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Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 Interview with Margi Brown Ash – Finding Balance : Mental Health, Wellbeing and Female Performers
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'The 2015 release of the Working in the Entertainment Industry report (Julie van den Eynde, Adrian Fisher and Christopher Sonn) and the Australian Actor's Wellbeing Study (Equity Foundation and Sydney University), the 2018 Platform Paper by Mark Williams, and a series of articles in Arts Hub have generated increasing discussion on the topic. Some of the contributing factors to poor mental health identified by this research include: actors feeling disposable because of the saturated performing arts market; the financial strain that results from a low annual income, no sick pay, no holiday pay and decreased super; the irregular hours, including night work which leads to disruption in sleep patterns; the isolation that occurs when on tour and the resultant strain on relationships; and the fact that actors are under constant scrutiny (by producers, the general public and the media). How did this move lead to your interest in artist mental health and wellbeing? MBA: Because I was studying largely Method acting, although Stella Adler was actually passing the actor s process through the imagination, it primarily focused on the emotions of the actor. [...]the sort of therapy that you come to me for is a very performative therapy, and it's also very arts-based.' (Publication abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australasian Drama Studies no. 75 October 2019 18496337 2019 periodical issue

    'Papers, presentations and workshops ranged across many subjects, including: individual performers and practices; dramaturgies of acting, technology, disability and access; rehearsal and hierarchies of power; acting and ethics; women in the acting and performance industries; diversity on the stage; mainstream and independent work; comedy; physical practices; and wellbeing and mental health. Actresses have been particularly vocal about the need to challenge the gender pay gap, sexism, racism and male abuse of power, and there is a noticeable difference in the numbers of actresses of all ages who are prepared to speak out about the invisibility and marginalisation that too many have endured. The different moods of the actresses in these articles and interviews are also striking: the optimism and celebratory notes evident in Trevor Jones's piece on women performers of musical theatre and the joyously comic anarchy manifest in Sarah Peters' article on the Travelling Sisters are not, for example, sounded by Candy Bowers, who describes a landscape of white supremacy and 'the centring of whiteness' above all, and identifies a major problem with diversity and access to training as well as an unwillingness to celebrate intersectionality and diverse storytelling on Australian stages. Forsyth observes that many women turn to film and television not just because of financial issues and the limited roles that mature actresses are offered on the stage, but also because of the physical wear and tear on the body and mind.' (Mary Lockhurst, Editorial abstract)

    2019
    pg. 207-232
Last amended 7 Jan 2020 16:11:41
207-232 Interview with Margi Brown Ash – Finding Balance : Mental Health, Wellbeing and Female Performerssmall AustLit logo Australasian Drama Studies
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