Contemporary Australian Theatre Practice At their best, contemporary Australian plays explore and reveal important social, political and personal issues. This is done using an extensive variety of innovative, unique and brave theatrical techniques to evoke emotion and to engage an audience. Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman’s “The Seven Stages of Grieving” and “Ruby Moon” by Matt Cameron are two popular Australian plays where this is very apparent. Through our studies in class, it became clear “The Seven Stages of Grieving” is a modern day play which reflects the history of Australia’s Indigenous community and the suffering of the Aboriginal people. An important, noteworthy point is that the play is ever evolving.
The class workshop and I performed and explored one of the scenes in the removalists which portrayed Fiona and Kenny fighting each other verbally. The scene starts off with Fiona doing the ironing and suddenly Kenny walks in and asks Fiona to make some dinner for him, she tells him no and he increasingly gets angrier at her. The class explored this scene by acting it out by having a comedy side to it which gave Kenny a witty side to his slouchy Australian self; this part of the scene represents a typical Australian male in society back in the 60s, funny but can be violent and harmful within his
David St.Clair Ms. Ormsby English 1010-109 31 March 2010 Jesters In a small, dark, smoke filled room, resembling that of a dungeon, comedians pour out their hearts and soles on stage desperately seeking the approval of all patrons. Many comedians regurgitate life’s trials and errors in an amusing fashion. Jim Norton and Dane Cook are two comedians that showcase their life experiences in a comedic light. Jim Norton has enjoyed the opportunities of having his own H.B.O. special.
Dramatic forms and theatrical techniques are used in the plays No Sugar by jack Davis and The Removalists by David Williamson to portray aspects of Australian life on the stage. This is done through the use of techniques such as language, aboriginal language, humour and setting. In the play No Sugar by Jack Davis the use of the aboriginal language is used to major effect to symbolise what the people are communicating. in the play the millimura and mundy family are of all aboriginal ,and they are faced with the problem of white control ,and supremacy. The use of their aboriginal language to convey what they are feeling when not in communication with the white people, but are also used in daily life in the play the use of the aboriginal language
The Club; a review The Club is a play written by the famed Australian playwright David Williamson it is about the politics and the puppeteers behind a club of Australia’s most popular sport, AFL the Club was performed to critical acclaim and recently the Nixon theatre company performed at riverside theatre the director is none other than acclaimed minimalist director Joe Kennedy. The stellar cast included Rolf Frankenstein, Heinreich Wolfenstein, Bob Mactavish, Vito Scalletta and Boris Johnson XVI Before the depicted scenes of the play, the club pay a high price for Tasmanian recruit, Geoff Hayward (Frankenstein). Geoff does not play well initially, infuriating the dedicated coach, Laurie Holden (Wolfenstein). With the club playing so badly,
Bruce Dawe, renowned for his appreciation of the tones rhythms and resonances of the vernacular idiomatic speech at Australia demonstrated his skill with great effect in the poem enters without so much knocking. In this poem Dawe deploys language as weapon of satire using sarcasm to undercut accepted everyday ideas; in the first stanza both the TV compares Bobby Dazzler and indirectly the poet refer to the audience as “lucky people” in a sarcastic manner. While living in “the lucky country” this conveys the idea that the persona doesn’t feel lucky and doesn’t think others are lucky either, the identity of the personas introduced in the first stanza where “being lucky” doesn’t mean anything to the persona as a baby, unlike the older voice of later stanza. The adjectives describing the family are exaggerated and humorous one economy sized mum one Anthony squires- colostrum- summer weight dad. Which reflects the all-pervading and negative influence of consumerism in satirical comment on his nuclear family; in the last stanza the mortician adding a healthy tan he’d never had before the nice ride out of the underground metropolis adding a sardonic tone which gives an adding depth of meaning.
The castle makes fun of Australian society but it ultimately says that it’s a good place to live. The Castle is a small guy versus the big guy’s film that has a humorous story line, and many jokes are derived from the story of a charming family defending their home against a compulsory acquisition. Although the film makes fun of Australian society it ultimately states that it is a great place to live. The story is about the Kerrigan family, who have been living in their home “their castle" for years. Their house is next to the local airport.
Stage Dramas involve different dialogue between two groups or characters, which plays a significant role in shaping the audience’s opinions. In ‘No Sugar’ a stage drama depicting the lives of a stereotypical noongars-aboriginal family in the Great Depression, Davis uses different dialogue to separate the Millimurra family or the aboriginals, with the ‘Wetjalas’ or the white authoritarian society of the time. Davis separates the groups in various aspects. Davis does not position the audience to feel that the aboriginals are perfect, but positions the reader to feel sympathetic towards them and are given a favoured by the author as the better people. Yet, through the use of diction adds flaws to the aborigines, who are at times are abusive and rude.
Both ‘Summer of the Seventeenth Doll’ by Ray Lawler and ‘The removalists’ by David Williamson have explored the different ways people cope when things change or go wrong. Both playwrights use the style of realism to portray themes which depict changing circumstances on the stage and show how different characters respond. Ray Lawler and David Williamson use the techniques of relevant idiom, staging, costume and symbolism, all conventions of realism, to explore the themes of stereotypes, the changing of traditions and violence. In the early 20th century Australia was searching for its national identity. Plays up until this point in time were traditional melodramatic English plays.
Antonin Artaud: A Theatre of Impossible What he bequeathed was not achieved works of art but a singular presence, a poetics, an aesthetics of thought, a theology of culture, and a phenomenology of suffering. (Finter and Griffen, 1997: xx) Antonin Artaud, a highly influential twentieth century theatre practitioner, is studied at A-level throughout the country. Pupils dedicate their summative grades to an understanding and analytical consideration of his theories which to some are inspired and revolutionary yet to others are nebulous and antithetical. Susan Sontag (1988: xxv) highlights in Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings that his ‘…inexhaustible paradox is mirrored in [his] wish to produce art that is at the same time anti-art’. In their article Antonin Artaud and the Impossible Theatre: The Legacy of the Theatre of Cruelty, Helga Finter and Matthew Griffin (1997) recount Artaud’s 1947 performance at the Vieux Colombier where he recited his life story from a manuscript.