Alana Valentine, the playwright behind the dramatized play called Parramatta Girls, decided to enlighten the public about a case she though was important, in a way that would capture its audience. Three Indigenous women already had a documentary about their experience in an Australian home for “difficult” girls. Alana Valentine believed that the documentary alone wasn’t enough insight on the horrific affairs that happened in the home.
Parramatta Girls is a verbatim theatre piece, which was first performed by Company B of Belvoir St Theatre on 21 March 2007. It doesn’t have a tradition play form, as it uses different tools than that of the traditional play. Instead of “showing” the story, it is expressed through a series of dialogues, monologues, as well as flashbacks and narration. In the end of the book, direct address is also used to tell the audience what they hope the play will convey. Therefore, it can be described as an Epic Theater or a messaged verbatim.
Alana used various sources, such as interviews, basic conversations and documents to develop the strong and insightful script. It tells the true story of the victims in the Parramatta Girls Home, also known as the Girls Training Home and Girls Industrial School. Valentine interviewed over 35 women, who all had history in the home before making the play, all women who, just as the play itself, were going to the home’s reunion.
