Brothels, narcs and Peter Phelps: how Playing Beatie Bow stacks up now Save Normal text size When the curtain goes up on Playing Beatie Bow at the Sydney Theatre Companyâs Wharf Theatre, it wonât be the first adaptation of Ruth Parkâs novel to reach the public eye. In 1986, just six years after the book was published, a film of Playing Beatie Bow was released into cinemas. In the year of Top Gun and Crocodile Dundee it didnât last long, with the box-office reportedly falling just short of $100,000, but given the subject matter it fittingly had a long and unexpected second life: with the book on high school reading lists, the movie played in countless English classes and sold steadily on video.