NSW Regional Theatre Companies 1976 to 2003 Desmond Davis University of Wollongong
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2007 Opportunity lost: NSW regional theatre companies 1976 to 2003 Desmond Davis University of Wollongong Recommended Citation Davis, Desmond, Opportunity lost: NSW regional theatre companies 1976 to 2003, PhD thesis, School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong. 2007. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/84 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] University of Wollongong Theses Collection University of Wollongong Theses Collection University of Wollongong Year Opportunity lost: NSW regional theatre companies 1976 to 2003 Desmond Davis University of Wollongong Davis, Desmond, Opportunity lost: NSW regional theatre companies 1976 to 2003, PhD thesis, School of History and Politics, University of Wollongong. 2007. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/84 This paper is posted at Research Online. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/84 i OPPORTUNITY LOST: NSW REGIONAL THEATRE COMPANIES 1976 TO 2003 A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by Desmond Davis BA (Hons) MA School of History and Politics, Faculty of Arts 2007 ii CERTIFICATION I, Desmond Davis, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the School of Politics and History, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Desmond Davis 31st August, 2007 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE I CERTIFICATION II TABLE OF CONTENTS III MAPS AND TABLES VI ACKNOWLEDGMENTS VII ABBREVIATIONS VIII ABSTRACT IX CHAPTER ONE: THE THESIS The Researcher 1 The Story 3 The Context 10 The Questions 16 The Structure 17 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND METHODOLOGY Literature Review Context – Australian Theatre and Arts Policy 19 Regionalism and Regional Theatres 22 Primary Sources 28 Methodology 29 Theoretical Frame of Reference 32 CHAPTER THREE: CONTEXT AUSTRALIAN THEATRE Theatre Matters 37 Subsidy 43 Round One: from the 1800s to the 1950s. The Battleground is Determined 48 Round Two: the 1960s and 1970s. Access fights back 54 Round Three: The 1980s. Some Successes for Access 59 Round 4: Into the 1990s: The triumph of excellence 62 iv Post Script 1 and Post Script 2 73 Conclusion 74 CHAPTER FOUR: REGIONALISM Regionalism 77 British Theatre 81 NSW Regional Theatre Companies 97 CHAPTER FIVE: NSW REGIONAL COMPANIES Hunter Valley Theatre Company (HVTC) 101 Q Theatre (Q) 111 Riverina Theatre Company (RTC) 119 New England Theatre Company (NETC) 126 Murray River Performing Group (MRPG) 130 NSW Regional Theatre Association 142 Conclusion 147 CHAPTER SIX: THEATRE SOUTH – THE FOUNDATION YEARS Preshow 148 Curtain Up: The Pilot Season 153 Action: The First Full Season 162 Gathering Momentum: 1982 166 The Curtain Falls on Act One 173 CHAPTER SEVEN: THEATRE SOUTH AND THE WORK The Season 175 Repertoire – 1.Classics 184 Repertoire – 2. Contemporary Overseas 188 Repertoire – 3. Contemporary Australian 193 Repertoire – 4. Original 199 CHAPTER EIGHT: THEATRE SOUTH – STAKEHOLDERS Community 228 Region 248 Industry 259 v CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION Proposition One: Regional Theatres as a distinct Field 270 Proposition Two – Value 282 Proposition Three – Sites of Struggle 284 BIBLIOGRAPHY 295 ARCHIVE REFERENCES 303 INTERVIEWS 306 APPENDIX - THEATRE SOUTH PRODUCTIONS 1980-2002 307 vi MAPS AND TABLES Map One NSW Regional Theatres 3 Table One Australia Council Funding 1976-2005 14 Table Two Theatre South Productions for Young Audiences 1980-2002 240 Map Two Theatre South Region 249 Table Three Theatre South Touring 1981-20021 251 Table Four Theatre South Co-productions 258 Table Five Guest Productions 260 Table Six Theatre South Funding 1981-2002 263 Appendix Theatre South Productions 294 vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At the close of a career in theatre and twenty years after an end to an academic career, it may have seemed a surprising course to undertake study for a PhD. My first supervisor Ray Markey and his partner Frances Laneyrie persuaded me that there was a story worth researching and a PhD study might be an appropriate way to do it. Later in the process my old colleague, Dorothy Jones, gave me some practical assistance. My most profound gratitude goes to my supervisor Di Kelly for her unfailing support and good advice. Without the invaluable resource of the Theatre South archives a major part of the story would have been impossible. Jan Keith and Frances Lemmes undertook the initial listing, and archivist Susan Jones supervised their organisation within the University Wollongong Archives. I spent many days in the Archives room finding evidence to support my memory and surprises to modify my beliefs, and Susan Jones was always at hand to assist, I am grateful to the colleagues and friends in the industry and in regional theatre with whom I had many discussions over the years on the issues raised in the thesis. In particular I thank those who granted me interviews to add detail and accuracy to the study. I should also like to acknowledge the many artists who contributed to my practical work with Theatre South and most particularly the co-founder of the company and my lifetime partner Faye Montgomery. Many critics over the years have gone the extra distance usually necessary to review the work of regional companies. I have always believed that reviews are not merely important for their immediate feedback but often the only tangible historical record of this transitory art form. This belief has been confirmed in full measure as I put together my study. Some reviewers have shown a special interest and commitment to recording the work of regional companies and I would like to mention in particular Pamela Payne, James Waites, John McCallum, Mick Barnes, John Carmody, Bob Evans, Katharine Brisbane and Prue Charlton whose work will all be found quoted frequently in the thesis. viii ABBREVIATIONS AC Australia Council ACA Australia Council for the Arts AD Artistic Director AETT Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust APG Australian Performing Group ATYP Australian Theatre for Young People CEMA Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts CADB Community Arts Development Board CAST Confederation of State Theatres FFFC Flying Fruit Fly Circus HVTC Hunter Valley Theatre Company IAC Industries Assistance Commission ICC Illawarra County Council IPAC Illawarra Performing Arts Centre MRPG Murray River Performing Group MTC Melbourne Theatre Company NETC New England Theatre Company NIDA National Institute of Dramatic Arts NP No page NWUA University of Wollongong Archives Q Q Theatre QTC Queensland Theatre Company RT Regional Theatre Company RTC Riverina Theatre Company SMH Sydney Morning Herald STC Sydney Theatre Company TIE Theatre in Education TYP Theatre for Young People UOW University of Wollongong ix ABSTRACT From 1976 to 1980 six professional theatre companies were established in NSW outside the capital city Sydney. They were titled Regional Theatre Companies after similar entities in Britain. They grew and flourished into the early 1990s. Then one by one, almost at the height of their activity they began to fail. By 2006 there was only one fully professional regional theatre company operating in NSW. This is the phenomenon which is the subject of this thesis. What distinguished these companies as a group, what did they contribute to regional and national life, how did they arise, what did they achieve and why and how did they decline? The overarching question is of their significance in Australian cultural life and the significance of their failure. Was it an “opportunity lost”? These questions have not been systematically addressed in any study and the purpose of this thesis in addressing these issues is to contribute to and invigorate the public debate on the nature of the national theatre enterprise. The six companies for examination are Hunter Valley Theatre Company in Newcastle, Q Theatre in Penrith, Riverina Theatre Company in Wagga Wagga, New England Theatre Company in Armidale, Murray River Performing Group (MRPG) in Albury/Wodonga and Theatre South in Wollongong. The researcher himself was a participant observer in this story as co-founder and Artistic Director of one of the companies. The methodology for the study is therefore an interpretive and reflexive one. Qualitative, interpretive and reflexive research allows for complexities and enables the researcher to explore multiple possibilities and to place him or herself more visibly in the story, aiming always for interpretation rather than the representation of the apparent reality. Pierre Bourdieu defined theory as a temporary construct which takes shape for and by empirical work. Bourdieu’s own theories provide an appropriate theoretical framework for this study. Regional Theatre Companies are studied as a distinct agent or sub-field within x the larger Field of Cultural Production. Competition of agents within a field is an invariant property of Bourdieu’s Fields and will determine the dominant and dominated classes within the field. The competition within the Field of Cultural Production is for cultural capital, which in turn will determine who can impose the legitimate definition of art in each particular position including theatre. The