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Home , Arthur Shirley, A Cheery Soul, Bland Holt, Bob Ellis, Dimboola (play), Doris Fitton

© ATOM 2012 A STUDY GUIDE by Katy Marriner

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

ISBN 978-1-74295-267-3 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au Raising the Curtain is a three-part television series celebrating the history of Australian theatre. ANDREW SAW, DIRECTOR Commissioned by Studio, the series tells the story of how has entertained and been entertained. From the entrepreneurial risk-takers that brought the first Australian plays to life, to the struggle to define an Australian voice on the worldwide stage, Raising the Curtain is an in-depth exploration of all that has JULIA PETERS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALINE JACQUES, SERIES PRODUCER made Australian theatre what it is today.

students undertaking Drama, English, »» is a director of Curriculum links History, Media and Theatre Studies. theatre, film and opera. He was appointed an Officer of the Order Studying theatre history and current In completing the tasks, students will of Australia for service to the arts, trends, allows students to engage have demonstrated the ability to: nationally and internationally, as a with theatre culture and develop an -- discuss the historical, social and director of theatre, opera and film, appreciation for theatre as an art form. cultural significance of Australian and as a promoter of innovative Raising the Curtain offers students theatre; Australian productions including an opportunity to study: the nature, -- observe, experience and write Australian Indigenous drama. diversity and characteristics of theatre about Australian theatre in an »» Michelle Arrow is a historian, as an art form; how a country’s theatre analytical, critical and reflective writer, teacher and television pre- reflects and shape a sense of na- manner; senter. Her first book, Upstaged: tional identity; and a range of theatri- -- analyse the construction of Raising Australian Women Dramatists in cal styles and traditions. The series the Curtain and comment on the the Limelight at Last was published provides students with an insight into ways it represents an interpretation in 2002. the people, places and events that of ideas and experiences; »» Robina Beard received her have contributed to the development -- recognise ways in which an first professional contract with of Australian theatre. understanding of the history of J.C. Williamson’s to dance in the Australian theatre can musical Can-Can in 1955. Beard The information and activities in the and inform their own performance then became a regular performer, student guide for Raising the Curtain making; first at the have been developed to support stu- -- create their own written and spo- and then on Australian television dents’ knowledge and understanding ken texts and performance works and stages. Her role as Madge the of the history of Australian theatre. The inspired by Raising the Curtain. Manicurist in a Palmolive detergent activities do not have to be under- commercial made her an Australian taken in the sequence in which they Curtain call television icon. appear in the guide. Teachers may »» John Bell is an Australian ac- choose from the activities according to Raising the Curtain is narrated by tor and theatre director who has SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 what is appropriate for their students Ewen Leslie. James Waites interviewed been instrumental in shaping the and the subjects that their students Australian playwrights, directors, ac- Australian theatre industry. He is are undertaking. tors, historians and academics. Their best known for his role as founder comments, along with archival material, and artistic director of The Bell Raising the Curtain is suitable for tell the story of Australian theatre. Shakespeare Company. Bell is an

For more information visit Raising the Curtain online at http://www.studiotv.com.au/highlights/raising-the-curtain/. 2 Officer of the Order of Australia and Indigenous theatre group at The in 1970 and established the the Order of the British Empire. Pram Factory in . Melbourne Writers Theatre in 1983. »» is a thea- »» John Clark was director of »» Ken Horler is a theatrical tre actress and producer and NIDA for thirty-five years. During producer and director. Ken and television actress best known his time, NIDA became Australia’s his wife Lilian co-founded the for her long-running role of Edith largest and most comprehensive Nimrod Theatre in ’s Kings MacDonald in the 1970s television centre of excellence for theatre, Cross with John Bell and Richard soap opera Number 96. film and television. Clark was Wherrett. »» is currently the made a Member of the Order of »» is an Co-Artistic Director and Co-CEO Australia in 1981. Australian comedian, satirist, of the »» Alison Croggon is a poet, artist, and author. Humphries is with her husband Andrew Upton. playwright, novelist, and librettist. best known for his on-stage and A graduate of the National Institute She also edits the online writing television alter egos Dame Edna of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Blanchett is magazine Masthead and writes Everage and Sir Les Patterson. an internationally renowned actor. theatre criticism. »» Liz Jones is the artistic direc- »» is an actor, »» is a theatre tor of La Mama. She has held the director, producer, writer and biog- director, who has also directed position since 1976. rapher. A founder of the Melbourne for television and film. a has »» Lally Katz is an American theatre groups La Mama and been Associate Director of the dramatist now resident in Australia. Playbox, Blundell has worked in State Theatre Company of South Her postmodern and absurdist films, television and theatre. He Australia, Artistic Director of the plays have been recognised with a is well known for his role in the Melbourne Theatre Company and number of awards, both in the US Australian feature film . has worked with every other major and Australia. »» Katharine is an Australian theatre company. »» Daniel Keene is a playwright Australian journalist and publisher. »» is a playwright whose works have been performed Brisbane founded and artistic director. A found- throughout Australia and overseas. with her husband Philip Parsons in ing member of the Bonzani »» is a theatre and 1971. The first play that Currency Commedia Troupe, Enoch has opera director. Kosky’s first profes- published was Macquarie, a 1972 been Artistic Director of Kooemba sional production was Michael play by Alex Buzo. Brisbane is a Jdarra Indigenous Performing Tippett’s opera The Knot Garden, Member of the Order of Australia. Arts, an Associate Artist with the at the 1989 Melbourne Festival. He »» Bille Brown is a stage, film and Theatre Company, is currently Chief Director at the television actor and playwright. He Resident Director with the Sydney Komische Oper in Berlin. began his career in the early 1970s Theatre Company, Artistic Director »» Jacqueline Kott is an actress at Company, of Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres and a stalwart of the North Sydney working alongside . Strait Islander Theatre Co- Group. He was appointed a Member of Operative and Associate Artistic »» Evelyn Krape joined the the Order of Australia in 2011. Director Company B Belvoir St. Australian Performing Group in »» Betty Burstall founded La »» Jon Ewing is an Australian actor. 1970. As an actress she has per- Mama Theatre in an old shirt fac- »» Kate Fitzpatrick is a television, formed with every major Victorian tory in Faraday Street in Carlton film and theatre actress. In addition theatre company and toured with in 1967. She was determined to to being the first-ever female crick- her own one-woman shows. establish a performance space like et commentator, Fitzpatrick has »» is an Australian the coffee house theatres she had contributed to numerous newspa- singer, stage and television seen in Greenwich Village in New pers and other publications. actor, dancer and comedienne. Her York. The theatre opened with a »» is one of Australia’s first stage performances were at production of Jack Hibberd’s play best-known theatrical produc- the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. Three Old Friends. ers and managing director of the »» Ray Lawler is an Australian »» is an Australian Gordon Frost Organisation. actor, dramatist and producer. His actor. Having appeared in over »» Michael Gow is a playwright most notable play is Summer of sixty Sydney Theatre Company and director best known for his the Seventeenth Doll which pre- productions, feature films and 1986 play Away. He has been the miered in Melbourne in 1955. television programs, Carroll was Artistic Director for Queensland »» is artistic director of

the recipient of an Equity Lifetime Theatre Company since 1999. Griffin Theatre Company. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Achievement Award in 2010. »» Harry Griffiths is an actor who »» Hilary Linstead is now retired »» Jack Charles is an Australian worked with such legendary figures having forged a career as a theatri- Aboriginal actor, musician and as Jack Davey and Roy Rene. cal agent and producer. potter. Charles was involved in »» Jack Hibberd is an Australian »» is an Australian establishing Indigenous theatre in playwright best known for his play actor, singer, theatrical performer Australia. In 1971 he co-founded . Hibberd co-founded and television presenter. He is Nindethana Australia’s first the Australian Performing Group best known for playing the parts of 3 Each Frank’n’Furter in Rocky Horror, Max actor. His early interest in the episode is Bialystock in and his theatre led to his stage debut Episode guide 55 mins own creation Betty Blokk Buster at age twenty in Wrong Side of Episode 1: »» Celestine McDermott is an the Moon with the Queensland ‘Movers And The Shakers’ author and academic with an inter- Theatre Company. The feature film ‘Movers and the Shakers’ explores est in Australia’s vaudeville past. Shine brought Rush international the brash and brazen world »» Julian Meyrick is a director, attention. of theatre entrepreneurship, theatre historian and Strategic » Stephen Sewell is a play- » spotlighting the achievements of Professor Creative Arts at Flinders wright, novelist and screenwriter. George Coppin, J. C. Williamson University. Sewell is currently the Head of and Harry M. Miller. The episode »» Lynne Murphy is an actress. Writing at NIDA. acknowledges the roles played She made her debut in radio with »» is a director and by visiting performers like Sarah in 1947 in an adapta- writer for film and stage. He is re- Bernhardt and Lola Montez, tion of Tolstoy’s Redemption. nowned in Australia for his work as and the emergence of the first »» Tommy Murphy is an Australian a theatre director from the 1960s Australian performers. The rise playwright. to the present. Sharman cre- of the Tivoli and the crowd- »» Ralph Myers is a theatre set- ated South Australia’s Lighthouse pleasing ‘blue’ comedy of Roy designer and director. Myers is Theatre Company Rene are discussed, alongside the currently the Artistic Director of »» is a theatre direc- controversial and crowd pleasing Sydney’s Belvoir. tor, writer and actor. In 2011, Stone stage show and the work of those »» Aarne Neeme is an Australian became the Resident Director at producers, playwrights and actors theatre director. Sydney’s Belvoir Theatre. who were responsible for the »» is a stage and »» John Sumner is the founding evolution of Australian theatre as a screen actress. In 1959, at the age director of the Melbourne Theatre profession and an art form in the th of sixteen, Nevin was in the first Company. latter half of the 20 century. intake of students at NIDA. She »» Brian Thomson is a theatre, Episode 2: has held the positions of Artistic opera and film designer. He has ‘Not The Queen’s English’ Director of the Queensland Theatre been active in Australian stage Company and Sydney Theatre design for over three decades. The Australian voice in our Company. »» Noel Tovey is an Australian modern theatre is loud and clear, »» is an Australian dancer, actor, mentor, director but it took 150 years to escape writer, playwright, screenwriter and choreographer. Tovey was the the vision and accents of the British Empire. ‘Not the Queen’s and librettist. His works have been artistic director for the Indigenous English’ explores the limiting performed by Australia’s major welcoming ceremony of the nature of a cultural cringe that theatre companies and a number Sydney 2000 Olympics. dates back to Australia’s colonial of his plays have been adapted »» Andrew Upton is a playwright, beginnings, the popularity of bush into films. Nowra is also a cultural screenwriter, and director. Upton melodramas and Louis Esson’s commentator, with essays appear- is currently the Co-Artistic Director drive for a national theatre. The ing regularly in Australian periodi- and Co-CEO of the Sydney episode charts the emergence of cals and newspapers. Theatre Company with his wife the New Theatre movement and »» Rhoda Roberts is an Australian Cate Blanchett. the challenges of staging political journalist, broadcaster, actor, pro- »» Frank Van Straten is a per- drama. Ray Lawler and David ducer, director, writer, arts advisor, forming arts historian, author and Williamson are identified as two of and artistic director. Roberts has former director of the Performing the many playwrights who put the written, produced and directed Arts Museum in Melbourne. real Australia on the stage in the some of Australia’s most important »» is regarded latter half of the 20th century. public productions including the as Australia’s most successful Festival of the Dreaming in the lead playwright. His first commer- Episode 3: up to the Sydney 2000 Olympic cially successful plays were The ‘The Shock Of The New’ Games. Removalists and Don’s Party. ‘The Shock of the New’ explores »» Malcolm Robertson was Williamson is now regarded how vaudeville and circus a member of the Union Theatre as Australia’s most successful traditions influenced and

Repertory Company. playwright. After writing a play continue to shape Australian SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 »» John Romeril is a playwright. every year for 35 years, in 2005, performances. The episode revels His early plays include the major he announced his retirement from in the spectacle of contemporary works I Don’t Know Who To Feel mainstage productions. theatre, exploring the work of Sorry For, Chicago, Chicago and performers, playwrights, directors The Floating World. He has also and designers who have never written for film and television. hesitated from embracing the new and avant-garde. »» Geoffrey Rush is an Australian 4 1 2

1: BARRIE KOSKY 2: CATE BLANCHETT, Interviewee

Using Raising the Curtains in the classroom

Before viewing Episode 1: I think theatre ‘Movers and Shakers’ • Cate Blanchett: I think theatre at its best is ir- at its best is reverent and dangerous. The first storytellers Barrie Kosky: You can create war, death, de- irreverent and struction, love, sex, comedy, out of nothing. ‘I always look at the writings of the Louis Nowra: To me theatre should have magic diaries, and when they witnessed a corroboree for dangerous. and enchant you, even if it’s kind of shattering the first time, they actually labelled it a bush opera, you at the same time. because it contained everything that an opera had Cate Blanchett What is theatre? Having read the claims of – it had songs, it had music, it had humour, it had Blanchett, Kosky and Nowra, write your own tragedy.’ – Rhoda Roberts definition. Do you go to the theatre? What was the last The history of stretches production that you saw? Share your theatre back further than any other civilisation and story- going experiences with the class. telling has always played a vital role in Australian • Narrator: The best of Australian theatre is Indigenous culture. like the best of our national character: bright, rowdy, energetic and unafraid. • What is a corroboree? Cate Blanchett: It’s groundbreaking what goes • View images of ’s oil painting on here. Corroboree at Newcastle ca.1818 online by Andrew Upton: It’s quite practical, it’s not com- typing the title of the painting into Google

plicated, it’s not fussy. images. You can also view and print images SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Simon Stone: I think in our endless search for of the painting at http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/ our identity as Australians, we kind of keep album/albumView.aspx?acmsID=404695&item borrowing all these different styles and all these ID=823499 different kinds of work and all of these different Describe the corroboree portrayed in Lycett’s subjects and themes. painting. What does Lycett’s painting suggest What do you know about Australian theatre? about Indigenous Australian society of that What would you like to now? What do you think time? makes Australian theatre Australian? 5 In 1972, and Jack Charles established Nindethana, Australia’s first Indigenous theatre company, in Melbourne. They are now regarded as the pioneers of Indigenous Australian theatre. National Black Theatre was also established in 1972 in Redfern. Indigenous theatre was a forum for the exploration and celebration of contem- porary Indigenous identity. Both companies also identified one of their goals as the political educa- tion of non-Indigenous people.

Kevin Gilbert’s play The Cherry Pickers (1968) was the first play by an Indigenous playwright to achieve any profile in mainstream Australia.

• What is The Cherry Pickers about? What comment does it make about mainstream Australian society’s relationship with Indigenous Australian society? Begin your research at http://nga.gov.au/retake/art- ists/00000004.htm. • Working with a partner, research the work of 1 an Indigenous Australian theatre company or playwright or stage actor. Use PowerPoint to create a slide show about the contribution that the group or person that you have selected 1: Jack Charles, survived is for Interviewee have made to Australian theatre and Australian an 1800 production of The Recruiting Officer. society. The playbill was printed on the Government • Why is it important to have Indigenous Press brought out on the First Fleet. The printer Australian theatre companies? was George Hughes, who also appeared in the • Listen to the podcast of ‘The Black Voice a production. History of Indigenous Theatre’ at http://www. abc.net.au/radionational/programs/awaye/ View the playbill online at: http://www.sl.nsw.gov. the-black-voice-a-history-of-indigenous-thea- au/events/exhibitions/2010/onehundred/100-ob- tre/3668406. The program charts the history of jects/Exhibit-021.htm Indigenous theatre. • What does the playbill tell us about the Colonial beginnings production? • Why do you think the play continues to be On June 4, 1789, just 18 months after the First staged? Fleet’s arrival at , George Farquhar’s Restoration comedy, The Recruiting Officer, The first production of The Recruiting Officer became the first European play to be staged on was followed by a performance of Jane Shore at Australian soil. Staged in a mud hut with a cast of the Theatre, Sydney on July 30, 1796. The play- convicts, the play was performed as part of the bill for the performance can be viewed online officially sanctioned celebrations of the birthday of at http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla. King George III. aus-vn4200235-s1-v. The Tragedy of Jane Shore is a 1714 play by Nicholas Rowe. A performance of • What is the premise of The Recruiting Officer? Jane Shore was given on Saturday 30 July 1796 at Why do you think this play was chosen? Visit a theatre in Sydney. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Recruiting_ Officer for information about The Recruiting • Who was Jane Shore and why did she become Officer. the subject of a play? Begin your research at

What do you think people in would http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Shore. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 have thought when they read of convicts stag- • What do the choice of plays – The Recruiting ing theatre performances, especially to cel- Officer, Henry the Fourth and Jane Shore reveal ebrate the birthday of the monarch? about the theatrical tastes of audiences of the Drawing on your research make a facsimile time? playbill for the 1789 performance of The • Compare the playbills for Jane Shore and Recruiting Officer. The Recruiting Officer with theatre posters for contemporary productions. What do the docu- One of the earliest Australian playbills to have ments have in common? How do they differ? 6 about Barnett Levey’s life and his theatri- cal ventures at http://bondistories.com/tag/ barnett-levey/. Read Levey’s obituary at http://oa.anu.edu.au/ obituary/levey-barnett-2352 and http://trove. nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/36854733. Drawing on Raising the Curtain and online sources, explain Levey’s motivation. What did he want to achieve? Was he successful? Does his legacy live on? • What do the names of the theatres established in the 19th and early 20th century, reveal about the relationship between the theatre and the governments of the time?

Ambitious Irish comedian George Coppin arrived in 1 Australia in 1843, appearing on a Sydney stage in the plays The Performer and The Loan of a Lover. 1: Gail Edwards, His character of Billy was a satirical troublemaker Interviewee Redesign the playbill for either The Recruiting who poked fun at the colonial establishment and Officer or Jane Shore to attract a contemporary respectable society. audience. • Why is George Coppin regarded as the father of Jane Shore was staged by Robert Sidaway, one Australian theatre? of the first of Australia’s theatrical entrepreneurs. Use Raising the Curtain and the following Sidaway had been to Australia for sources to determine your answer to this stealing in 1788. He received a conditional pardon question: in 1792, an absolute pardon in 1794, and was http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ given a contract as baker for the troops. coppin-george-selth-3260 http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/ In January 1796 Sidaway opened the first theatre coppin-george-selth-3260 in Sydney. The theatre was used until 1798, when http://www.liveperformance.com.au/halloffame/ Governor John Hunter ordered that it be closed as georgecoppin1.html it was a corrupting influence. It opened again for a http://www.ocav.asn.au/george.htm short time in 1800 and then closed altogether. George Coppin brought Lola Montez to Australia Sidaway staged a convict production of Henry IV during the goldrush of the 1850s. Montez, born by on April 8, 1800. Eliza Rosanna Gilbert, was an Irish woman who became known as a Spanish dancer. Her popular- • Why was Henry IV a controversial choice? ity and notoriety had much to do with her erotic Spider Dance. The entrepreneurs • What do the reviews of Montez’s performances Colonial drama consisted mostly of English-style during her tour of Melbourne and the Victorian musical theatre, comedies and pantomimes. Some goldfields reveal about her talent as a perform- were of the opinion that the theatre had no place in er. How was she received by audiences of the a penal colony and that the type of fun the theatre time? offered was a bad influence. Regardless of the views of the authorities, enterprising men estab- Use Raising the Curtain and the following sources lished theatres and staged performances. Sydney’s to help you answer the question: Theatre Royal was established in 1833. Sydney’s -- http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/ Royal Theatre and ’s Theatre lola-montez-star-attraction/ Royal opened in 1838. Melbourne’s first theatre -- http://sovereignhilleducation.

The Pavilion opened in 1841. wordpress.com/2011/08/10/ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 lola-montez-the-lady-gaga-of-her-day/ • Camel importer and merchant Barnett Levey, -- http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ lobbied for Australia’s first real theatre, the montez-lola-4226 Theatre Royal in George Street Sydney. -- http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_collections/ Read Barnett Levey’s Australian Dictionary of history_nation/gold/miners_life/montez/index. Biography entry online at http://adb.anu.edu. html au/biography/levey-barnett-2352. The website Bondi Stories offers further details 7 On with the shows

American actor and manager James Cassius Williamson and his wife Maggie Moore toured Australia with a play titled Struck Oil. The show was a huge success and prompted Williamson’s decision to stay in Australia and establish a theatre company. J. C. Williamson Ltd dominated Australian theatre for the next one hundred years.

• Visit Culture Victoria at to learn more about J.C. Williamson Ltd. The website provides a comprehensive account of the company’s contribution to theatre in Australia. http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/focus-on- set-and-costume-designs/5652/j.c.-william- son-overview/ The National Library of Australia website also provides a detailed account of J. C. Williamson Ltd at http://www.nla.gov.au/ prompt/jc-williamson-theatres. Why do you think J. C. Williamson Ltd be- 1 came known as ‘The Firm’? After Williamson’s death in 1913, J. C. Williamson Ltd. amalgamated with a com- peting management J. & N. Tait to form the 1: Barry Humphries- of room for ad- Interviewee largest theatrical empire in the world. (Key Participant) libbing, and the duo became well known for • In 1905, the Tait Brothers made the world’s risqué humour. first full-length feature film about the capture of • Listen to audio of Mo and Stiffy’s routines the notorious Gang. Made at a time online at http://aso.gov.au/titles/spoken-word/ when films were only about 15 minutes long, the-sailors/ and http://www.youtube.com/ it had a running time of between 60 and 70 watch?v=C0rhAhtX1hg minutes. The film was a huge success, playing My parents George Wallace was another popular comedian to packed audiences around Australia. You can disapproved of the time. Video of his stage routine can be view footage from the film online at http://aso. viewed on the Australian Screen website at gov.au/titles/features/story-kelly-gang/. of the Tivoli http://aso.gov.au/people/George_Wallace/. Do you find Roy Rene, Nat Phillips and George Make ‘em laugh because that’s Wallace funny? Why do you think audiences of the time found The New Tivoli Minstrel and Grand Speciality where very these comedians funny? Company was established in 1893 by Harry common Rickards and soon became known as the Tiv. The Let’s get serious Tiv offered vaudeville entertainment at prices that people went. everybody could afford. It flourished until the intro- The determination to stage Australian plays with duction of television in Australia in the mid 1950s. Barry Humphries Australian casts gathered momentum with the The last Tivoli show was staged in 1966. Independent Theatre’s production of Sumner Locke Elliot’s play in October 1948. • What type of theatre is vaudeville? Does vaude- ville still exist today? • What do the news report from The Northern • ‘My parents disapproved of the Tivoli because Standard and the extracts from the letters that’s where very common people went.’ – to the editor of The Sydney Morning Herald Barry Humphries AO CBE, Actor highlight about the play’s public reception? Drawing on Raising the Curtain and online The news report and extracts can be read

research, why do you think Barry Humphries’ online at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/arti- SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 parents did not value the type of entertainment cle/49986820 and http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/ offered by the Tiv? del/article/18091723. Begin your research at http://www.dictionaryof- sydney.org/entry/harry_rickardss_tivoli The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society In 1916 Nat Phillips teamed up with Roy Rene. founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton and was also the The two comedians became Stiffy and Mo and name given to the building it occupied from 1938. their routines were guaranteed theatre fillers. The range of plays was impressive, as was its The routines, while tightly scripted, left plenty commitment to training young actors and providing 8 3

com.au/about/company/history.aspx. • What is the Elizabethan Theatre Trust? When was it established? Why was it established? What does its title reveal about the organisa- tion and the connection between theatre and 1 government? • Who was H.C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs? What role did Coombs play in the development of theatre in Australia? • What is the Australia Council? When was it established? Why was it established and what role does it play in contemporary Australian theatre?

The Phillip Street Theatre was a popular and influ- 2 ential Sydney theatre and theatrical company of the 1950s and 1960s that became well known for its intimate satirical revue productions. The company opportunities for emerging Australian playwrights. was a non-subsidised commercial venture that rebelled against the aims and objectives of the • What motivated Doris Fitton’s involve- Elizabethan Theatre Trust. ment in Australian theatre? Begin your re- search at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ • Examine the Phillip Street Theatre posters fitton-dame-doris-alice-12495. online at http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/ collection/database/?irn=348036. The posters The Union Theatre Repertory Company, now promote productions that were staged at the known as the Melbourne Theatre Company, was Phillip Street Theatre from 1961 to 1964. What founded in 1953 by John Sumner and is now the do the posters reveal about the ethos of the oldest professional theatre company in Australia. Phillip Street Theatre. The first Australian play produced by the company, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler, in Children of the revolution 1955 is now recognised as an Australian classic. In 1968 theatre and concert promoters Kenn The company has always promoted Australian Brodziak, Phillip Productions and Harry M. Miller writing and has introduced the works of play- jointly acquired the Australian rights to The Boys

wrights such as Alan Seymour, Vance Palmer, Alan In The Band by American playwright Mart Crowley. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Hopgood, Alexander Buzo, David Williamson, John The Boys in the Band was the first mainstream Romeril, Matt Cameron, Hannie Rayson, Louis play produced in Australia to deal with the topic of Nowra, Michael Gurr, Jack Davis, Michael Gow and homosexuality in a naturalistic, sympathetic and Joanna Murray-Smith to mainstream Melbourne non-stereotyped way. The production challenged audiences. the conservatism of the time but continued to play 1: John Sumner, Interviewee to packed theatres. 2: David Williamson- • Learn more about the history of the Melbourne Interviewee 3: Michael Gow, Interviewee Theatre Company online at http://www.mtc. Miller’s next productions were the Australian stage 9 3

did the authorities disapprove of the play? 1 • The Currency Lass by Edward Geoghegan is a ballad opera. A summary of The Currency Lass can be found on the Teaching Aust. version of from 1969 to 1971, Jesus Christ Lit. website at http://teaching.austlit.edu. Superstar in 1972 and in au/?q=node/101912. 1974. The rock musicals are credited in Raising Based on Raising the Curtain and your own re- the Curtain as being the right shows with the right search, explain the popularity of The Currency energy at the right time and can be credited with Lass. the rebirth of the commercial theatre industry in Australia. A. A. Philips first used the term cultural cringe 2 in 1950 in an essay of the same name. The term • Why was the production of Hair both contro- refers to a sense of inadequacy that causes versial and important? people to dismiss their own culture as inferior to • What stage shows were the hits of the 1980s the culture of other countries. Phillips discussed and 1990s? Ask your grandparents and parents the Australian public’s assumption that anything what theatre performances they can remember produced by local dramatists, actors, musicians, being staged in these decades. Were the pro- artists and writers was necessarily deficient. He ductions homegrown or were they Australian claimed that cringe is a ‘disease of the Australian productions of shows that were already hits on mind’. Broadway and the West End? Why is the type of theatre labeled ‘commercial theatre’? • Who was A. A. Phillips and why was he inter- ested in the subject of an Australian cultural Episode 2: cringe? Examine the dominant views and val- ‘Not The Queen’s English’ ues of post-World War II Australia. What factors do you think prompted A. A. Phillips’ stance? The cringe What is the A. A. Phillips Award? Does the cultural cringe still exist or is Australia In the 19th century, theatre in Australia was British now a culturally confident nation? theatre. Plays had to be submitted to the Colonial Secretary for approval and local material was Gum tree melodrama not allowed. English law governed culture in the colonies. Melodrama in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, saw the adaptation of British productions with • Why was local content prohibited? What does Australian characters or settings. In Bland Holt and the prohibition suggest about the power of Arthur Shirley’s The Breaking of the Drought the

theatre? land became the villain. Steele Rudd’s landmark SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 • The written in 1829 by David Burn comic melodrama became the is the first Australian play. The subject of the most commercially successful production of the drama was Tasmanian bushranger Matthew time, performing to packed theatres in Australia Brady. The play was banned and it was not and between 1912 and 1916. It performed in Australia until 1971. 1: Alison Croggan, was journalist, critic and playwright Louis Esson Why did David Burn deem ’s Interviewee who wanted to create a local Australian theatre. story worth telling? Spend time online, re- 2: Michelle Arrow, Encouraged by Irish poet W. B. Yeats’ advice to Interviewee 3: Noel Tovey, searching the biographies of both men. Why Interviewee ‘Keep within your own borders’, Esson established 10 1 the Pioneer players an organisation dedicated to performing Australian plays.

• What is a melodrama? Why do you think this form of theatre was popular with the audiences of the th th late 19 and early 20 centuries? 2 • Why was Bland Holt dubbed the ‘king of melodrama’? Begin your research by reading Bland Holt’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography online at http://adb.anu.edu.au/ 3 biography/holt-joseph-thomas-bland-3785.

The 1920 silent film The Breaking of the Drought • Betty Roland’s The Touch of Silk was a poign- was based on Holt and Shirley’s play. Video clips ant drama about life in the outback. First from the film can be viewed online at http://aso. performed in 1928, the play told the story gov.au/titles/features/the-breaking-of-the-drought/. of a young French woman who marries an Australian soldier who she meets during World • What was the premise of On Our Selection? War One and moves with him to a drought- What reasons can you give to account for its stricken Mallee town. A critic at the play’s popularity? premiere claimed, ‘At last Australian drama has Begin your research by reading the newspaper been born.’ report about an upcoming performance of the Drawing on the following primary and second- play published in the Maryborough and Dunolly ary sources, explain why The Touch of Silk Advertiser on November 24, 1915 – http://trove. should be regarded as a landmark in Australian nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/93796566. theatre: • Why did Louis Esson want to create a national http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Roland theatre? Was he successful? Who supported http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article his endeavour? What types of plays did he /21478014?searchTerm=the%20touch%20 bring to Australian stages? of%20silk&searchLimits= Begin your research online by reading Esson’s http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/artic biography at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biogra- le/73810223?searchTerm=the%20touch%20 phy/esson-thomas-louis-buvelot-6115 and of%20silk&searchLimits=

obituary at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 article/17880719. Taking a stand What does the article ‘Louis Esson: Early Repertory Days’ published in The Sydney The New Theatre movement was founded in Morning Herald on June 18, 1938 – http://trove. Sydney in 1932. The objective was to bring theatre nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17492977, reveal 1: Kate Fitzpatrick, to the working classes. The Sydney Workers’ Art about Esson’s career and reputation? Interviewee 2: Frank van Club’s first production was The Ragged Trousered What is the Louis Esson Prize for Drama? When Stratten, Interviewee Philanthropists. By 1936 the group had become 3: Robina Beard, and why was it established? Interviewee the New Theatre League. In 1945, the name was 11 2

1 shortened to New Theatre. Often at the forefront of the battles for free speech and democracy and vehemently opposed to war and fascism, the New 3 Theatre movement was determined to produce socially relevant theatre. 1: Ray Lawler, Interviewee 2: Peter Carroll, • What is agit prop theatre? Summer_of_the_Seventeenth_Doll Interviewee 3: Lee Lewis, • What associations can you make between the http://meanjin.com.au/blog/post/summer-of- Interviewee New Theatre movement and real world events the-seventeenth-doll-and-the-modern-audi- of the time? ence-interview-with-ray-lawler/ • Why is there a need for political theatre? http://www.hat-archive.com/summerofthe17th- • Who were the men and women who played a doll.htm significant role in the New Theatre movement in http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/ Australia? a-lucky-play-20110901-1jmlp.html • Drawing on Raising the Curtain and on your http://www.stagewhispers.com.au/history/sum- own research write a letter to the editor of The mer-17th-doll-%E2%80%93-australian-classic Sydney Morning Herald expressing your views Perform a rehearsed reading of a scene from on the New Theatre movement. the play. Explain why you selected the scene and how it relates to the play as a whole. Australia for real What comment does Ray Lawler make about Australian society in the 1950s when the play Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was is set? first performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne in 1955. The play is now considered a classic Interviewees in Raising the Curtain acknowledge given its authentic portrayal of Australian life and the importance of the writer , claiming characters. For sixteen summers, Roo and Barney his works for the theatre as extraordinary and that have spent their long layoff from the cane-cutting he is the greatest Australian playwright of the 20th season down in Melbourne with two Carlton century. barmaids, Olive and Nancy. When they return for SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 their seventeenth summer, it seems time has finally • Who was Patrick White and does he deserve caught up with them. the accolade of ‘greatest Australian playwright of the 20th century’? • Why was Summer of the Seventeenth Doll a Begin your research online at: success? Why is Summer of the Seventeenth http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ Doll still performed? white-patrick-victor-14925 Useful links: http://www.abc.net.au/arts/white/default.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/ 12 1

literature/laureates/1973/white- autobio.html • is a play by Patrick White. What is the story of 3 The Ham Funeral? The Ham Funeral was staged 2 at the in liveperformance.com.au/halloffame/davidwilliam- 2012. Learn more about the son1.html. play and why it is still being performed on Australian stages at http:// • What Australian stories has David Williamson www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2012/theatre/ ‘What was brought to Australian stages? the_ham_funeral?event=2012-the-ham-funeral. Choose one of David Williamson’s plays. Stage often said a scene from the play. Introduce the play to Raising the Curtain discusses the work of the class and explain the context of the scene Australian playwrights Ron Blair, Alex Buzo, Jack was why that you have selected to perform. Explain the Davis, Dorothy Hewett and John Romeril, acknowl- play’s critical reception, its significance at the edging how their plays brought the real Australia to would you time and its ongoing relevance. Australian stages and Australian audiences, often want to write causing controversy in the process. Melbourne’s La Mama theatre was founded by stories about Betty Burstall in 1967. • Working with a partner, choose one of the playwrights listed above and investigate their Australia, • Use Google Images to source photographs of contribution to Australian theatre. Use Prezi La Mama. What do the images tell you about to present your findings to the class. Your nothing ever La Mama? presentation should provide a biography of Read the history of La Mama online at http:// the playwright, a bibliography of their plays, a happens here. lamama.com.au/home/. Why are theatres like detailed account of one of the plays that you This is the La Mama important venues for contemporary have listed and an analysis of the way the play- Australian theatre and those who want to cre- wright’s work shaped Australian theatre. Your dullest most ate contemporary Australian theatre? presentation should use text, still images and audiovisual material. suburban Now what

Exploding suburbia culture on The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the emergence of a new generation of Australian playwrights, in par- ‘What was often said was why would you want to earth. ticular the plays of and , Michael Gow, write stories about Australia, nothing ever happens Louis Nowra and Stephen a. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 here. This is the dullest most suburban culture on David Williamson earth.’ – David Williamson • Make an infographic about a modern Australian playwright. Your infographic should provide David Williamson’s career as a playwright be- biographical information about the playwright; gan when La Mama produced three of his short the titles of the plays that they have written; plays and in 1970, followed 1: David Williamson detailed information about one of the plays that by in 1971. Learn more about 2: Stephen Sewell, you have listed; and an analysis of the play- Interviewee 3: Louis Nowra, David Williamson’s career online at http://www. Interviewee wright’s contribution to Australian theatre. Your 13 2

Killing the cringe

1 The new wave of theatre that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s was led by the likes of John Clark at NIDA; John Bell, and Ken Horler infographic should be A2 in size. at Nimrod Theatre; Betty Burstall at La Mama; Infographics are graphic visual representations and the Australian Performing Group at The Pram of information, data or knowledge intended Factory, who wanted to create Australian theatre to present complex information quickly and written by Australians, produced by Australians clearly. and performed by Australians.

Episode 3: • Beyond the playwrights, who were the pro- ‘The Shock Of The New’ ducers, directors, actors and designers who contributed to Australian theatre becoming truly A doll and a dame Australian during the 1960s and 1970s? What theatre companies and theatres were at the In December of 1955 the Union Theatre Repertory forefront of this movement? Working as a class, Company premiered Summer of the Seventeenth make a list of the people who and organisations Doll. By day the company rehearsed a Christmas that were seminal to the success of Australian Revue. Barry Humphries wrote a sketch about theatre during this period. Make a PowerPoint Melbourne’s hosting of the 1956 Olympic Games. It slide about one of the people on the list. Your was Ray Lawler’s idea that Humphries should play slide should include an image of the person Edna Everage the suburban housewife who had and a paragraph about their contribution to decided to open her home to the visiting Olympic Australian theatre during this period. When the athletes. Humphries’ intention was to satirise individual slides have been compiled into a Australian society of the time. slide show, choose songs from the era to use 1: Lally Katz, Interviewee 2: Toni Lamond, Interviewee as a soundtrack. • Edna Everage is an iconic Australian charac- 3: John Bell, Interviewee ter. She even has her own website at http://www.dame-edna.com/. Visit the Virtually Edna exhibition online at http:// virtually-edna.artscentremelbourne. 3 com.au/. Why was the vaudeville dame a hit with Australian audiences in the 1950s? Why did Humphries’ character endure? Humphries has only just retired the char- acter of Edna Everage. An interview with Humphries and Edna can be accessed

online at http://www.theage.com.au/ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 entertainment/stage/thats-all-possums- dame-edna-everage-takes-her-leave- 20120319-1vfs5.html. What other Australian characters did Humphries bring to Australian and inter- national audiences? • Who are the satirists of Australian theatre in the 21st century? 14 1

High art and popular theatre

The Legend of King O’Malley is an 3 Australian musical play by and Michael Boddy about politician King O’Malley. The original production • Who was King O’Malley and why was his story was held at Jane Street Theatre in brought to the stage? How would the audience Randwick, Sydney, and was directed 2 of the 1970 production have regarded the play? by John Bell. What do the original production details - http:// www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/event/28133 • Read the excerpt from a Sydney - reveal? Morning Herald report published at the time of You can access the details of The Legend of Jane Street theatre’s inception King O’Malley and other Australian theatrical productions online at Ausstage. We must have another theatre, no matter how modest, in which new Australian plays can be The Nimrod Theatre Company, in Sydney’s Kings produced, simply but professionally, without the Cross was founded in 1970 by John Bell, Richard pressures which demand that every play must be a Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation major success, and in which writers can co-operate for producing more new Australian drama from with directors and actors. 1970 to 1985 than any other Australian theatre company. In Melbourne, became In Australia, only a selected few plays from over- home to the Australian Performing Group (APG) seas are seen, and the long process of try-out, and proved itself to be an agent of change in adjustment and improvement by which their excel- Australian culture. lence was obtained is readily forgotten. • Nimrod Theatre became known for its brave Our writers are often damned because they do not re-imaginings of Shakespeare’s plays and John achieve in one step what overseas writers have Bell’s determination to stage such productions accomplished in many. We must have a theatre despite the criticism of the conservatives paved whose aim is the development of work in progress, the way for the founding of Bell Shakespeare in not the immediate exploitation. 1990. Have you ever seen a Bell Shakespeare pro- (Source: http://www.doubledialogues.com/issue_ duction? Share your experience with the class. eleven/guthrie.html) Watch the video clip of twenty years of Bell Shakespeare online at http://www.bellshake- What does this primary source reveal about the speare.com.au/about/vision. Share your significance of Jane Street theatre? impressions of the company’s repertoire with

The 1966 season at Jane Street included pro- the class. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 ductions of I’ve Come About the Assassination Spend time exploring the Bell Shakespeare by Tony Morphett, The Pier by Michael Thomas, website at http://www.bellshakespeare.com. The Currency Lass by Edward Geoghegan, The au/. What does the company’s logo reveal Lucky Streak by James Searle, Halloran’s Little about its theatrical objectives? Boat by Thomas Kenneally and A Refined Look • Visit the Pram Factory online at http://www. at Existence by Rodney Milgate. 1: John Frost, Interviewee pramfactory.com/. The website offers an What does the season’s offerings reveal about 2: Lynne Murphy, extensive account of the history of the APG, Interviewee 3: Wendy the objectives of Jane Street? Blacklock, Interviewee the theatre and the productions staged by the 15 2

1

Australian Performing Group. Did you now that Circus Oz can trace its begin- nings back to APG?

Send in the clowns

The pantomime dame and the circus clown have found their way onto the stages of contemporary 3 Australian theatres and played their part in count- less productions, both comic and tragic. Geoffrey Rush speaks about playing the clown • In 1975 Reg Livermore introduced Betty Blokk in an interview with The Epoch Times. Read the Buster to Australian audiences. interview online at http://www.theepochtimes. Why did Australia need Betty Blokk Buster and com/n2/arts-entertainment/artist-talk-with- the Betty Blokk Buster ? geoffrey-rush-52183.html. Consult the following primary and sources to What other clowns has Geoffrey Rush played help you arrive at an answer: on stage? http://www.reglivermore.com/regshows_betty. html Let there be light http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/58 588859?searchTerm=betty%20blokk%20 The State Theatre Company of South Australia buster&searchLimits= is South Australia’s leading professional theatre • Jim Sharman’s production of company. It is based in the Dunstan Playhouse at was the first play of the Interim Season of the Adelaide Festival Centre. Sydney Theatre Company in 1979. It opened at the Drama Theatre of the It was established in 1965 as the South Australian with Robyn Nevin in the role of Miss Docker. Theatre Company (SATC) under the artistic direc- Miss Docker is a role that Nevin has reprised in tion of John Tasker. In 1982, Jim Sharman was ap- subsequent productions of the play. pointed Artistic Director. Under his direction, SATC What type of woman is Miss Docker? What became Lighthouse. With his associates, Neil does Raising the Curtain reveal about Nevin’s Armfield and Louis Nowra, Sharman made a very Miss Docker? specific attempt to radicalise the company.

In accepting the honour of Australian of the • During Sharman’s years Lighthouse was an Year in 2012, Geoffrey Rush acknowledged that ensemble theatre company.

Australians are natural at acting the goat, taking the What is an ensemble theatre company? SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 mickey, playing the clown’. Why are Jim Sharman and Lighthouse regarded as significant players in Australian theatre • Geoffrey Rush won a Tony Award for his role history? in Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist drama Exit the • What is the purpose of State Theatre 1: Geoffrey Rush, King. Write a review of Rush’s performance Companies? What is or are the major theatre Interviewee 2: Jim Sharman, based on the footage shown in Raising the companies in your home state or territory? Interviewee 3: Robyn Nevin- Curtain and online at http://www.youtube.com/ • Visit the Griffin Theatre Company online at Interviewee (Key Participant) watch?v=1QRvT0SmvUk. http://www.griffintheatre.com.au/. 16 1

What makes Griffin dif- 3 ferent to other theatre companies?

Away, a play written by Michael Gow for the Griffin profile is to inform, analyse and Credits Theatre Company in 1986, 2 evaluate the contribution of either it tells the story of three Kosky or Stone or Blanchett and Raising the Curtain families holidaying on the Upton. is an Essential Media coast for Christmas in • Who do you think should be and Entertainment 1968. Gow draws freely on many added to the list of theatrical innova- production. Series theatrical traditions to convey his meaning. tors and why? Can you add a director, a play- Producer: Aline wright, a performer and a theatrical company to Jacques Post Perform a rehearsed reading of a scene from the list? the play. Explain why you selected the scene • Do you agree with the views expressed in Director and and how it relates to the play as a whole. Raising the Curtain about the similarities be- Writer: Andrew Why has Away become a classic Australian tween Australian theatre past and present? Saw Editor: John play? Pleffer Cinema- Behind the scenes tographer: Back in black Cordelia Beresford Working as a class discuss the way that Raising Original In 1995 and Wesley Enoch wrote the Curtain uses the following production elements: Music: Guy Gross and staged the Seven Stages of Grieving. The play Interviewer: follows the journey of an Aboriginal ‘Everywoman’, o Narrator James Waites making both a poignant and humorous statement o Archival material about grief and reconciliation. o Interviews Researchers: o Title cards Leslie Holden and • Who is Wesley Enoch and how has he shaped o Theatres as locations Nicky Ruscoe and is continuing to shape contemporary Narrated by Indigenous theatre in Australia? • Did you enjoy watching Raising the Curtain? Ewen Leslie • Spend time online exploring the BlakStage Share your impressions of the series with oth- website at http://australianplays.org/blakstage. ers in the class. BlakStage provides detailed information about Write an informative article about Raising the Australian Indigenous playwriting. Curtain that would appear in a weekly television Read one of the plays listed on the website. guide. When you have finished reading the play, film a or 60 second review to share with the class. Write a review of Raising the Curtain that would appear in a weekly television guide.

Innovation Before you begin writing your article or review, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 spend time reading examples of these forms of Raising the Curtain identifies Barrie Kosky, Simon writing. Make a list of the features of the form Stone, Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as the that you have selected. Plan your response, innovators of Australian theatre. draft, edit and proofread. Use newspaper col- 1: Neil Armfield - Interviewee umns to layout your text; add a headline and a (Key Participant) 2: Wesley • Write an A4 profile that explores the work of byline; and include a still image in the published Enoch- Interviewee either Barrie Kosky or Simon Stone or Cate response. (Key Participant) 3: Blanchett Cate & Upton, Blanchett and Andrew Upton. The aim of the Andrew - Interviewees 17 Barry Humphries, Interviewee

This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2012) ISBN 978-1-74295-267-3 [email protected] For information on Screen Education magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit . Join ATOM’s email broadcast list for invitations to free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc. Sign up now at . For hundreds of articles on Film as Text, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit .

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