Theatre of Australia
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Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
There are theatrical and dramatic aspects to
Like many other spheres of activity, the performing arts have been organised differently in different States. Notable theatrical complexes include the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and the Melbourne Arts Centre in Melbourne. The major teaching institutions for the dramatic arts are the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth.
Contributing individuals
Very many Individuals have contributed to theatre in Australia. Some of the best-known include:
- J. C. Williamson, Betty Burstall, John Sumner, Richard Wherrett, Robin Lovejoy, Jim Sharman, John Bell, John Derum, Carillo Gantner, Aarne Neeme, Aubrey Mellor and Simon Phillips for live theatre management and direction
- Dame Judith Anderson, Frank Thring, John McCallum, Ruth Cracknell, Gordon Chater, Ron Haddrick, Robyn Nevin and Arthur Dignam as live stage actors
- Betty Roland, Mona Brand, Ray Lawler, Patrick White, David Williamson, Dorothy Hewett, Alex Buzo, John Romeril, Jack Hibberd and Nick Enwright as playwrights for theatre
- Roy Rene, George Wallace, Barry Humphries, Reg Livermore and Tim Minchin for live comedy
- Dame Nellie Melba, Dame Joan Sutherland, June Bronhill, Sir Robert Helpmann and Graeme Murphy for opera and ballet
- Gladys Moncrieff, Julie Anthony, Anthony Warlow, Nancye Hayes, Robyn Archer, Peter Allen, Colleen Hewett, Marina Prior and Tina Arena in musical theatre
Australia has contributed a high number of international movie actors. Many of these made a beginning in live theatre, and have continued to act on stage throughout their careers.
Funding
In general, larger performing arts companies cannot exist without regular, guaranteed government funding, and this has been particularly true for Australia with its small population, remote from Europe and America.[1]
The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust was established with the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 to bring high culture - opera and ballet - to Australia, providing a theatre "of Australians by Australians for Australians". It formed by public subscription with a matching Commonwealth government contribution, and nurtured Opera Australia and the Australian Ballet Foundation, with associated orchestras in Sydney and Melbourne.[2]
The
In 2014-15, a large proportion of arts funding was removed (totalling $101.8 million), throwing the sector into chaos and leading to the loss of many small to medium companies. The lost funds were returned in 2016 after intensive sector lobbying.[4]
The Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020-21 was very damaging to live performance in Australia, as everywhere in the world, but Australian theatre did somewhat better than most.[5]
Early history
European theatrical traditions came to Australia with European settlement commencing in 1788 with the First Fleet. The first production, The Recruiting Officer written by George Farquhar in 1706, was performed in 1789 by convicts.[9] The extraordinary circumstances of the foundation of Australian theatre were recounted in Thomas Keneally's novel The Playmaker - the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty.[10]
The first European play to refer to Australia was Les Emigres aux Terres Australes, a French play. The earliest British play was Michael Howe, The Terror of Van Diemen's Land.
The earliest theatres copied the burlesque or vaudeville style of minor theatres in Britain, with many different independent acts including comedy, opera and circus. The burlesque form has always been popular and continues to the present day in theatre restaurants.
A theatre was opened in Sydney in 1796 by Robert Sidaway, until closed as a 'corrupting influence' - partly due to the presence of pickpockets in the audience. In major variety theatres, liquor was well-supplied, and prostitutes openly solicited customers in the auditorium of major variety theatres until the 1870's.[11]
The first Australian play professionally produced in Sydney was The Hibernian Father.
From 1876, the American actor J. C. Williamson acted in shows in Australia. He became Australia's leading impresario when he won the right to stage Gilbert and Sullivan musicals in Australia. He brought many famous Victorian stage performers to Australia, becoming known for spectacular, large-scale productions of all kinds, mostly working in the Theatre Royal in Sydney and in Adelaide, but owning or leasing many other theatres. His theatrical empire became the largest in the world, continuing after his death in 1913 until the company closed in 1976. After 1945 the firm was best known for producing long-running American and British musicals in Australia.[12]
After
Musicals were written by Alfred Wheeler, Arlene Sauer, and Edmund Duggan. Other examples include The Bunyip, F.F.F. and a 1918 pantomime version of Robinson Crusoe on Rainbow Island with music by six Australian composers. Operas were composed by Moritz Heuzenroeder and Arthur Chanter.[14]
Theatre buildings
Theatres are usually among the most prominent city buildings, being necessary for the performance of indoor drama, song and dance and for larger events and ceremonies. Their construction usually presents prevailing prosperity and the architectural styles of the time.[15] The Australian gold rushes beginning in the 1850s provided funds for the construction of grand theatres in the Victorian style, along with many other civic buildings.[16][17] The Western Australian goldrushes in the 1890s led to a similar construction boom in Perth.[18]
Some of the oldest grand heritage theatrical buildings include:
- The term Theatre Royal was initially synonymous with the major theatre in each city. The first Theatre Royal was opened in Sydney in 1833. The building suffered destruction and underwent renovation several times, and the existing Theatre Royal was built on the site in 1976.[19][20]
- The Theatre Royal, Hobart opened in 1837 and is the oldest still-operating theatre in Australia.[21] Noël Coward called it a Dream Theatre and Laurence Olivier came to its defence when it was threatened with demolition in the 1940s.[21]
- The Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland.[22]
- The Melbourne Athenaeum was founded in 1839 as the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute, and the theatre in its present form was created in 1924.[23]
- A theatre was built on the present site of Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 1854, with the present building constructed in 1886.[24]
- The Victoria Theatre in Newcastle was built in 1876 and is the oldest theatre still standing in New South Wales. It was decommissioned in 1964, but in 2015 it was acquired, with plans to renovate in motion.[25]
- Edwardian baroque theatrical architecture in Australia.[26]
In the period between the Wars, elaborate cinemas were constructed, often in the
From the 1960s, major cities across Australia developed new government-owned performing arts centres, often housing not-for-profit theatre, opera and dance companies. Examples include the
The
In 1973, the Sydney Opera House opened in Sydney – becoming among the most famous performance venues in the world and a World Heritage site. It is the home of the Australian Ballet, Opera Australia and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and has a drama theatre and other facilities. With its spectacular Sydney Harbour site and expressionist design, it is Australia's most visited tourist attraction.[32]
Also opening in 1973, the Adelaide Festival Centre was Australia's first multi-purpose art centre, and it includes three theatres. It hosts the Adelaide Festival and several other festivals, and it is home to the major State performing arts groups.[33]
Most major regional centres and many outer metropolitan areas have a professional-standard performing arts centre typically run by the local council, either newly built such as the
Non-establishment theatres like the
For a long time, innovative theatre was only staged by student companies in theatres associated with university precincts.[36] Some of the better-known university performing arts theatres are:
- Union House Theatre at the University of Melbourne[37]
- The Seymour Centre at the University of Sydney[38]
- The Ian Potter Centre, the George Jenkins Theatre and the Robert Blackwood Hall at Monash University
- The Dolphin, Octagon and New Fortune theatres at the University of Western Australia,[39]
There are many smaller theatres associated with particular theatre companies. A full list of existing major theatres in each city is given below,
Drama
Theatre companies
Theatre companies produce most of the drama in Australia. If successful, they operate under various sustainable business models. Most companies have been associated with a single theatre, but others perform in multiple venues. Resident professional theatre companies produce main-stage seasons of Australian and international plays and, occasionally, musicals.
No theatre company operates out of more than one city. Some of the major companies include:
Sydney
- Australian Council for the Arts, aimed to become a State theatre company. In that capacity it employed most of the best-loved actors and directors of New South Wales. In 1978 it overstretched its capacity and went into liquidation.[40]
- Its role was taken by the The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks, as well as from the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre.[41]
- The tiny Jane Street Theatre was a joint venture of NIDA, the Old Tote and others in 1966. It was an early attempt to foster original Australian work, with a resident company of young professionals. It showcased many new playwrights, directors and actors.[42] [43]
- The Nimrod Theatre was established in Kings Cross by John Bell and Richard Wherrett in 1970 as a venue for new Australian theatre. Until it dissolved in 1988, it was said to have shown more good new Australian drama than any other company, and virtually all significant Australian actors of the period were alumni. It moved to the Belvoir St Theatre in Surry Hills in 1974. The Belvoir company took over this theatre in 1985.
- The Bell Shakespeare Company was created in 1990 by John Bell. The company specialises in the works of William Shakespeare. It is Australia's only national touring theatre company, touring each Australian state in each year.[44]
- The Ensemble Theatre is Australia's longest continuously running theatre company, founded by the American director and method actor Hayes Gordon in 1958 on Sydney's North Shore. The very popular actress Lorraine Bayly was a founder, and performed here until 2003.[45]
- The Griffin Theatre Company was founded in Sydney in 1979 and is based at the Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. It is exclusively devoted to the development and staging of new Australian writing. Cate Blanchett began her professional career here.[46]
- The Genesian Theatre is an amateur company formed in 1944 by members of the Sydney Catholic Youth Organisation, and is one of Australia's oldest theatrical groups. It has since evolved into a community theatre.[47]
Melbourne
- The Union Theatre Repertory Company, was formed in 1953 by John Sumner, It is a department of the University of Melbourne. It is Australia's oldest fully professional theatre company, and one of the largest in the world. It operates from a conservative middle-class subscriber base and mostly produces stage classics. However it occasionally stages more risky works, introducing newer authors to mainstream Melbourne audiences.[48]
- The La Mama Theatre near the University of Melbourne was created by director Betty Burstall in 1967 to recreate the vibrancy and immediacy of the small on-off Broadway ventures in New York. The production of Australian plays was almost non-existent at the time, and La Mama became the venue for the performance of new experimental Australian theatre. In the first two years, twenty-five new Australian plays premiered there. It went on to become the Australian Performing Group, established by Graeme Blundell. This group was based at the closely associated Pram Factory.which nurtured New Left politics, comedy, popular theatre, new Australian writing, puppetry and circus.The not-for-profit La Mama model of giving artists upfront funding to present work in a rent-free venue with 80% box-office return is unique. La Mama also uses the nearby Carlton Courthouse Theatre.[49]
- The Playbox Theatre Company was founded by Carillo Gantner of the Myer Dynasty in 1976. It has always been dedicated to supporting Australian playwrights and producing new Australian plays. After its original theatre burned down in 1984, it moved to the Malthouse Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Precinct. As well as drama, it shows music theatre, contemporary dance and comedy.[50]
Brisbane
- Australia Council funding and became "pro-am", with productions every night of the theatrical year. It is home to the Roundhouse Theatre, Australia's only purpose-built theatre-in-the round.[51]
- The Queensland Theatre Company in South Brisbane runs largely on philanthropic donations. [52]
Canberra
- The Canberra Repertory Society is an amateur company founded in 1932, with more than 460 productions to its credit.
Perth
- Playhouse, now demolished, with its resident National Theatre Company (until 1984), managed by the Perth Theatre Trust.[53] In the late 1980s, this company was producing up to 14 plays by Western Australians per year.[54]
- At the University of Western Australia, the Graduate Dramatic Society is a not-for-profit established in 1952, The University Dramatic Society is student-run and was established in 1923.[55] [56] The Perth playwright Dorothy Hewett's plays were first performed by these groups.
Adelaide
- The State Theatre Company of South Australia is the leading professional company
- Adelaide Theatre is the oldest surviving repertory theatre in the Southern Hemisphere, established in 1908.
Some professional companies focus on particular genres like classical theatre (
Theatrical training
The major training centre for young actors in Australia is the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) at the University of New South Wales, established in 1958. The list of famous alumni include Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Mel Gibson and Baz Luhrmann.[57]
The other dedicated university training centre is the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University, established in 1980. As an elite course it accepts only 18 students per year. Famous alumni include Hugh Jackman and Tim Minchin.[58]
As well, almost all Australian universities offer degree and diploma courses in theatre and drama studies.[59]
All States have a range of community-based organisations and colleges for training in theatre. Youth-based companies include the
Playwrights and plays
Betty Roland has been called the first "real dramatist" in Australia.[61] Her early plays such as Touch of Silk in 1928, were mostly romantic drama or comedy, but her later work with New Theatre was agitprop and highly political. She also wrote novels, autobiography and film, radio and TV scrips, including the book for Australia's first talking movie Spur of the Moment. Another feminist playwright of the Left around the same time was Dymphna Cusack, who built an international reputation across Europe in leftist communities.[62]
Mona Brand was also associated with the New Theatre and her 28 plays mostly had political messages. From 1950 to 1980 she had more plays put on abroad than any other Australian, although she never had a professional production in Australia.[63]
Up until the 1950s and beyond, Australian actors were trained in Britain and took on typical British upper-class accents. Many had difficulty using the Australian accent and vernacular, even into the 1970s. The
Some plays tackled Australia's myths critically. In
A considerable expansion of Australian theatre began in the 1970s (sometimes called a 'New Wave') with the works of writers including David Williamson, Dorothy Hewett, John Romeril, Alex Buzo, Barry Oakley, Jack Hibberd, and Alma de Groen. Many of these playwrights debuted at La Mama in Melbourne or the Nimrod in Sydney, and went on to present works in mainstream venues.[66]
Unlike in Europe, most original theatre in Australia has been naturalistic, though Patrick White, Dymphna Cusack and Douglas Stewart included non-naturalistic and poetic elements in their plays. From 1969, a series of plays by the Western Australian poet, playwright and novelist Dorothy Hewett introduced home-grown Expressionist or Epic theatre to Australia, with its whirl of disparate theatrical elements. Hewett wrote a number of plays specifically for the open-air New Fortune Theatre at the University of Western Australia, including Australia's first "Second Wave Feminist" play The Chapel Perilous in 1971.[69] Music has featured extensively in Hewett's plays: seven of her 22 plays were musicals and employed theatre composers such as Jim Cotter.[70]
Actors
Several Australian drama actors were famous at home or played major roles abroad.
- Dame Judith Anderson took many leading roles on Broadway and the Old Vic from the 1920s , She is considered one of the 20th century's greatest classical stage actors, even playing Hamlet in her seventies during a national tour of the USA.[72]
- Sir Robert Helpmann the ballet dancer took leading roles in British theatre in the 1940s.
- Frank Thring played long-running character roles in major productions in Australia and Britain from 1945, and gained fame in the movie Ben Hur and in Hollywood epics of the 1950s and 1960s.[73]
- John McCallum did seasons in Britain from 1939, acted in movies after 1947, and became joint Director of J.C. Williamsons in Australia in 1958. He was married to the British entertainer and film star Googie Withers, who played many stage leads in Australia. He received the JC Williamson Award for lifetime achievement.[74]
From the 1950s, actors could made a career in Australia. Some of the most famous and respected have been:
- Ruth Cracknell, a character actor and comedian, acted for most of the major theatre companies and on television and films.[75]
- Gordon Chater arrived in Australia after World War II, and was a stage, radio and TV personality. He toured successfully with the play The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin in the 1970s.[76]
- Ron Haddrick played five seasons in Stratford-on-Avon with Britain's top actors, then played in over forty productions at the Old Tote.[77]
- Robyn Nevin has directed more than 30 productions and acted in more than 80 plays.[78]
- John Bell spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, co-founded the Nimrod Theatre Company in 1970, and founded Bell Shakespeare in 1990.[79] He has been voted a National Living Treasure for the National Trust by public nomination
From the 1980s, Australian actors began to garner leads and action hero roles in Hollywood. Probably the best known internationally as A-list celebrities and Oscar winners are Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Mel Gibson, Russell Crowe and Heath Ledger.
Cross-fertilization with cinema and TV
Film and television have been more lucratively funded than live stage, and have provided a career vehicle for aspiring actors and scriptwriters. Conversely, movie stars with an interest in live theatre have headlined important stage productions as a drawcard. Australian movie or TV stars that have made significant contributions to live theatre in Australia and abroad include Peter Finch, Michael Caton, Jacki Weaver, Helen Morse, Wendy Hughes, Bryan Brown, Garry McDonald, Geoffrey Rush, Judy Davis, Mel Gibson, Sigrid Thornton, Hugo Weaving, Greta Scacchi, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett and Toni Collette.[80]
As an example of cross-fertilisation between the genres, in 1979, two impoverished young Sydney actors, Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush, shared a flat and co-starred in a local production of Waiting for Godot.[81] Gibson had studied at NIDA and made his stage debut alongside classmate Judy Davis in a 1976 production of Romeo and Juliet, before becoming internationally known in the Mad Max and Gallipoli films.[82] Rush joined Jim Sharman's Lighthouse Theatre troupe in the 1980s and built a reputation as one of Australia's leading stage actors before becoming known internationally in film.[83]
Conversely, some of the bigger theatre companies have consistently employed film actors. Players associated with the Sydney Theatre Company include Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving, Geoffrey Rush and Toni Collette.[84][85]
Festivals and conferences
Festivals may be the oldest form of drama, where the larger gathering of people encourages display in costume and rehearsed performance. In Australia they are important showcases to a wider range of people than usual. The major cultural festivals have been the
Arts conferences have been an important way to showcase new work and to meet others and share ideas. The National Playwrights Conference, associated with the Australian National Playwrights Centre, which ran from 1972 to 2006, became a cornerstone of the industry.[86] A national Play Festival began ran from 2012 to 2019 under the aegis of the short-lived Playwriting Australia.[87] [88] A new Playwrights Conference began in 2022, presented by Currency Press.[89]
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Australian Universities Drama Festivals provided an opportunity for tertiary students to present plays to each other, learning playcrafting and direction. One of the more famous gatherings was in 1963, when Germaine Greer acted in Brecht's Mother Courage and the radical playwright Fernando Arribal was brought from Paris.[90]
Musical theatre
Musical theatre has always been very popular in Australia, though most often this has meant large-scale productions of British or American musicals headlined by international stars.
Australian theatrical musicals where authorship was granted to the scriptwriter rather than the composer or a duo, such as The Legend of King O'Malley by Bob Ellis, the Man from Mukinupin by Dorothy Hewett, the Sapphires by Tony Briggs, Bran Nue Day by Jimmy Chi and Miracle City and Summer Rain, by Nick Enright, signalled a more radical political role for musical theatre.[93]
Performers
- Gladys Moncrieff "the Australian Wonder Child" was a child star. As an adult, "Our Glad" performed in light opera in the 1920s and was known as "Australia's Queen of Song". She was very active raising funds for charities in World War II.[94]
- Nancye Hayes, also "Australia's queen of song and dance",[36] performed many leading roles in musicals, including Australian-written musicals, and won many awards. She was also very active in television.[95]
- Julie Anthony performed in musicals and light opera, and won the Mo Awards 13 times as Best Vocal Performance or Entertainer of the Year.[96]
- Anthony Warlow had lead roles in many musicals, received 11 Mo Awards between 1990 and 2008, and was declared a National Living Treasure.[97]
- Reg Livermore first worked with Philip Street regulars, and on TV, including the Mavis Bramston Show. He starred in the long-running musical Hair in 1970, followed by the cult Rocky Horror Show. He then toured with three of his own one-man shows, especially the high camp Betty Blokkbuster Follies. Unlike Humphries, he was not popular in the USA or Britain, where he was booed off the stage.[98][99]
- Robyn Archer began as a folk music performer, but in 1974 she became involved with the musical theatre of Brecht and German-style cabaret. From the late 1970s she toured with a series of one woman shows such as A Star is Torn (1979) which moved to London's West End. Archer has devised many works for the stage, and in 2022-23 she has toured with An Australian Songbook. She also acted as a director of many festivals, including the National Festival of Australian Theatre from 1993-5, the Adelaide and Melbourne Arts Festivals between 1998 and 2004, and in Liverpool, England with the European Capital of Culture 2008.[100]
Comedy, circus and puppetry
Comedy
For much of Australia's early history, touring theatre companies brought variety theatre and vaudeville to regional audiences. Vaudeville consisted of a series of separate acts, including light theatre, comedy and song. Travelling circuits like Brennan-Fullers, which featured illusionists, jugglers, singers and acrobats,[101] or the Tivoli circuit, operating around the Tivoli theatres in four states, were extremely popular.
The Tivoli Theatre or Adelphi Theatre in Sydney presented vaudeville between 1912 and 1966 until television made them no longer profitable. Stars of the Tivoli included Roy Rene. who had created the comic character Mo McCackie from 1916, in white and black makeup. Lecherous, leering and ribald, Mo epitomised the Australian "lair", always trying to "make a quid" or to "knock off a sheila". He played to packed houses right through the war years, and gained a nationwide audience through radio.[102]
George Wallace also began his career in a duo act, creating a "wharfie" character, but he became popular as a solo act in the Depression years. Although uneducated, he wrote all his own material, and could sing and dance. After headlining in five movies, he was known as Australia's biggest film star.[103]
The Philip Street Theatre in Sydney, operating from 1954 to 1971, featured intimate satirical revue productions. Humphries and most other significant Australian comedy actors were alumni. The Mavis Bramston Show, Australia's first satirical sketch comedy topical satire TV series, sprang from Philip Street actors.[105]
The Last Laugh, in Collingwood and then at the Athenaeum Theatre, became Australia's prime location for alternative and stand-up comedy, often featuring genuine cabaret acts in the European style. Some of Australia's best comedians made their start in this venue. Melbourne also had a tradition for experimenting with unusual comedy venues, such as mobile trams and trains. John Pinder, owner of the Last Laugh, launched the Melbourne International Comedy Festival,one of the three largest comedy festivals in the world.[106]
Circus
Vaudeville often contained circus performers, but dedicated travelling circuses were also a regular annual feature in the suburbs and seaside resorts, with Big Top tents, ringmasters, acrobatic, animal and clown acts. Wirth's Circus was billed for eighty years as Australia's own "Greatest Show on Earth" from 1882 to 1963. It took over the present Melbourne Arts Centre site as Olympia Circus from 1902, and occupied a permanent location in Sydney's Haymarket. The circus also toured through the Pacific. Other important circuses were Ashtons Circus, which was founded in Tasmania in 1847 and is one of the longest lasting in the world, run by the sixth generation of Ashtons. Bullen's Circus ran from 1920 to 1969, and featured a large elephant herd.[107]
Television spelled the demise of the original travelling shows, but theatre-based circuses began to appear from the 1970s, doubling as circus schools. The Flying Fruit Fly Circus formed from the Victorian College of the Arts Drama School in 1979. Circus Oz emerged from the Australian Performing Group in 1978 and played long seasons at the Last Laugh; the troupe is currently threatened with closure.[108]
Traditional travelling circuses include the Stardust Circus, which up till 2021 was the last circus to feature wild animal acts,[109] and a number of other small single-family operations.
Puppetry
The first Australian marionette company was Webb's Royal Marionettes, which formed out of a visiting British company and toured from 1876 to 1887. Puppetry guilds were founded in Sydney and Melbourne in the 1940s. The first major Australian company was the Tintookies, which was founded by Peter Scriven in 1956 under the auspices of the Elizabethan Theatre Trust. It toured Australia and South-east Asia with large scale-shows having an overtly Australian content.[110]
The
Small one and two person puppet shows operate without subsidy and tour to schools.[110]