AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Defining Acts - Australia on Stage explores the representation of the Australian character on stage. Commencing with the celebration of Federation in 1901, the exhibition traces the changing face of what it means to be 'an Australian' and shows how popular representation on stage reflected social attitudes and cultural values of the times'. (p. 6)
Contents
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The Australian Character on the Nineteenth Century Stage,
single work
criticism
(p. 8-13)'Pity Eliza and Ann Winstanley. They came to Australia as children in 1833 and a few years later became two of Sydney's star actors, only to be yelled off the Royal Victoria Theatre stage by the cabbage-tree mob because they were 'un-Australian'. The cabbage-tree youths were the first European children born in Australia. They were the sons and daughters of convicts, soldiers and settlers. Fiercely proud of their 'native' status, they wore hats woven from cabbage-tree palm leaves and tied with black ribbon. Already, it was being noticed that they spoke with a different accent and that with sunshine and plenty of fresh meat they were growing taller than their parents: 'cornstalks''. (p. 8)
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The Bushranger, The Larrikin and the Digger; Travelling Theatre and Nationhood,
single work
criticism
(p. 14-25)
'The first organised theatrical performance in any of the Australian colonies is usually thought to be The Recruiting Officer, a popular London play staged in a convict hut in 1789 before Governor Phillip, probably by some of the same convicts who had put on an improvised theatrical entertainment on board one of the ships in the first fleet, the Scarborough, in early January 1788. From the date of white settlement therefore travelling is one notable defining feature in the history of theatre in Australia. As important to its history as it develops through time is the way that theatre in Australia progressed across the landscape, in the process mimicking colonial history itself.' (p. 14)
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Changing Scenery : The Central Character on the Australian Stage,
single work
criticism
(p. 26-33)‘The marking of the Centenary of Federation is more than just a celebration of past events. Coming of age involves part memory, part invention. The process is to recover, restore and even fabricate the monuments of social history. Landmarks, whether geographical, social or political, are cherished for the ways in which they trigger memories and shape the collective consciousness, this deepening our sense of ourselves as a race, a community or a nation. History resurrected can breathe new life into the established norms and force a reconsideration of assumptions.’ (p. 26)
