DOCSLIB.ORG

Drawn to the Light the Freehand Drawing from the Dramatic Text As an Illumination of the Theatre Designer’S Eye of the Mind

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Drawn to the Light the Freehand Drawing from the Dramatic Text As an Illumination of the Theatre Designer’S Eye of the Mind Drawn to the Light The freehand drawing from the dramatic text as an illumination of the theatre designer’s eye of the mind Sue Field A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree: Master of Design (Honours) School of Design Studies College of Fine Art University of New South Wales 2012 2 Acknowledgements Special thanks to my supervisor Dr Vaughan Rees Associate Dean, to my father Dr Geoffrey Field and to my mother Janice Field. Without their unrelenting support this would never have happened. 3 Abstract This practice-based research is drawn from the broader field of the Dramatic Arts and lies within the specific discipline of theatre design. The principle aim is to investigate and analyse the methodology of freehand drawing as the unique means of imaging the dramatic text for theatre and to contextualise my own practice within a theoretical framework. It is driven by the argument that the ‘thinking’ drawings, more so than the finished, built design, exist as the primary ‘site of revelation’ for the Australian theatre designer. This research is underpinned by the formal methodologies of Stephen Scrivener, Donald Schön and Douglas Hofstadter; my unconscious practice emerges organically through the unstructured reflective process of Peggy Phelan’s ‘performative writing’. The hypothesis driven model has been replaced with the equally rigorous model of reflective practice, by which the ‘unending’ transformative spiral of research has spawned multiple avenues for future research examining drawing from the dramatic text. One such avenue is the discovery of the unrecognised secret ‘autonomous’ drawing (a drawing that exists outside the original theatre production process). It is this drawing, in particular, that is potentially a ‘door’ or portal, deep in the consciousness of the theatre designer. The ghosts inhabiting the dark space of the empty stage are illuminated in the designer’s eye of the mind where the spectral presence embedded in the palimpsest of the autonomous drawing becomes the seminal source of revelation, of originality and innovation. 4 Integral to this practice-based research was an exhibition, held at the COFA Space, of a personal body of dramatic drawings that accompanied the text. The explorations documented in the text were tested for their potential to become a primary outcome, such as an exhibition of works before a different type of audience in a different style of venue from that of a theatrical production. This exhibition complemented the written dissertation with a critical and reflective focus on the creative or practice component.The principle focus of this exibition was an interrogation of the process of creating new spaces in the dramatic drawing - the transformation of the dramatic text into the performative ‘scenographic script’1 and ‘in so doing open up new possibilities and artistic and design potential.’2 In the Twenty-First Century the drawings of the contemporary Australian theatre designer are an exclusive personal insight into the intricate nuances of the imaging of the dramatic text and are exceptional in their ability to illuminate a space in constant flux, a site of infinite mutable signs, which excite ‘cognitive surprise’,3 wonder and astonishment. Importantly, they are also the only ‘door’ into the theatre designer’s uncensored private thoughts in an innately collaborative art form. 1 Howard, What Is Scenography??39 2 Scrivener, "Artistic and Designerly Research: Articulated Transformational Practice." 3 Stephen Scrivener, "Artistic and Designerly Research: Articulated Transformational Practice," Final ESRC Seminar at the British Library (2010), 18 May 211. 5 Contents Originality/Copyright/Authenticity Statement 2 Acknowledgments 3 Abstract 4 Table of Contents 6 List of Illustrations 10 Chapter One Drawn to the light: The freehand drawing from the dramatic text as an illumination of the theatre designer’s eye of the mind. 1.1 Statement of aims 18 1.2 The drawings of the ‘unproven’ contemporary Australian theatre designer 19 1.3 The early freehand preparatory or ‘thinking’ sketch as the site of innovation and 23 ideation 1.4 The theatre designer’s ‘thinking’ drawings from the dramatic text 28 1.5 Freehand drawing as autograph 38 1.6 Chapter Outline and thesis breakdown 41 1.7 Drawing conclusions 43 6 Chapter Two Setting the literary scene 2.1 Setting the literary scene 45 2.2 Practical texts on theatre design 46 2.3 Australian texts on drawing for theatre 48 2.4 The key international authorities on scenographic practice 53 2.5 The analogue and digital drawing 57 2.6 The analogue and digital drawing for theatre 60 2.7 Drawing conclusions 68 Chapter Three Creating a scene 72 3.1 Research by design 73 3.2 The double-loop of learning 74 3.3 The double helix 75 3.4 Paradoxical level-crossing feedback loop 77 3.5 The design for this research by design 79 Data Collection: 3.6 The dramatic drawing process 82 3.7 Performative writing 85 3.8 Monologues 87 3.9 The dramatic script of monologues as a trace in the dramatic drawing 89 3.10 Dramatic drawings as a primary outcome 91 7 3.11 An unending search for the key to the secret of creativity 92 Chapter Four Ephemeral traces: the dramatic drawing from the dramatic text 4.1 Selecting the text 93 4.2 The shorthand primal 102 4.3 The ideation thumbnail 103 4.4 The ‘gap’ 105 4.5 The generative sketch 108 4.6 Illuminating the shadows 111 4.7 The exploration drawing 114 4.8 Flow 120 4.9 Story-boarding the text 124 4.10 Set design illustrations 126 4.11 The autonomous drawing 128 4.12 The ‘mind’s eye’ view 130 4.13 Drawn to the door 135 4.14 Drawing back the veil 147 4.15 Drawn to reveal 149 4.16 The vaudevillian dreamscape of postmodern theatre 160 8 Chapter Five Drawn beyond the fourth wall 5.1 The threshold 163 5.2 The Albertian one-point perspective 164 5.3 The ‘in-between’ space 164 5.4 The ‘in-between’ space of the dramatic drawing 166 5.5 The ‘other’ space in the future 166 5.6 Baudrillard’s veil 168 5.7 Impact of digital technology 170 5.8 Drawn to the light 174 Bibliography 176 Appendix 179 9 List of Illustrations Chapter One Drawn to the Light 1. Sue Field, 1998. Generative sketch: black pen, red and grey markers on bond paper, 148 x 210 mm: for the theatre production of The Curse of the House of Atreus directed by Helmet Bakaitis, set and costume design by Sue Field. 2. Sue Field, 1998. Generative sketch: black pen, red and grey markers on bond paper, 148 x 210 mm: for the theatre production of The Curse of the House of Atreus directed by Helmet Bakaitis, set and costume design by Sue Field. 3. Peacham Drawing, black pen executed in 1595 during a rehearsal of William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Accessed 3 March 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peacham_drawing 4. Sue Field, 2000. Rehearsal drawing in black pen on bond paper, 148 x 210 mm: for the theatre production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Elke Neidhart, costumes designed by Sue Field, set design by Michael Scott-Mitchell for the Bell Shakespeare Company. 5. Sue Field, 2009. Autonomous Drawing: black and red pen, collage on watercolour paper, 594 x 941mm for The Master and Margarita, by Edward Kemp (a translation into a play of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Soviet novel of the same name), hypothetical set design by Sue Field. 6. Sue Field, 2009. Autonomous Drawing: black and red pen, collage on watercolour paper, 594 x 941mm: for The Master and Margarita, by Edward Kemp (a translation into a play of Mikhail Bulgakov’s Soviet novel of the same name), hypothetical set design by Sue Field. 10 Chapter Two Setting the literary scene 1. Dan Potra, 2010. Generative sketch: black pen for the ‘Human train’ for the opening of the XIX Commonwealth Games, Delhi, production by Dan Potra. 2. Dan Potra, 2010. Generative sketch: black and coloured pen in sketch journal, 148 x 210mm for the ‘Human train’ for the opening of the XIX Commonwealth Games, Delhi, production design by Dan Potra. 3. William Kentridge, 2004. Drawing in charcoal and coloured pencil on paper, 80 x 120mm for the opera production, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels 2005, set and costumes designed by William Kentridge 4. Production photo, 2005. Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels set and costumes designed by William Kentridge 5. Michael Scott-Mitchell, 2006. ‘Thinking’ CAD orthograph for the Cauldron design for the event production of The Opening and Closing of the XIV Asian Games, Doha production design by Michael Scott-Mitchell 6. Andrew Chan, 2006. Finished presentational drawing of the Cauldron developed in RHINO. Chapter Three Creating a Scene 1. M.C Escher, 1948. Lithograph, 280 × 330mm: Accessed 26 May 2012. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/DrawingHands.jpg 2. Double helix. Image accessed 26 May 2012 http://www.dna-structure.com/history.htm 3. Sydney Opera House carpark. Diagrammatic rendering: Accessed 16 May 2012, http://www.tunneltalk.com/Discussion-Forum-Sep10-Iconic-underground- structures.php 11 4. The transformative spiral of research, diagram of research model, Sue Field 5. Taxonomy of drawing process 6. Branco Gaica, 1998. Production photograph for the theatre production of The Fall of the House of Atreus directed by Helmet Bakitus, set and costume design by Sue Field. Chapter Four Ephemeral traces: the drawing from the dramatic text 1. Dr Geoffrey Field, 1972: Colour photograph of a derelict Georgian mansion, Cottrell Manor, Wales. 2.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Loudon Sainthill
    MS 11 Papers of Loudon Sainthill Summary Administrative Information Biographical Note Associated Content Series List and Description Box/Folder Description Summary Creator: Loudon Sainthill and Harry Tatlock Miller Title: Papers of Loudon Sainthill Date range: 1938-1969 Reference number: MS11 Extent: 3 boxes + 4 large polypropylene boxes + 1 oversized box and 1 buckram- covered large binder Overview The collection comprises programmes, photographs, ephemera, correspondence and papers that had been retained by Loudon Sainthill and Harry Tatlock Miller. They are arranged according to Sainthill’s original order of source and/or date. Keywords Ballets Russes, Monte Carlo Russian Ballet, Colonel W. de Basil's Monte Carlo Russian Ballet Key Names - 1 - Loudon Sainthill, Harry Tatlock Miller, Rex de Charembac Nan Kivell, Colonel W. de Basil Administrative Information Access Contact the National Gallery of Australia Research Library reference desk librarians. Phone +61 2 6240 6530 Email [email protected] Provenance During 1988 and 1989 James Mollison, then Director of the Australian National Gallery, corresponded and met with Harry Tatlock Miller, a close associate of Loudon Sainthill, regarding the Sainthill papers in his possession. These were donated to the then named Australian National Gallery by Harry Tatlock Miller on 6 February 1989. Preferred Citation Note MS 11 Papers of Loudon Sainthill [Box number: folder number], National Gallery of Australia Research Library Archives, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Biographical Note Loudon Sainthill was born in 1919, Hobart, Tasmania, and spent his early school years in Melbourne. Sainthill was greatly influenced by the theatre after seeing performances of Colonel W. de Basil’s Monte Carlo Russian Ballet in the late 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Text Pages Layout MCBEAN.Indd
    Introduction The great photographer Angus McBean has stage performers of this era an enduring power been celebrated over the past fifty years chiefly that carried far beyond the confines of their for his romantic portraiture and playful use of playhouses. surrealism. There is some reason. He iconised Certainly, in a single session with a Yankee Vivien Leigh fully three years before she became Cleopatra in 1945, he transformed the image of Scarlett O’Hara and his most breathtaking image Stratford overnight, conjuring from the Prospero’s was adapted for her first appearance in Gone cell of his small Covent Garden studio the dazzle with the Wind. He lit the touchpaper for Audrey of the West End into the West Midlands. (It is Hepburn’s career when he picked her out of a significant that the then Shakespeare Memorial chorus line and half-buried her in a fake desert Theatre began transferring its productions to advertise sun-lotion. Moreover he so pleased to London shortly afterwards.) In succeeding The Beatles when they came to his studio that seasons, acknowledged since as the Stratford he went on to immortalise them on their first stage’s ‘renaissance’, his black-and-white magic LP cover as four mop-top gods smiling down continued to endow this rebirth with a glamour from a glass Olympus that was actually just a that was crucial in its further rise to not just stairwell in Soho. national but international pre-eminence. However, McBean (the name is pronounced Even as his photographs were created, to rhyme with thane) also revolutionised British McBean’s Shakespeare became ubiquitous.
    [Show full text]
  • European Influences in the Fine Arts: Melbourne 1940-1960
    INTERSECTING CULTURES European Influences in the Fine Arts: Melbourne 1940-1960 Sheridan Palmer Bull Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree ofDoctor ofPhilosophy December 2004 School of Art History, Cinema, Classics and Archaeology and The Australian Centre The University ofMelbourne Produced on acid-free paper. Abstract The development of modern European scholarship and art, more marked.in Austria and Germany, had produced by the early part of the twentieth century challenging innovations in art and the principles of art historical scholarship. Art history, in its quest to explicate the connections between art and mind, time and place, became a discipline that combined or connected various fields of enquiry to other historical moments. Hitler's accession to power in 1933 resulted in a major diaspora of Europeans, mostly German Jews, and one of the most critical dispersions of intellectuals ever recorded. Their relocation to many western countries, including Australia, resulted in major intellectual and cultural developments within those societies. By investigating selected case studies, this research illuminates the important contributions made by these individuals to the academic and cultural studies in Melbourne. Dr Ursula Hoff, a German art scholar, exiled from Hamburg, arrived in Melbourne via London in December 1939. After a brief period as a secretary at the Women's College at the University of Melbourne, she became the first qualified art historian to work within an Australian state gallery as well as one of the foundation lecturers at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne. While her legacy at the National Gallery of Victoria rests mostly on an internationally recognised Department of Prints and Drawings, her concern and dedication extended to the Gallery as a whole.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Giselle the Australian Ballet
    THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET GISELLE 1 Lifting them higher Telstra is supporting the next generation of rising stars through the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award. Telstra and The Australian Ballet, partners since 1984. 2018 Telstra Ballet Dancer Award Winner, Jade Wood | Photographer: Lester Jones 2 THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET 2019 SEASON Lifting them higher Telstra is supporting the next generation of rising stars through the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award. Telstra and The Australian Ballet, partners since 1984. 1 – 18 MAY 2019 | SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Government Lead Principal 2018 Telstra Ballet Dancer Award Winner, Jade Wood | Photographer: Lester Jones Partners Partners Partner Cover: Dimity Azoury. Photography Justin Ridler Above: Ako Kondo. Photography Lynette Wills Richard House, Valerie Tereshchenko and Amber Scott. Photography Lynette Wills 4 THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET 2019 SEASON NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Giselle has a special place in The Australian Ballet’s history, and has been a constant in our repertoire since the company’s earliest years. The superstars Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev danced it with us in 1964, in a production based on the Borovansky Ballet’s. Our founding artistic director, Peggy van Praagh, created her production in 1965; it premiered in Birmingham on the company’s first international tour, and won a Grand Prix for the best production staged in Paris that year. It went on to become one of the most frequently performed ballets in our repertoire. Peggy’s production came to a tragic end when the scenery was consumed by fire on our 1985 regional tour. The artistic director at the time, Maina Gielgud, created her own production a year later.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 2018–19 Snapshot of the National Gallery of Australia
    Annual Report 2018–19 Snapshot of the National Gallery of Australia Who we are What we do The National Gallery of Australia The Gallery provides opened to the public in October 1982 exceptional experiences of and is the Commonwealth of Australia’s rich visual arts Australia’s national cultural institution for the culture. Through the national collection, visual arts. Since it was established in 1967, it exhibitions, educational and public programs, has played a leadership role in shaping visual outreach initiatives, research and publications, arts culture across Australia and its region and infrastructure and corporate services, the continues to develop exciting and innovative Gallery is a model of excellence in furthering ways to engage people with the national knowledge of the visual arts. The Gallery art collection. makes art accessible, meaningful and vital to diverse audiences, locally, nationally and internationally. Our purpose and outcome Our staff As Australia’s pre-eminent visual staff at 30 June 2019. The Gallery arts institution, the Gallery provides 326 has an inclusive workforce, social and cultural benefits for the employing people with a disability and people community and enhances Australia’s with culturally diverse backgrounds, including international reputation. The Gallery’s one Indigenous Australians. Women represent outcome, as outlined in the Portfolio Budget 67% of the Gallery’s workforce and 50% Statements 2018–19, is ‘Increased of its Senior Management Group. Detailed understanding, knowledge and enjoyment staffing information is on pages 72–7. of the visual arts by providing access to, and information about, works of art locally, nationally and internationally’. Our collection Our supporters Over nearly half a century of The Gallery nurtures strong collecting, the Gallery has achieved relationships with external extraordinary outcomes in acquiring stakeholders, such as artists and and displaying Australian and international art.
    [Show full text]
  • Sydney Dance Company - a Study of a Connecting Thread with the Ballets Russes’
    ‘Sydney Dance Company - A study of a connecting thread with the Ballets Russes’ Peter Stell B.A. (Hons). The Australian Centre, School of Historical Studies, The University of Melbourne. A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Research May, 2009. i Declaration I declare that the work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original, except as acknowledged in the text, and that the material has not been submitted, either in whole or in part, for a degree at this or any other university. …………………………………………. Peter Stell ii Abstract This thesis addresses unexplored territory within a relatively new body of scholarship concerning the history of the Ballets Russes in Australia. Specifically, it explores the connection between the original Diaghilev Ballets Russes (1909- 1929) and the trajectories of influence of Russian ballets that visited Australia. The study’s hypothesis is that the Sydney Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Graeme Murphy between 1976 and 2007, and the creation in 1978 of Murphy’s first full-length work Poppy, best exemplifies in contemporary terms the influence in Australia of the Ballets Russes. Murphy was inspired to create Poppy from his reading of the prominent artistic collaborator of the Ballets Russes, Jean Cocteau. This thesis asserts that Poppy, and its demonstrable essential connection with the original Diaghilev epoch, was the principal driver of Murphy’s artistic leadership over fifty dance creations by himself and collaborative artists. This study sketches the origins of the Ballets Russes, the impact its launch made on dance in the West, and how it progressed through three distinguishable phases of influence.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shakespearean Performances of Sir John Gielgud
    University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. 2nd of 2 files Chapters 4-6 Appendices and Bibliography THE SHAKESPEAREAN PERFORMANCES OF SIR JOHN GIELGUD by Robert James Frost Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Birmingham. The Shakespeare Institute October 1983 243 CHAPTER FOUR MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Much Ado About Nothing is to be distinguished from the other comedies of Shakespeare that are its nearest contemporaries because of its concern with one circumscribed social unit. Unlike As You Like It,Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream,which play off different kinds of worlds against each other, the problems arising in one being resolved by a retreat to the next or alternatively by a foreign visitor, the action of Much Ado About Nothing is focussed on a single, indigenous group. (That Don Pedro,strictly speaking,is an outsider from Aragon seems less important than the fact that he and the other guests freely interact with Leonato's household, making themselves at home there.) If the intervention of Dogberry and the Watch is required to restore harmony, then Dogberry, although of a different class, is quite clearly part of the civic life of Messina.
    [Show full text]
  • Black and Asian Theatre in Britain
    Black and Asian Theatre in Britain ‘An important and long overdue book on the huge contribution that Black and Asian artists have made and continue to make to Britain’s theatrical landscape.’ – Meera Syal Black and Asian Theatre in Britain is an unprecedented study tracing the history of ‘the Other’ through the ages in British theatre. The diverse and often contradictory aspects of this history are expertly drawn together to provide a detailed background to the work of African, Asian, and Caribbean diasporic companies and practitioners. Colin Chambers examines early forms of blackface and other representations in the sixteenth century, through to the emergence of black and Asian actors, companies, and theatre groups in their own right. Thorough analysis uncovers how they led to a flourishing of black and Asian voices in theatre at the turn of the twenty­first century. Figures and companies studied include: • Ira Aldridge • Indian Art and Dramatic Society • Henry Francis Downing • Temba • Paul Robeson • Edric and Pearl Connor • Errol John • Tara Arts • Mustapha Matura • Yvonne Brewster • Dark and Light Theatre • Tamasha • The Keskidee Centre • Talawa. Black and Asian Theatre in Britain is an enlightening and immensely readable resource and represents a major new study of theatre history and British history as a whole. Colin Chambers was Kingston University’s first Professor of Drama. Formerly a journalist and theatre critic, he was Literary Manager of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1981 to 1997. His books include The Story of Unity Theatre (1989), the award­winning biography Peggy: The Life of Margaret Ramsay, Play Agent (1997), The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre (editor, 2002), Inside the Royal Shakespeare Company (2004) and Here We Stand (2006).
    [Show full text]
  • 1956 and ALL THAT: the Making of Modern British Drama
    Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 1956 AND ALL THAT Is it possible to look back beyond anger? It is said that British drama was shockingly lifted out of the doldrums by the ‘revolutionary’ appearance of John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger at the Royal Court in May 1956. But had the theatre been as ephemeral and effeminate as the Angry Young Men claimed? Was the era of Terence Rattigan and ‘Binkie’ Beaumont as repressed and closeted as it seems? In this bold and fascinating challenge to the received wisdom of the last forty years of theatrical history, Dan Rebellato uncovers a different story altogether. It is one where Britain’s declining Empire and increasing panic over the ‘problem’ of homosexuality played a crucial role in the construction of an enduring myth of the theatre. By going back to primary sources and rigorously questioning all assumptions, Rebellato has rewritten the history of the making of modern British drama. Plays discussed include: Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, Personal Enemy, Epitaph for George Dillon—John Osborne; The Kitchen, Chicken Soup With Barley, Roots, I’m Talking About Jerusalem—Arnold Wesker; Johnson Over Jordan—J.B.Priestly; Each His Own Wilderness—Doris Lessing; Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance— John Arden; Cockpit—Bridget Boland; The Shadow Factory—Anne Ridler; A Taste of Honey—Shelagh Delaney; Salad Days—Julian Slade; and Valmouth—Sandy Wilson. Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 22:49 23 September 2013 Dan Rebellato lectures in Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Ephemera Collection Finding Aid
    AUSTRALIAN EPHEMERA COLLECTION FINDING AID SIR ROBERT HELPMANN (1909-1986) PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAMS AND EPHEMERA (PROMPT) PRINTED AUSTRALIANA MARCH 2020 This finding aid lists programs and ephemera which document all aspects of Sir Robert Helpmann’s extensive career as dancer, choreographer, director, and actor in Australia and overseas. Robert Helpmann’s extensive career started with ballet, acting from 1930, and he then emerged as a company choreographer in 1942. He also directed and produced, and worked in opera, film, and musical theatre. Helpmann’s career in Australia with the Australian Ballet, other Australian companies, and in the Old Vic. Co. tour of Australia in 1955 are not included: Material relating to these productions are located under the respective names of the companies he worked with. (For instance, programs relating to Helpmann’s Australian and New Zealand tours of Nude with violin are located within the separate J.C. Williamson General files of the PROMPT Collection.) The Australian Ballet performances that are mentioned here are all duplicates of the same programs found in the Australian Ballet PROMPT collection, which features more of his work with them. CONTENT Printed materials in the PROMPT collection include programs, and printed ephemera such as brochures, leaflets, tickets, etc. Theatre programs are taken as the prime documentary evidence of a performance by Helpmann. In a few cases however, the only evidence for a Helpmann performance is a piece of printed ephemera other than a full program. In these cases the details are in italics. Examples of this occur during part of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet seasons at Covent Garden in 1948 and 1949 in which fold-out brochures give basic daily listings for several weeks of the repertoire to be performed and some of the artists appearing.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of the Pre-Show in English Shakespearean Performance, 1932-2014
    THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRE-SHOW IN ENGLISH SHAKESPEAREAN PERFORMANCE, 1932-2014 By ALISON STEWART A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The Shakespeare Institute School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham March 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract Productions of Shakespeare’s plays often feature an interpolated opening scene or ‘pre-show’. My thesis examines this phenomenon. Proposing threshold theory as a framework, I consider the interfaces between the classic text, the enacted play and the audience. Previous studies of modern pre-shows suggest three key purposes for the pre-show: narrative, concept, and theatricality, which I adopt as the structure of the second half of my thesis. Studies of early prologues and inductions trace cultural and artistic developments that pre-figure developments I trace in modern production. I consider in some detail Shakespeare’s own pre-show and introductory strategies and the problems they present to modern directors, before examining the earliest pre- shows of modern productions, in the 1930s to 1950s, the cultural and artistic circumstances that gave rise to them, and their reception among reviewers and scholars.
    [Show full text]
  • Tony Locantro Programmes – Musicals
    Tony Locantro Programmes – Musicals MSS 792 T3743.L Theatre Date Performance Details Adelphi 1982 American Dancemachine Lee Theodore Dir: Lee Theodore Zan Charisse, Barry Preston 1982 Annie Thomas Meehan Dir: Martin Charnin Charles West, Lynne Breare, Glenda Meeson 1962 Blitz! Lionel Bart Dir: Lionel Bart Amelia Bayntun 1997 First Chicago Performance Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse Dir: Walter Bobbie Ruthie Henshall, Nigel Planer 2002 Chicago Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse Dir: Walter Bobbie Anita Louise Combe, Anna-Jane Casy, Marti Pellow 2004 Chicago Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse Dir: Walter Bobbie Frances Ruffelle, Marti Pellow 2005 Chicago Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse Dir: Walter Bobbie Sally Ann Triplett, Darius Danesh 1983 Marilyn! Jacques Wilson Dir: Larry Fuller Stephanie Lawrence, John Christie 1992 (6th Year) Me and My Girl Arthur Rose & Douglas Furber Dir: MikeOckrent Gary Wilmot, Jessica Martin, Bernard Bresslaw 1994 (8th Year) Me and My Girl Arthur Rose & Douglas Furber Dir: Mike Ockrent Les Dennis, Louise English, Alfred Marks 1979 My Fair Lady Lerner & Loewe Dir: Robin Midgley Tony Britton, Anna Neagle, Liz Robertson 1981 My Fair Lady Lerner & Loewe Dir: Robin Midgley Tony Britton, Anna Neagle, Jill Martin Show Boat Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein Dir: Wendy Toye Cleo Laine, Andre Jobin Show Boat Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstain Dir: Wendy Toye Andre Jobin, Jan Waters Undated Poppy Peter Nichols Dir: Terry Hands (RSC Production) 1959 When in Rome….. Garinei & Giovannini Dir: Harold French Dickie Henderson, June Laverick 1986 Young England Walter Reynolds Dir:
    [Show full text]