DOCSLIB.ORG

1 Introduction Staging the North Midway Through Xavier Herbert's

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
1 Introduction Staging the North Midway Through Xavier Herbert's Introduction Staging the North Midway through Xavier Herbert’s novel Capricornia, the young Norman Shillingsworth boards a ship in Batman, heading up the Eastern Australian coast to rejoin his family in the far northern capital of Port Zodiac. Norman believes himself to be the son of a Javanese princess. In what we would now read as classic Orientalist terms, Herbert describes how the first-class liner passengers are initially intrigued by Norman, whom they “had to thank for giving them something new and strange to talk about, and something exciting too, suggesting lust – lust in the sun, or before the moon’s hot face, amid the scent of the frangipani and the throb of heathen drums” (210). The further north the ship heads, the more tenuous the romantic delusions become, and it is with the symbolic crossing of the ship from South to North – the crossing of the Tropic of Capricorn – that the fantasy dissolves altogether. Norman is recognised by a publican boarding the ship at Port Magnetic, who reveals him to be the illegitimate offspring of a “Capricornia gin” (211). Norman is ostracised by the first class and saloon passengers, forced by journey’s end to cohort with the “dagoes and roughs of second class” (211). It is as though the further Norman heads into the Northern tropics, the harsher the glare of scrutiny becomes, and the harder it is for fantasy and self-invention to take hold. The North forces a brutal version of “truth” to prevail. Louis Nowra uses this passage as the starting point for his 1988 dramatic interpretation of the novel, and similarly, the scene has acted as some kind of galvanising trigger for this thesis and what the Australian North is, if in fact it “is,” and how this vast geographical and discursive space has been enacted. I say “enacted” 1 because this study is especially interested in the way the North has been invented on the Australian stage, and how theatre in turn has had, and continues to have, a significant cultural relevance in the shaping and perpetuation of national tropes and visions, rather than just reflecting them obediently in a form of theatrical mimesis. This thesis offers a reading of the North through a theatrical lens. Such a reading might sit usefully alongside studies that focus on representations of the North in film, visual art, literature or music. Certainly the readings of the symbolic functions of the Australian North offered in this thesis are designed to open up ways of understanding the nation that might be applied beyond the bounds of this theatrical investigation. I frame an analysis of representations of the North in theatre within the critical lens of spatial inquiry. Spatial theory is a burgeoning field of critical and cultural analysis that applies especially well to theatre studies which is, of course, based on “space.” It is the cultural, political and symbolic analysis – the representation – of specific Australian spaces with which this thesis is primarily concerned. Theatre not only represents space, it enacts space. It reads, politicises and activates the ways in which we imagine cultural geographies. It brings Australian landscapes to the fore, and populates and physicalises them in conscious and frequently metaphoric or metonymic ways. In bringing together a study of theatre with an application of spatial inquiry to the theatre, this thesis offers a unique and specific reading of the Australian North over the past century in order to better understand what this hitherto under-investigated and under-analysed region might represent symbolically to the nation as a whole. This curiosity about an Australian North is not mine alone, it would seem. Julianne Schultz describes Australia’s associations with the North in her introduction to a Griffith Review edition devoted entirely to the topic of unravelling the region’s mystique. Her overview of the North’s “myths, threats and enchantments” states: 2 It may be the product of living in the second most southerly continent, but every generation of Australians has had iconic images of threats from the north. Flip through your memory of popular history and there they are – Chinamen in pigtails set to overrun the goldfields, Japanese aggressors poised to invade, dominoes tumbling on a Cold War map, Indochinese boat people searching for a safe haven and refugees stumbling out of leaky boats onto isolated beaches. Most of the images feature people with dark hair and Asiatic features whose intent is clear: to occupy the vast, virtually empty spaces between the northern coastline and the southern capitals. (7) Schultz’s equation of the North with anxieties about invasion and infiltration from a demonised Asian “Other” is a salient one, and I return to it throughout the course of this thesis. The other association embedded within this fear of what lies further to the North is a construction of the North as being “empty” and acting as a buffer between Asia and the Southern capitals. Those “vast, virtually empty spaces” along the Northern coastline to which Schultz refers are considered tacitly devoid of human population, despite the fact that the region is inhabited – even if comparatively sparsely – by tens of thousands of people. Schultz touches upon the perception that the majority Australian population unconsciously associates the North with emptiness because it is not deeply populated by white occupants. Schultz identifies another “mythic” contradiction when she writes: Now add to the mental mix the allure of the north, of warm tropical nights, coral reefs and palm-fringed beaches, of open roads surging through dramatic country, of millennia of indigenous settlement, of people who follow their dreams and find a home, or themselves, in the most unlikely places, of crocodiles in remote waterways and captivating exotica of Asia. Our imaginative sense of the north is a complicated one: full of contradictions and fascination tinged with fear, like submerged crocodiles. (7) This thesis is preoccupied with the range of symbolic and seemingly contradictory mythic associations with which Schultz and Australians generally endow the North. I elaborate upon the ways in which this range of mythic configurations might be theorised within a historiographical and theatrical context shortly. Suffice it to say that the North is resonating strongly as a source of debate in Australian public life in this 3 first decade of the twenty-first century. The Northern states are leading the mining and natural resources boom that is underpinning national economic growth. House prices and population growth projections are spiralling upwards in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.1 As the harsh realities of global warming and climate change settle in and large tracts of South-eastern Australia become seemingly permanently entrenched in drought, rainfall in the North remains high. “Go North, young man!” is the refrain of politicians hesitant to actively remove farmers from the land in regions of the country that were once fertile. The future sustainability of the nation, it would seem, lies in an exploitation of the North’s vast and hitherto untapped resources. Despite this explosion of interest in the North for its resources and economic opportunity on the one hand, and for its symbolic and cultural cachet on the other, theatre representing the North has been long overlooked in terms of scholarly analysis. Certainly a fresh interest in the North is reflected in a burgeoning field of analysis in other artistic and academic fields, to which I see this theatre-focussed study as being both complementary and indebted. Australian cinema is frequently associated with Outback and Bush locales and their swag of mythic associations. Despite a spate of films dealing with specifically northern locations, including Japanese Story (2003), Yolngu Boy (2001), Ten Canoes (2006), Lucky Miles (2007) Rogue (2007) and, preceding these recent releases, the seminal Crocodile Dundee (1986), little academic analysis is devoted to viewing these films as a distinctively northern oeuvre. The rise of an Aboriginal presence and influence in film cannot be ignored, but the Outback, the 1 The Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that in September 2006, annual house prices in Perth and Darwin had risen by 45% and 17% respectively. The national average was 9.5%. Whilst Perth is not a Northern population centre as far as this thesis is concerned, there is little doubting that it is benefiting by association from Western Australia’s northern resource boom. (http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/6416.0Main+Features1Sep%202006?OpenDoc ument) 4 Bush and the North all seem to roll in to one undifferentiated category as far as cinematography is concerned. A spate of recent academic cinematic writing has focussed, for instance, on the emphasis on representations of first contact, early frontier negotiations and reflections of the colonial past from an Aboriginal perspective in contemporary indigenous cinema (see articles and interviews by Jane Lydon, Rebecca Weaver-Hightower and Anne Brewster by way of recent-most example). None of it looks at the North, specifically, as a cinematic sub-genre or subject. The focus on this scholarly journal writing on indigenous cinema is very much concerned with reconsidering the Australian colonial era from an indigenous perspective, or on acknowledging past injustices such as the Stolen Generations.2 Whilst set mostly in the North, these films are being analysed as metonymy for the entirety of Australia, and for the nation’s colonial history as a whole. This thesis therefore seeks to address an under- theorisation of the North via the medium of theatre that is also lacking in, but can be applied to, the field of cinema studies. It is in the field of visual art that such discrete investigation of an Australian North seems presently to be strongest.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Book History in Australia Since 1950 Katherine Bode Preprint: Chapter 1
    Book History in Australia since 1950 Katherine Bode Preprint: Chapter 1, Oxford History of the Novel in English: The Novel in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the South Pacific since 1950. Edited by Coral Howells, Paul Sharrad and Gerry Turcotte. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. Publication of Australian novels and discussion of this phenomenon have long been sites for the expression of wider tensions between national identity and overseas influence characteristic of postcolonial societies. Australian novel publishing since 1950 can be roughly divided into three periods, characterized by the specific, and changing, relationship between national and non-national influences. In the first, the 1950s and 1960s, British companies dominated the publication of Australian novels, and publishing decisions were predominantly made overseas. Yet a local industry also emerged, driven by often contradictory impulses of national sentiment, and demand for American-style pulp fiction. In the second period, the 1970s and 1980s, cultural nationalist policies and broad social changes supported the growth of a vibrant local publishing industry. At the same time, the significant economic and logistical challenges of local publishing led to closures and mergers, and—along with the increasing globalization of publishing—enabled the entry of large, multinational enterprises into the market. This latter trend, and the processes of globalization and deregulation, continued in the final period, since the 1990s. Nevertheless, these decades have also witnessed the ongoing development and consolidation of local publishing of Australian novels— including in new forms of e-publishing and self-publishing—as well as continued government and social support for this activity, and for Australian literature more broadly.
    [Show full text]
  • DAVID WILLIAMSON Is Australia's Best Known and Most Widely
    DAVID WILLIAMSON is Australia’s best known and most widely performed playwright. His first full-length play The Coming of Stork was presented at La Mama Theatre in 1970 and was followed by The Removalists and Don’s Party in 1971. His prodigious output since then includes The Department, The Club, Travelling North, The Perfectionist, Sons of Cain, Emerald City, Top Silk, Money and Friends, Brilliant Lies, Sanctuary, Dead White Males, After the Ball, Corporate Vibes, Face to Face, The Great Man, Up For Grabs, A Conversation, Charitable Intent, Soulmates, Birthrights, Amigos, Flatfoot, Operator, Influence, Lotte’s Gift, Scarlet O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot, Let the Sunshine and Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica, Nothing Personal and Don Parties On, a sequel to Don’s Party, When Dad Married Fury, At Any Cost?, co-written with Mohamed Khadra, Dream Home, Happiness, Cruise Control and Jack of Hearts. His plays have been translated into many languages and performed internationally, including major productions in London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. Dead White Males completed a successful UK production in 1999. Up For Grabs went on to a West End production starring Madonna in the lead role. In 2008 Scarlet O’Hara at the Crimson Parrot premiered at the Melbourne Theatre Company starring Caroline O’Connor and directed by Simon Phillips. As a screenwriter, David has brought to the screen his own plays including The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North and Emerald City along with his original screenplays for feature films including Libido, Petersen, Gallipoli, Phar Lap, The Year of Living Dangerously and Balibo.
    [Show full text]
  • Imagery of Arnhem Land Bark Paintings Informs Australian Messaging to the Post-War USA
    arts Article Cultural Tourism: Imagery of Arnhem Land Bark Paintings Informs Australian Messaging to the Post-War USA Marie Geissler Faculty of Law Humanities and the Arts, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; [email protected] Received: 19 February 2019; Accepted: 28 April 2019; Published: 20 May 2019 Abstract: This paper explores how the appeal of the imagery of the Arnhem Land bark painting and its powerful connection to land provided critical, though subtle messaging, during the post-war Australian government’s tourism promotions in the USA. Keywords: Aboriginal art; bark painting; Smithsonian; Baldwin Spencer; Tony Tuckson; Charles Mountford; ANTA To post-war tourist audiences in the USA, the imagery of Australian Aboriginal culture and, within this, the Arnhem Land bark painting was a subtle but persistent current in tourism promotions, which established the identity and destination appeal of Australia. This paper investigates how the Australian Government attempted to increase American tourism in Australia during the post-war period, until the early 1970s, by drawing on the appeal of the Aboriginal art imagery. This is set against a background that explores the political agendas "of the nation, with regards to developing tourism policies and its geopolitical interests with regards to the region, and its alliance with the US. One thread of this paper will review how Aboriginal art was used in Australian tourist designs, which were applied to the items used to market Australia in the US. Another will explore the early history of developing an Aboriginal art industry, which was based on the Arnhem Land bark painting, and this will set a context for understanding the medium and its deep interconnectedness to the land.
    [Show full text]
  • After the Ball David Williamson
    David Williamson’s first full-length play, The Coming of Stork, premiered at the La Mama Theatre, Carlton, in 1970 and later became the film Stork, directed by Tim Burstall. The Removalists and Don’s Party followed in 1971, then Jugglers Three (1972), What If You Died Tomorrow? (1973), The Department (1975), A Handful of Friends (1976), The Club (1977) and Travelling North (1979). In 1972 The Removalists won the Australian Writers’ Guild AWGIE Award for best stage play and the best script in any medium and the British production saw Williamson nominated most promising playwright by the London Evening Standard. The 1980s saw his success continue with Celluloid Heroes (1980), The Perfectionist (1982), Sons of Cain (1985), Emerald City (1987) and Top Silk (1989); whilst the 1990s produced Siren (1990), Money and Friends (1991), Brilliant Lies (1993), Sanctuary (1994), Dead White Males (1995), Heretic (1996), Third World Blues (an adaptation of Jugglers Three) and After the Ball (both in 1997), and Corporate Vibes and Face to Face (both in 1999). The Great Man (2000), Up for Grabs, A Conversation, Charitable Intent (all in 2001), Soulmates (2002), Birthrights (2003), Amigos, Flatfoot (both in 2004), Operator and Influence(both 2005) have since followed. Williamson is widely recognised as Australia’s most successful playwright and over the last thirty years his plays have been performed throughout Australia and produced in Britain, United States, Canada and many European countries. A number of his stage works have been adapted for the screen, including The Removalists, Don’s Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City, Sanctuary and Brilliant Lies.
    [Show full text]
  • Representations of Sex in Australian Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 361Pp
    Xavier Pons. Messengers of Eros: Representations of Sex in Australian Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, 361pp. AU$ 44.95 ISBN: 1 4438 0523 8 (pbk) From early convict narratives to contemporary literary fiction, Australian writers have consistently represented a diverse range of sexual behaviours, scenarios, desires and identities. Notwithstanding such an intriguing and bountiful array of sexual narratives and a rather sophisticated range of analytical approaches made available by psychoanalytic, postmodern, feminist, gay, lesbian, and queer scholarship, Australian literary critics have been relatively silent or perhaps even coy when it comes to thinking about sex. Back in 1998, Dean Kiley chastised ‘OzLitCriture’ for its reluctance to adequately address the queerness of Australian literature: Despite the gloriously disproportionate over-representation of queer writers and writing in whatever you might call an OzLit canon, the cybernetic industry of Australian Literature and its critical machinery (OzLitCriture for short) continues to occlude, defuse, diffuse, evade and domesticate queer issues. In the years since Kiley’s critique a body of work about Australian literature and sexuality has developed but book-length studies have failed to emerge. In this sense Xavier Pons’ Messengers of Eros can claim the title of being the first full length critical study of the representations of sex in Australian literature. Xavier Pons has been contributing to Australian literary studies, and been one of its chief proponents in Europe, since the late 1960s. Pons has published on an extensive range of Australian authors and themes and is perhaps best known for his critical study on the work of Henry Lawson, Out of Eden (1984).
    [Show full text]
  • Xavier Herbert: Forgotten Or Repressed? Vol
    Cultural Studies INTRODUCTION Review Xavier Herbert: Forgotten or Repressed? Vol. 23, No. 2 Liz Conor1, Ann McGrath2 2017 1 Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC 3086, Australia 2 Australian Centre for Indigenous History, Australian National University, Acton ACT 2601, Australia Corresponding author: Liz Conor, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC 3086, Australia; [email protected] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/csr.v23i2.5818 Article History: Received 9/4/2017; Revised 9/8/2017; Accepted 9/11/2017; Published 27/11/2017 Abstract © 2017 by the author(s). This is an Open Access article Xavier Herbert is one of Australia’s outstanding novelists and one of the more controversial. In distributed under the terms his time, he was also an outspoken public figure. Yet many young Australians today have not of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International heard of the man or his novels. His key works Capricornia (1938) and Poor Fellow My Country (CC BY 4.0) License (https:// (1975) won major awards and were judged as highly significant on publication, yet there creativecommons.org/licenses/ has been relatively little analysis of their impact. Although providing much material for Baz by/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the Luhrmann’s blockbuster film Australia (2008), his works are rarely recommended as texts in material in any medium school curricula or in universities. Gough Whitlam took a particular interest in the final draft or format and to remix, of Poor Fellow My Country, describing it as a work of ‘national significance’ and ensuring the transform, and build upon the manuscript was sponsored to final publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Tropical North Queensland Tourism Opportunity Plan
    Tropical North Queensland Tourism Opportunity Plan 2 0 1 0 - 2 0 2 0 DISCLAIMER – Tourism Tropical North Queensland and Tourism Queensland makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information contained in the Tropical North Queensland Tourism Opportunity Plan. The document is not a prospectus and the information provided is general in nature. The document should not be relied upon as the basis for financial and investment related decision. DISCLAIMER – STATE GOVERNMENT The Queensland Government makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information contained in the Tropical North Queensland Tourism Opportunity Plan. The document is not a prospectus and the information provided is general in nature. The document should not be relied upon as the basis for financial and investment related decisions. This document does not suggest or imply that the Queensland State Government or any other government, agency, organisation or person should be responsible for funding any projects or initiatives identified in this document. Executive Summary Dunk Island Purpose Catalyst Projects The purpose of this Tourism Opportunity Plan (TOP) is to Through the consultation and review process the following provide direction for the sustainable development of tourism in 18 catalyst projects have been identified for the Tropical North the Tropical North Queensland region. Queensland region. These projects are tourism investment or infrastructure projects of regional significance which are The TOP aims to: expected to act as a catalyst to a range of other investment, marketing and product development opportunities. < Identify new and upgraded tourism product that meets future visitor expectations and demands; 1 . Cairns Arts, Cultural and Events Precinct < Identify the need for new investment in infrastructure that 2 .
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Australian Indigenous Histories
    Transgressions critical Australian Indigenous histories Transgressions critical Australian Indigenous histories Ingereth Macfarlane and Mark Hannah (editors) Published by ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated Aboriginal History Monograph 16 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Transgressions [electronic resource] : critical Australian Indigenous histories / editors, Ingereth Macfarlane ; Mark Hannah. Publisher: Acton, A.C.T. : ANU E Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781921313448 (pbk.) 9781921313431 (online) Series: Aboriginal history monograph Notes: Bibliography. Subjects: Indigenous peoples–Australia–History. Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of–History. Colonies in literature. Australia–Colonization–History. Australia–Historiography. Other Authors: Macfarlane, Ingereth. Hannah, Mark. Dewey Number: 994 Aboriginal History is administered by an Editorial Board which is responsible for all unsigned material. Views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily shared by Board members. The Committee of Management and the Editorial Board Peter Read (Chair), Rob Paton (Treasurer/Public Officer), Ingereth Macfarlane (Secretary/ Managing Editor), Richard Baker, Gordon Briscoe, Ann Curthoys, Brian Egloff, Geoff Gray, Niel Gunson, Christine Hansen, Luise Hercus, David Johnston, Steven Kinnane, Harold Koch, Isabel McBryde, Ann McGrath, Frances Peters- Little, Kaye Price, Deborah Bird Rose, Peter Radoll, Tiffany Shellam Editors Ingereth Macfarlane and Mark Hannah Copy Editors Geoff Hunt and Bernadette Hince Contacting Aboriginal History All correspondence should be addressed to Aboriginal History, Box 2837 GPO Canberra, 2601, Australia. Sales and orders for journals and monographs, and journal subscriptions: T Boekel, email: [email protected], tel or fax: +61 2 6230 7054 www.aboriginalhistory.org ANU E Press All correspondence should be addressed to: ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected], http://epress.anu.edu.au Aboriginal History Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • October 2016 to Saturday 12Th November 2016
    FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends, I am pleased to report that our new curtain mechanism has been installed. The curtain is now operated by the press of a button! In some ways it was sad to see the old pulley go as it had been a part of the Playhouse Theatre for so long. I was so relieved that the curtain itself didn't fall apart when it came down. The theatre is continually being improved. I would like to welcome Nick Lahey as a Rep director. This is his first play for Hobart Rep. Thank you to Nick cast and crew for their dedication to Up For Grabs. I look forward to seeing the fruits of their labours. President Liz “on duty” in the Box Office during the run of Something’s Afoot We thank our volunteers and supporters. We could not function without you. A SLICE OF THEATRE LIFE You never know who you’ll see at The Playhouse during a theatrical run. Top left, well known actor Jeff Michel selling programs. Top right, Hobart Rep Secretary, Tony Webb and below, Heather Chong, a most beloved Sponsor. (We LOVE our Sponsors!) UP FOR GRABS A Fast Paced Comedy and Maybe a Hint of Satire When Simone Allen, an exclusive art dealer, is given the opportunity to sell a Brett Whitely, her behaviour becomes highly questionable as the pressure mounts. Driven by greed and aesthetics, just how far will Williamson’s characters go when more than just a beautiful work of art is up for grabs in this sexy comedy of manners? A fast paced show about money, greed, unhappy couples and expensive art.
    [Show full text]
  • Aborigines in Australian Literature, Kunapipi, 10(1), 1988
    Kunapipi Volume 10 Issue 1 Article 8 1988 Signifier Resignified: Aborigines inustr A alian Literature Terry Goldie Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Goldie, Terry, Signifier Resignified: Aborigines in Australian Literature, Kunapipi, 10(1), 1988. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol10/iss1/8 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Signifier Resignified: Aborigines in Australian Literature Abstract If the image of Aborigines in Australian literature is analyzed in semiotic terms, the signifier, the literary image, does not lead back to the implied signified, the Aborigines of‘real life’, but rather to other images. This could be seen as simply another version of Jacques Derrida’s analysis of semiosis, which might be termed the cereal box view of the sign. The person on the box is holding a box with a picture of the same person holding a box with a picture of the same person holding a box... etc. The root image cannot exist for there must always be another image on the box being held, no matter how small. In the same way, each signifier can efr er only to another signifier. Any implied signified is unreachable. This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol10/iss1/8 TERRY GOLDIE Signifier Resignified: Aborigines in Australian Literature1 If the image of Aborigines in Australian literature is analyzed in semiotic terms, the signifier, the literary image, does not lead back to the implied signified, the Aborigines of‘real life’, but rather to other images.
    [Show full text]
  • Lyn Mccredden. the Fiction of Tim Winton: Earthed and Sacred Sydney: Sydney UP, 2016
    Commonwealth Essays and Studies 41.2 | 2019 Nadine Gordimer Lyn McCredden. The Fiction of Tim Winton: Earthed and Sacred Sydney: Sydney UP, 2016. vii + 158 pp. ISBN: 9-781743-325032. AU$30 Jean-François Vernay Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/ces/447 DOI: 10.4000/ces.447 ISSN: 2534-6695 Publisher SEPC (Société d’études des pays du Commonwealth) Printed version Date of publication: 10 June 2019 Number of pages: 121-122 ISSN: 2270-0633 Electronic reference Jean-François Vernay, “Lyn McCredden. The Fiction of Tim Winton: Earthed and Sacred”, Commonwealth Essays and Studies [Online], 41.2 | 2019, Online since 05 November 2019, connection on 21 July 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ces/447 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/ces.447 Commonwealth Essays and Studies is licensed under a Licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. 121 Reviews The Fiction of Tim Winton: Earthed and Sacred. By Lyn McCredden. Sydney: Sydney UP, 2016. vii + 158 pp. ISBN: 9-781743-325032. AU$30. Reviewed by Jean-François VERNAY Tim Winton has written his way to become the darling of Australian readers who enjoy his rich prose evocative of the south-western landscape which he calls home. He can be regarded as a left-leaning writer who has a close affinity with the people and es- pecially the land which he celebrates in his stories. His coastal narratives invariably viv- idly depict rural communities functioning in harmony with the beach culture. Winton’s focus is domestic, if not personal, fathoming the cultural and psychological impact of the Australian land.
    [Show full text]
  • Year Play Director (**Unsure)
    Year Play Director (**unsure) AT THE MENTONE CITY HALL 1945 Cuckoo in the Nest 1946 The House of Thrills Apple Pie Order Indoor Fireworks AT THE MECHANICS INSTITUTE HALL – MORDIALLOC Leave It To Leander The Evil That Men Do The Crimson Coconut Ladies In Waiting Postal Orders 1948 The Blue Goose Wise Tomorrow Strange Parallel Love In A Mist Down On The Farm 1949 Lady-Killer Candied Peel Five Minutes Quiet Weekend The Press Desires 1950 Fools Rush In Good Morning, Bill The Camel’s Back We Were Dancing Night Must Fall Rebecca It’s Quicker To Telephone 1951 Arsenic And Old Lace The Happiest Days of Your Life Jack Lawson Dark Victory Love From A Stranger Rookery Nook The Startled Saint 1952 The Girl In Question That Woman Fly Away Peter Lorraine Madsen Who Lies There? 1953 Message For Margaret Margaret Flynn Murder At The Vicarage A Woman’s Place 1954 The White Sheep Of The Family Audrey Downe Gaslight The Hollow One Wild Oat 1955 Blithe Spirit See How They Run Audrey Downe/Edna Robinson Freida Graham Hunter 1956 The Shop At Sly Corner Baa Baa Black Sheep Black Chiffon 1957 Intent To Murder Eric Heyes Madam Tic Tac Lorraine Madsen Man From Toronto As Long As They’re Happy 1958 The Secret Tent The Browning Version Running Riot Bill McLorinan Mad About Men Eric Heyes Bonaventure Master Dudley 1959 The House By The Lake The Gentle Rain The Pigeon With The Silver Foot Sailor Beware Edmund Thornton The Whole Truth Eric Heyes Dry Rot 1960 Toad In The Hole No Man’s Land The Girl Who Couldn’t Quite Something To Hide The Reluctant Debutant Edmund Thornton
    [Show full text]