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Australian Theatre after the New Wave
Policy, Subsidy and the Alternative Artist
Series: - Australian Playwrights Online, Volume: 17
- Australian Playwrights, Volume: 17
Author:
In Australian Theatre after the New Wave, Julian Meyrick charts the history of three ground-breaking Australian theatre companies, the Paris Theatre (1978), the Hunter Valley Theatre (1976-94) and Anthill Theatre (1980-94). In the years following the controversial dismissal of Gough Whitlam’s Labor government in 1975, these ‘alternative’ theatres struggled to survive in an increasingly adverse economic environment. Drawing on interviews and archival sources, including Australia Council files and correspondence, the book examines the funding structures in which the companies operated, and the impact of the cultural policies of the period. It analyses the changing relationship between the artist and the State, the rise of a managerial ethos of ‘accountability’, and the growing dominance of government in the fate of the nation’s theatre. In doing so, it shows the historical roots of many of the problems facing Australian theatre today.
“This is an exceptionally timely book... In giving a history of Australian independent theatre it not only charts the amazing rise and strange disappearance of an energetic, radical and dynamically democratic artistic movement, but also tries to explain that rise and fall, and how we should relate to it now.”
— Prof. Justin O’Connor, Monash University
“This study makes a significant contribution to scholarship on Australian theatre and, more broadly… to the global discussion about the vexed relationship between artists, creativity, government funding for the arts and cultural policy.”
— Dr. Gillian Arrighi, The University of Newcastle, Australia
“This is an exceptionally timely book... In giving a history of Australian independent theatre it not only charts the amazing rise and strange disappearance of an energetic, radical and dynamically democratic artistic movement, but also tries to explain that rise and fall, and how we should relate to it now.”
— Prof. Justin O’Connor, Monash University
“This study makes a significant contribution to scholarship on Australian theatre and, more broadly… to the global discussion about the vexed relationship between artists, creativity, government funding for the arts and cultural policy.”
— Dr. Gillian Arrighi, The University of Newcastle, Australia
Julian Meyrick, Ph.D. (2000, La Trobe), is Professor of Creative Arts at Flinders University. Director of many award-winning theatre productions, he is the author of See How It Runs, a history of Sydney’s Nimrod company, and numerous publications on Australian theatre and cultural policy.
Preface. Brief History of Australian Theatre
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Note on Sources
Brief Chronology
Introduction
The Whitlam Era
Cultural Subsidy in Australia
Accounting for Australian Theatre: Different Approaches
Badiou and Truth
1 The Origins of Alternative Theatre
Alternative Theatre
Two Moments
2 The Paris Theatre 1978
The Sydney ‘Scene’
The Paris Narrative
The Paris Reviewed
The Meaning of the End
3 The Hunter Valley Theatre Company 1976–1994
Steel City
The Neeme Era
Into the 1980s with Brent McGregor
The Governmentalisation of the Arts
Last Years of the
hvtc
The Group of Six
The Meaning of the End
4 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1980–85
The No. 1 Tram
In Search of a Company
ant
and the Event of Artaud
Mignon’s Return
ant
’s Place in the World
5 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1986–89
From Triumph to Disaster
Chekhov and Beyond: Integrating the New Wave Legacy
Loss of Funding
The Refused Artist Accepted
6 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1990–91
The Ghosts of Emerald Hill
The Company Reborn
The Funding Game
7 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1992–94
The Move to Gasworks Theatre
ant
, Ruined
8 Australian Nouveau Theatre: The Meaning of the End
Internal Problems
External Problems
The Destruction of Fellowship:
ant
vs. Playbox
Creative Nation: Culture with the Art Left Out
Conclusion
The Logic of Culture: The Fate of the ‘New’
The Post-Whitlam Era
(No) End of an Idea
Select Bibliography
Interviewees
Index
Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Note on Sources
Brief Chronology
Introduction
The Whitlam Era
Cultural Subsidy in Australia
Accounting for Australian Theatre: Different Approaches
Badiou and Truth
1 The Origins of Alternative Theatre
Alternative Theatre
Two Moments
2 The Paris Theatre 1978
The Sydney ‘Scene’
The Paris Narrative
The Paris Reviewed
The Meaning of the End
3 The Hunter Valley Theatre Company 1976–1994
Steel City
The Neeme Era
Into the 1980s with Brent McGregor
The Governmentalisation of the Arts
Last Years of the
The Group of Six
The Meaning of the End
4 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1980–85
The No. 1 Tram
In Search of a Company
Mignon’s Return
5 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1986–89
From Triumph to Disaster
Chekhov and Beyond: Integrating the New Wave Legacy
Loss of Funding
The Refused Artist Accepted
6 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1990–91
The Ghosts of Emerald Hill
The Company Reborn
The Funding Game
7 Australian Nouveau Theatre 1992–94
The Move to Gasworks Theatre
8 Australian Nouveau Theatre: The Meaning of the End
Internal Problems
External Problems
The Destruction of Fellowship:
Creative Nation: Culture with the Art Left Out
Conclusion
The Logic of Culture: The Fate of the ‘New’
The Post-Whitlam Era
(No) End of an Idea
Select Bibliography
Interviewees
Index
All interested in Australian theatre, and anyone concerned with the recent history of cultural subsidy and the impact of government policy on creative practice, especially on alternative theatre.