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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
This play examines life in a small country town during two periods, the 1940s and the 1980s, and focuses on the search for identity in the Aboriginal community of Coordah.
Notes
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Braille ed. - 1997
Production Details
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First produced by the Western Australian Theatre Company at the Hayman Theatre, Curtin University, Perth, 24 September 1987.
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Cast: Shane Abdullah, Laura Black, Micheal T Fuller, Athol Hansen, Frank Nannup, Trevor Parfitt, Justine Saunders, Phil Thomson, Joe Walley and Mingli Wanjurri.
Designer: Steve Noland and Richard Walley.
Lighting: Duncan Ord.
Director: Richard Walley.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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y
Belonging : Australian Playwriting in the 20th Century
Strawberry Hills
:
Currency Press
,
2009
Z1576280
2009
multi chapter work
criticism
'John McCallum's new history explores the relationship between 20th century Australian drama and a developing concept of nation. The book focuses on the creative tension sparked by dueling impulses between nationalism and cosmopolitanism; and between artistic seriousness and larrikin populism. It explores issues such as the domineering influence of European high culture, the ongoing popularity of representational realism, the influence of popular theatrical forms, the ambivalence (between affection and aggression) of much Australian humour and satire, and the interaction between the personal and the political in drama.
'The strength of Belonging is its comprehensiveness. Anyone studying an Australian play will find it here in the context of the other works by its author or the time and place in which it was written. As well as a rundown of the major writers and their works, the book also investigates a number of lesser known plays and writers.
This authoritative study of Australian drama gives an account of the relationship between our theatre and our sense of self while taking into account a broad range of influences that helped to shape both.' (Publisher's blurb)
-
y
Creating Frames : Contemporary Indigenous Theatre : 1967-1990
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2004
Z1109707
2004
single work
criticism
From publisher's blurb (back cover): Creating Frames provides the first significant social and cultural history of Indigenous theatre across Australia. As well as using archival sources and national and independent theatre company records, much of this history is drawn from interviews with individuals who have shaped contemporary Indigenous theatre in Australia - including Bob Maza, Jack Charles, Gary Foley, Justine Saunders, Weley Enoch, Ningali, and John Harding...
Creating Frames traces the history of production of texts by Indigenous Australian artists from 1967 to 1997. It includes productions in theatres of texts by Indigenous Australian artists, collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, and adaptations of texts by Indigenous artists. The focus is public urban commercial productions and includes national and international premieres and tours. 'Commercial' is used here in the sense of public presentations open to any potential audience member as distinct from closed community productions. The focus does not include radio plays, millennia of traditional practices, performances devised and performed within communities, or community outreach/education theatre initiatives such as HeatWorks in the Kimberley. Even within these limits the constraints of space have affected the number of productions that can be covered in detail.
Throughout this thirty year period, particular themes recur, these themes relate to the ways in which the external framing of the work either facilitates or blocks production. These themes often relate directly or indirectly to concepts of 'authenticity' and/or 'Aboriginality' - in effect the 'acceptable' face of Aboriginality within government and social narratives at any point in time. The strength and power of these themes as frames for the work has drawn on generally accepted understandings of Australian history and the ways in which these are manipulated in the service of political agendas. These frames fall into three main categories within the thirty year period - assimilation, multiculturalism and reconciliation. This production history reveals that, rather than Euro-Australian theatre practitioners creating an environment that enabled Indigenous theatre practice, Indigenous artists have taken their own initiative. An initiative they continue to take whilst simultaneously contesting the primarily external frames that define their work and affect their production possibilities.
(Abstract courtesy the author.)
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"Our Side of the Story": Plays from Black Australia
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meridian , May vol. 10 no. 1 1991; (p. 64-69) -
On the Outskirts of European Literature
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 12 May 1990; (p. B11)
— Review of Writing from the Fringe : A Study of Modern Aboriginal Literature 1990 single work criticism -
Plays From Black Australia : Introduction
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Plays From Black Australia 1989; (p. vii-xi)
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Tragedies, and Signs of Hope
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 4 November 1989; (p. B4)
— Review of Plays From Black Australia 1989 anthology drama ; Coordah 1989 single work drama ; The Keepers 1989 single work drama ; The Dreamers 1982 single work drama ; Murras 1989 single work drama ; The Cherry Pickers 1968 single work drama -
"Our Side of the Story": Plays from Black Australia
1991
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meridian , May vol. 10 no. 1 1991; (p. 64-69) -
Plays From Black Australia : Introduction
1989
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Plays From Black Australia 1989; (p. vii-xi) -
On the Outskirts of European Literature
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 12 May 1990; (p. B11)
— Review of Writing from the Fringe : A Study of Modern Aboriginal Literature 1990 single work criticism -
Festival of Firsts
1987
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 January 1987; (p. 1)'There is a saying that great drama is born of great struggle, and the recent and first National Black Playwrights Conference gives weight to that view. The two-week conference at the [Australian National University] which ended on Saturday gave Aboriginal playwrights the opportunity to see their as-yet-unperformed plays on stage. Nine plays and five film scripts were workshopped.'
-
y
Creating Frames : Contemporary Indigenous Theatre : 1967-1990
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2004
Z1109707
2004
single work
criticism
From publisher's blurb (back cover): Creating Frames provides the first significant social and cultural history of Indigenous theatre across Australia. As well as using archival sources and national and independent theatre company records, much of this history is drawn from interviews with individuals who have shaped contemporary Indigenous theatre in Australia - including Bob Maza, Jack Charles, Gary Foley, Justine Saunders, Weley Enoch, Ningali, and John Harding...
Creating Frames traces the history of production of texts by Indigenous Australian artists from 1967 to 1997. It includes productions in theatres of texts by Indigenous Australian artists, collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, and adaptations of texts by Indigenous artists. The focus is public urban commercial productions and includes national and international premieres and tours. 'Commercial' is used here in the sense of public presentations open to any potential audience member as distinct from closed community productions. The focus does not include radio plays, millennia of traditional practices, performances devised and performed within communities, or community outreach/education theatre initiatives such as HeatWorks in the Kimberley. Even within these limits the constraints of space have affected the number of productions that can be covered in detail.
Throughout this thirty year period, particular themes recur, these themes relate to the ways in which the external framing of the work either facilitates or blocks production. These themes often relate directly or indirectly to concepts of 'authenticity' and/or 'Aboriginality' - in effect the 'acceptable' face of Aboriginality within government and social narratives at any point in time. The strength and power of these themes as frames for the work has drawn on generally accepted understandings of Australian history and the ways in which these are manipulated in the service of political agendas. These frames fall into three main categories within the thirty year period - assimilation, multiculturalism and reconciliation. This production history reveals that, rather than Euro-Australian theatre practitioners creating an environment that enabled Indigenous theatre practice, Indigenous artists have taken their own initiative. An initiative they continue to take whilst simultaneously contesting the primarily external frames that define their work and affect their production possibilities.
(Abstract courtesy the author.)
- Western Australia,
- 1940s
- 1980s