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Notes
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Author's note: 'Up the Ladder is my first play, originally written in 1989. This play evolved from my memories as a kid going to the Brisband Royal Show (EKKA) held in August each year. Down sideshow alley I would wander to my favorite show, the boxing tents, where a drum was beaten and a bell rang to draw the customers, where boxers stood on a high platform in gowns and boots and the spruiker places a hand to mouth, calls out "Hurry! Hurry! Step this way!"... Yes, I can still remember it all so clearly, no matter where I was in the showgrounds I could hear the drum and the bell above everything else. The drum, the bell, the boxing tents, they're no longer there, all gone, a thing of the past replaced by rides and rides..... now I think, whatever happened to the Stong Man, whatever happened to the Half-Man Half-Woman, whatever happened to the boxing tents? For the young folk this show can be a "So that's what it was like"; for the old folks, "That's how it used to be."
I hope this play gives a nostalgic view of Australia's disappearing show era entwined with the story of an Aboriginal boxer trying to succeed in his chosen profession.' Roger Bennet, Up the Ladder, 1997, p7.
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Written for the Darwin Theatre Co. in 1989.
Production Details
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First produced by Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute as a community project in 1990. Performed by the Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute at the 1990 Adelaide Fringe Festival. First professional production of revised version by the Melbourne Workers Theatre, Napier Street Theatre, South Melbourne, 1995. The Melbourne Workers Theatre and Kooemba Jdarra Indigenous Arts group collaborated on a 1997 production for the Festival of the Dreaming, Sydney.
Performed at The Festival of the Dreaming, in the Tent, Forecourt of the Seymour Centre, Sydney, on 24 September to 4 October 1997.
Also performed at the Cremorne Theatre, QPAC, South Bank, Brisbane on 24 to 27 Oct 2012.
Contents
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Our Brother Roger,
single work
biography
Biography of Roger Bennett by 'his Queensland Family'.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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ACPA Students Step Up for Production
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 31 October no. 538 2012; (p. 40) -
Dance Space Improving Their Leaps and Bounds
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 8 October 2012; (p. 15) -
Invisible Indigeneity : First Nations and Aboriginal Theatre in Japanese Translationand Performance
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Theatre Journal , October vol. 59 no. 3 2007; (p. 449-465) 'This essay investigates the politics of theatre translation and translation theatre at work in the Rakutendan productions of the The Rez Sisters and Up the Ladder, and suggests how indigenous theatre travels and is transformed by different bodies and languages and audiences'.
Source: Introduction -
Can You See What I Hear? : Music in Indigenous Theatre
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin : Fine Writing and Provocative Ideas , vol. 59 no. 2 2000; (p. 85-94) -
Knockout of a Night
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26 September 1997; (p. 20)
— Review of Up the Ladder 1997 single work drama
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Untitled
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 21 November 1995;
— Review of Up the Ladder 1997 single work drama -
Knockout of a Night
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 26 September 1997; (p. 20)
— Review of Up the Ladder 1997 single work drama -
Invisible Indigeneity : First Nations and Aboriginal Theatre in Japanese Translationand Performance
2007
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Theatre Journal , October vol. 59 no. 3 2007; (p. 449-465) 'This essay investigates the politics of theatre translation and translation theatre at work in the Rakutendan productions of the The Rez Sisters and Up the Ladder, and suggests how indigenous theatre travels and is transformed by different bodies and languages and audiences'.
Source: Introduction -
Dance Space Improving Their Leaps and Bounds
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian , 8 October 2012; (p. 15) -
ACPA Students Step Up for Production
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 31 October no. 538 2012; (p. 40) -
Great Black Hope
1997
single work
column
biography
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15 September 1997; (p. 15) -
Can You See What I Hear? : Music in Indigenous Theatre
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Meanjin : Fine Writing and Provocative Ideas , vol. 59 no. 2 2000; (p. 85-94)
Awards
- 1940s
- 1950s