Australian theatre & nationalism
A while back, I teased out some of my thoughts on nationalism in Australian theatre into an essay, How Australian is it?, for the 200th edition of the literary journal Overland. And being good chaps, they've now put it online.
To rephrase Borges: being Australian is either an inescapable act of fate – and in that case we shall be so in all events – or it is a mere affectation, a mask. The best of our contemporary theatre has dropped the mask. In the volatile performing arts, it’s difficult to forecast what will happen next; it’s possible that this renaissance, which has animated Australian stages for the past five years, will simply lose energy and peter out. It certainly has its detractors. But perhaps the genie is well and truly out of the bottle, and our theatre has grown past the need to merely perform its national identity.
8 comments:
Interesting essay, Alison--picking up in a theatre sense on some of those issues we talked about in Melbourne. I am one of those who feels that "it makes little sense to define art by nationality"--or as Mary Victoria commented on my blog yesterday "Stories don’t have to have passports..."
Hi Helen - It's absolutely fascinating how these concerns overlap. Do you think the huge number of spec fic writers in Australia and NZ is to do with SFF not having to be defined by national identity, by its very nature? I'm sure it plays into why I write it.
Btw, I hope all is ok at home after the earthquake!
Beautiful essay, Alison, and a real pleasure to read - especially considering where the question of 'Australianness' usually leads.
It makes me wonder about the funding priorities in the arts. It seems that funding does privilege certain kinds of art because they are more nation-worthy (opera, local Shakespeare), while other forms and artists have to prove the merit of their more experimental efforts - even when they tour them across the world, (technically) spreading Australianness.
I do know that for my friends in Europe, Australian theatre is Back to Back and Acrobat - not, for example, Opera Australia.
Well, Back to Back wouldn't exist without funding, so let's cheer that. And your friends' idea of Australian theatre is pretty much mine too! Even so, given the sheer weight of funding towards OA compared to everyone else, you do have to wonder... I don't think it's so much about nation-worthyness as the dominance of a certain idea of culture, maybe based on a notion of social (as opposed to artistic) elitism...
Maybe I ought to include this link to Marcus Westbury's illuminating breakdown of where the money goes.
Alison--belated reply re earthquake, but we are doing ok compared to many and even with the many it's "only infrastructure" but that can be very wearing when you're dealing with it day-to-day. And some people have lost their homes, some of them quite new, in areas which proved to be literally built on sand.
In terms of SFF not needing to be defined by national identity, that may well be part of the appeal, although there is still a feeling that there 'should' be a distinctively kiwi SFF. I think it's more the wonder and sense of possibility generally of writing SFF, the "what if" element that most appeals--but not being constrained by the need to send your stories into the world complete with passport undoubtedly helps.
For me, focusing more on film than theatre (b/c Aussie film is more accessible from NZ!) I think the quality that has struck me about a whole series of Aust films, from "My Brilliant Career" and "Breaker Morant", through "Better Than Sex" to "Three Dollars" and maybe (fingers crossed) "Tomorrow When The War Began" (I haven't seen it yet) is that you make good films and generally they do not seem "self consciously" Australian to me as an outsider. Conversely, I haven't seen a great many NZ films that I enjoy although (excluding LoTR) there have been some recent exceptions such as "Dean Spanley".
Just an errant thought - is the sriving for true blue 'Strine more of a live problem in Oz film than theatre; kinda feels like 'sharing stories' is more stock-in-trade for the stage ...
I bought the Overland primarily for this article [so I'll pretend I didn't see this free link now!] - I had a vague sense of the nationalism of the New Wave, but appreciated your thoughtful treatment of the broader phenomenon [which I have to agree with!]
Hi Helen - sorry for my own belated reply. I'm glad to hear you're doing ok over in Christchurch! I would have said Australian films were self consciously Australian, but yes, the best of our films are simply Australian. However, like J-Lo, I think that the rhetoric of "Australian stories" does drive a lot of the debate around Australian films.I'd resist the idea of nationalistically driven spec fic, though: it certainly refuses one of that genre's great freedoms.
J-Lo, thanks - and re the purchase of the hard copy, you can bask in the glow of supporting an important Australian magazine, so it can't be all bad! That issue has some fascinating and provocative essays, so it's a good deal, anyway.
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