Into The Clouds by Julia Britton

Drama/ 7 Characters, 5 Women, 2 Men/ One Act

Synopsis: Mrs. Bloem, a baby sitter with a Sydney family which is about to break up, becomes devoted to their twelve year old daughter, Emerald. Mrs. Bloem’s mother, Eva, was, during World War Two, a test pilot with Hitler’s Luftwaffe and came to Australia after the war ended. Emerald is mad about flying and sees Mrs. Bloem as the one stable factor of her life and someone to whom she can talk about her passion to fly. Behind them is the cult figure of Eva, now in her seventies and wandering in her mind, living again the heady and tragic last days of the Third Reich.

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A portion of Into The Clouds may be read by clicking on the “Read It Now” button above. To obtain a complete reading copy, contact Simon Britton at simonbritton88@gmail.com

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About the Playwright: Julia Britton (1914-2012) graduated at Manchester University (Hons, Classics, Hons. English) and worked as a journalist and university teacher before she became a playwright. Her plays have had productions at The Stage Company (Adelaide, Australia), The Blue Room (Perth), La Mama (Carlton), Performing Arts Productions (Melbourne), and Theatreworks (Melbourne). Her play Miles Franklin and the Rainbow’s End was chosen for performance at the San Antonio Festival, Texas, produced by The Stage Company of South Australia, and later performed at the Festival Centre, Adelaide.

She wrote and adapted numerous plays for Performing Arts Productions, including Lady Chatterley’s Lover (seven seasons nationally in Australia), Women in Love (Rippon Lea), Loving Friends (two seasons at Rippon Lea), An Indian Summer (Rippon Lea), Little Lord Fauntleroy (Rippon Lea), The Secret Garden (seven seasons including Adelaide), Anne of Green Gables (two seasons in Perth and Melbourne), and The Lost (two seasons in Melbourne at the Old Treasury Building).

Other plays include Hello, Last Page of My Life, Magdalena Amati, Somehow the Times Passes, and Internet Baby (all seen in readings at La Mama), The Children, The Professor (reading at Rippon Lea), Erotica in Black and White (reading Adelaide, Theatre 62, short version performed in Adelaide at Lion Theatre), and Mrs. Bloem.

Her music theatre includes Faith, Folk and Fun (at the National Gallery of Victoria) and The Music of Milhaud (two seasons at the University of Adelaide and the National University Canberra). Robbie Burns: The Farmer Poet and The Young Lord Byron were produced at the Scottish Festival at the Opera House, Omaru in New Zealand. Awards and Nominations include the AWGIE Award (Monte Miller Award) for Exit and Entrances, directed John Edwards; Best Play Award, ABC Radio, Queensland; and a nomination for the Victorian Green Room Award for In Transit.

Into the Clouds (under its original title Mrs. Bloem) was first read at Theatre 62, Adelaide on September 23, 1989. It was then workshopped by the Playbox Theatre Company, Melbourne directed by Malcolm Robertson, followed by a workshop week and a single performance in a week of new Australian plays at the Griffin Theatre Company at the Stables, Sydney.