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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Les Harding, onetime Japanese prisoner-of-war, takes a package cruise to Japan with his wife. As he draws near, long-repressed memories of suffering well up. A rich, ironic study of Australian xenophobia..
Source: Currency Press
(http://www.currency.com.au/product_detail.aspx?productid=210)
Reading Australia
This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.
Unit Suitable For
AC: Senior Secondary (Literature Unit 3)
Themes
Australian humour, Australian identity, gender, marriage, memory, national spirit, racism, the past, war
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia
Production Details
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First produced by the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory, Melbourne, 6 August 1974. Also produced at the Perth Playhouse, March 1975.
Performed by the Griffin Theatre Company at SBW Stables Theatre, Kings Cross 11 October - 16 November 2013.
Director: Sam Strong.
Designer: Stephen Curtis.
Lighting Designer: Verity Hampson.
Composer: Kelly Ryall.
Assistant Director: Pierce Wilcox.
Associate Lighting Designer: Sara Swersky.
Cast: Valerie Bader, Peter Kowitz, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Justin Smith, Justin Stewart Cotta, and Shingo Usami.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also braille and sound recording.
Works about this Work
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When the Cultural Cringe Abated : Australian Drama in the 1970s
2018
single work
essay
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 June 2018;'If Australian drama came of age in the 1940s and 1950s, in the 1970s it reached full maturity. More work by more playwrights by more companies for larger audiences: this is the basic narrative of the period. The AusStage database indicates that between 1970 and 1979, local productions of Australian plays more than doubled. And if the standard of that drama could be variable, there is no doubting the craft, intelligence and audacity of its peak achievements.' (Introduction)
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'Hamlet' and 'The Floating World' : No Going Back
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , November no. 356 2013;
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
[Untitled]
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 October 2013; (p. 11)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
Cherry Blossom Cruise to the Harrowing Past
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 October 2013; (p. 15)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
A War Veteran's Battle Powers Brilliant Show
2013
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11 October 2013; (p. 21)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama
-
Untitled
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 16 August 1974; (p. 13)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
Untitled
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: Lot's Wife , 12 August 1974; (p. 9)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
A Study of Madness
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 31 August vol. 96 no. 4921 1974; (p. 48,51)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
Straitjacketed Plain Bloody Disaster
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: Nation Review , 16-22 August 1974; (p. 1428)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
Unruly Masterpiece
1974
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 14 August 1974; (p. 14)
— Review of The Floating World 1974 single work drama -
A Precious Arena
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Muse , November no. 234 2003; (p. 18) -
Cultural Frictions: John Romeril's The Floating World
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Theatre Research International , vol. 26 no. 1 2001; (p. 60-70) Hailed as an 'unruly masterpiece', John Romeril's The Floating World is one of the few 'new wave' Australian plays representing Australians and their Asian 'others' to be restaged periodically since its première in 1974. Paying particular attention to productions of the play that have used Japanese theatre forms such as kabuki and bunraku, this article focuses primarily on the ways in which the spectacle of race has been coded performatively by different directorial approaches, and how various significations of race have been interpreted by the critical establishment. The fascinating stage history of The Floating World is treated as a barometer of Australian theatre's response to the challenge of representing cultural conflict, during a period marked by public debate about the desirability, and inevitability, of Australia's political, economic and cultural 'enmeshment' with Asia. -
A Lecture : After the Event
2005
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Beyond Good And Evil? Essays on the Literature and Culture of the Asia-Pacific Region 2005; (p. 183-197) -
Language and Metaphor in The Floating World
1984
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Viewpoints : H.S.C. English Literature , no. 85 1984; (p. 187-193) -
How Australian is It?
2010
single work
essay
— Appears in: Overland , Spring no. 200 2010; (p. 55-62)
Awards
- 2014 shortlisted Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Direction of a Play For the Griffin Theatre Company production.
- 2013 Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Mainstream Production Awarded to actor, Peter Kowitz
- 2013 nominated Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Mainstage Production
- 1970s