a similar age. “Teenagers have leaders in a group, those who get along, those who don’t; there are arguments, and in this play all the boys get to act their age.”
Point Of No Return runs from October 9-11. Tickets are available at www.playhouseplayers.org.au/bookings.
