Australian Contemporary Theatre

 Concerns in context: investigates and articulates issues relevant to audience

 Wide range of opinions
 Empathy: the purpose of theatre
 Dramatic form + performance style + techniques + conventions = convey
ideas, influence how an audience thinks and feels
 Greater insight into our multicultural and multifaceted complex society:
collaborative

Neighbourhood Watch- Lally Katz

 Presents tangible disconnection within suburban Australia; close
proximity does not equal intimacy. Empathy and understanding or lack
thereof; engagement with community
o “How many of our neighbours do you know?” (Ken)
o Role of the ‘outsider’- didactic relationship help each other
o “Magic in the ordinary”
o “It is a story of the epic and the domestic… certainly something
that is part of the world we live in now.”
 Realism, magic realism, non-naturalism
 Temporal shifts between Hungary and Australia develop compassion
o Episodic structure= disconnection

NW ACT I SCENE 1
Passive continuity and mindless disconnection of Australia suburbia, whence a
lack of understanding and empathy contributes to the diurnal detachment of
the community.
 Fragmented structure: no meaningful connections
o Ana interacts with 6 characters before “Catherine’s eyes meet
Ana’s.”
o Quick pace means no time for connections
o Unnamed characters: an employee, a chemist, a receptionist
 Doubling: “An actor can play multiple roles.”- established convention
o Affects audience’s perception of the community;
depersonalisation
o Emphasises monotony of the community= audience desensitised
 Use of performance space: audience gains active role, involved
o Entrance behind the space- audience guilty of issue of passivity
 o “Delivery for number 5” postman- banal
 “It seems as though crossing the street will be like crossing a river.”

NW ACT I SCENE 10
Katz subversively embellishes the absence of meaningful connection within
Australian suburbia by contrasting the bland, shallow representation of the
disengaged community with the vibrance of Hungary
 Temporal shift + introduction of magic realism
o Introduces Ana’s youth, distinctly different community
 Characterisation: Pivotal point for audience’s perception of Ana
o Australia: caustic, “Vhat, you idiot.”
o Proxemics (holding sisters close) shows interdependence of
microcosmic family community= emphasises Ana’s loss of family
and community connection
o Transformative acting: Actor playing Ana must embody elderly
women and ‘like a young girl.’
 Sound and music: traditional Gypsy’s Hungarian music contrasts with
detached interruptions of the rattling telephone in Australia.
 Proxemics: Ana holds family close; Australia= physical distance between
Ana and Catherine and Jovanka over the telephone= Ana’s social
isolation.
 Catherine begins to understand grief, identity= opportunity to move on
as her “world begins to change.”

NW ACT I SCENE 11
Unable to move on from grief caused by disconnection
 Character relationships: superficial relationship between Catherine and
Ken emphasised through proxemics: Catherine in impenetrable isolation.
Ken is asleep.
 One word in scene: “Hello”
 Lighting: only light comes from the screen of Ken’s abandoned
computer, metallic, clinical, contrasting with vibrance of Hungary in the
groggy aftermath of the temporal shift.
 Sound and music: west wing is a show about hope, change, progressive
future. Contrasts with Ken and Catherine who are stuck and unable to
move forward.
 Stolen- Jane Harrison
 “Acting with humanity.” ..reminds people “how to act” (Van Hout)
 “Candid and empathetic world”
 “Dramatizing the fear, persecution and anguish felt by he [stolen]
children and their families, displaying the ongoing devastating effects on
generations of Aboriginal people physically, psychologically, and
culturally.”
 Non-linear, fragmented structure, dreamtime storytelling; journey,
coming home
 Evocative language, performance style.

‘ARRIVING’ AND ‘SANDY AT THE END OF THE ROAD’

 Brechtian techniques: including the audience= active not passive role
o Eyes “search the audience for compassion”- purpose of theatre
 Convention of “the actors” entering the space before “they slip into
their character”
o At the end of the play: “break out of their roles and talk about
their own experiences.”
o Emphasises the relevance and immediacy of the issue, as well as
ongoing effects
o Forming personal connection with the audience
 Use of cyclical structure
o Actors enter “from the rear of the stage” and exit “by way of the
front of the stage” to show ideal progress as community
o Emphasises ongoing nature of this journey and need for
community involvement to move on together in unity for
progress; breaking the fourth wall promotes community and
reality of the situation

RACIST INSULTS
Isolation and a lack of communal unity/empathy means society can’t progress
 Blocking: jimmy remains onstage in isolation for the entire scene,
contrasting with a common use of ensemble throughout the play:
emphasises Jimmy’s isolation
o Jimmy addresses an offstage voice: complete isolation
demonstrates vulnerability and degradation due to an unknown,
ambiguous voice
 o Racism stems from ignorance on both sides; no unity in society;
tennis match rhythm established, pace increases, point of climax=
both voices “ignorant”
 Positioning actors in the audience: sending insults from the audience
makes audience members become guilty by association; they are not
absolved of guilt, not passive; made aware of their contribution to the
tangible issue
 Change in characterisation of jimmy from defensive to broken: the
audience watches his destruction through physical degradation;
transformative acting
 “Dear Mum, forgive me. I have sinned.”
o Biblical allusion: confession
o Reference to crucifixion; loneliness, abandonment, absolute
despair
o We are more similar than we are different; point of anagnorisis for
audience
 Dead man speaking; noose around neck, recitation of suicide note,
evocative, extreme

CLEANING ROUTINE 2
 Transformational props: cleaning utensils used as marching sticks,
weapons
 Subversive song: uniquely Australian turned disturbing, aggressive,
exhausting, defeat
o “Happy little Vegemite…Love to work like slaves”
 “Authority figure”- Brechtian title: nameless, faceless higher power,
oppressive function, emphasises institutionalisation
 Repetitive structure: “no”- limitations, degradation, inconsideration,
irrelevance

Verbatim Theatre
Verbatim theatre is a speculative form of theatre constructed from the
testimony of affected individuals interviewed about a pertinent topic.
Encouraging audiences to think, feel, and take communicates the
extraordinary within the ordinary, augmenting the voice of marginalised
groups and exploring the human condition in its extreme; “answering difficult,
confronting questions others would rather leave unasked.”
The power of hearing something first hand evokes empathy: exposing the
human condition in immense toil and strife.

The foremost challenge for practitioners of Verbatim Theatre is creating a

theatrically engaging piece whilst conserving the powerful authenticity of the
event.
 Balance of Verbatim conventions and dramatic techniques
 Theatrically (shape, engagement) and sustained truth (authority,
authenticity)

Parramatta Girls- Alana Valentine

 Massaged Verbatim play exploring the effects of abusive and oppressive
incarnation at the Girl’s Training School in Parramatta, through 8
composite female characters created from the testimony of over 40
involved, through the lens of a 40 year reunion.
 Process: interview over 40 people, condensed.

ACT II SCENE 5
A temporal shift brings Melanie back to the menial task of scrubbing the roof
of GTS. Dramatic techniques= infuriating futility, essentially synonymous with
mental torture.
Verbatim conventions= maintain authenticity and authority.
 Setting in present day: effective structural choice; lens of direct address
 Staging and set: Melanie DS gives physical closeness and connection to
audience whilst other girls remain upstage distanced in the temporal
shift.
o No representation of the roof= mime skills, no set, focus on the
testimony and pain
o Lack of satisfaction girls gained from the meaningless task; “the
girls scrub. They scrub and scrub.” Focus on testimony not
theatrical realism.
 Australian tone in text; “Sort of made us dizzy and that” connects to
audience.

LAST SCENE
Direct testimony of women attempting to heal from their abuse: temporal
shift to present day reunion, using a washing ritual as a source of healing.
  Interviews concluded: “battlers.”
 Props: used white sheets as a sign of renewal= audience engaged with
idea that women are attempting to heal, overcome trauma by
symbolically “tearing them into small pieces”
 Proxemics: all women in random arrangements; moved on from
systematic abuse, become individuals, unoppressed
 Song: Unison singing of the “Singing Bird” sung by Lynette and Maree;
bird- symbol of freedom: women free from abuse but coming to terms
with it
 Direct testimony: combined with dramatic techniques to become
engaging

Beyond the Neck- Tom Holloway

A vehicle to explore communal grief, recovery, and coming to terms with
extreme loss, through the Port Arthur massacre of 1996. Demonstrates the
strength of the human spirit in the worst conditions.
Process:
 “Tell me about your darkest monstrous moments” “confronting”
 “It’s about sharing a moment, empathising with them.”
 “Theatre’s about empathy… it’s life training”
 “I wanted to be creative… they were safer… in control”
 “The worst of what humans can do to each other… such a beautiful thing
can come from such a horrible moment.”

OVERTURE
Holloway recorded “the conversations of people” and their “darkest
monstrous moments” and structures the play as a musical quartet.
In 2009 Belvoir Production, the actors greeted the audience members on
arrival to allow the audience to feel connected to the actors and therefore
engaging them emotionally from the beginning as per Holloway’s instruction:
“the cast and crew… give something away for free.”
 Brechtian direct address: ‘4’ yells “Attention all you lags and lasses.”
Colloquial engaging humour.
 ‘4’ asking the other actors, “shall we begin” allows the audience to
realise that the actors are custodians of testimonies and that Holloway
has created a dramatic story to communicate the individual journey of
grief to the audience in an engaging way.
  Ensemble work + quartet: quick pace overlaps lines: “the boy tuns
home.”, “the teenage girl as a child sits.”, “the old man sits down in his
home.”- confronting
 Proxemics: placing characters in different areas at different heights
creates four distinct individual stories of grief and recovery; engages
with Holloway’s convention
THE MASSACRE (CONCLUSION OF ‘THE TOUR’)
Departs almost entirely from Verbatim conventions: truth through recreation
of experience. Truth of feeling= terror, confusion, sensory disorientation of
audience
Highest point of tension
 Transformational acting: ‘1’ changes from innocent boy to likeness of
adult (the assailant) through quick costume change and dropping voice’s
pitch- juxtaposition
 Elements of production manipulated to create truth of feeling; blackout
during re-enactment, blue wash in ‘there is space…’ and high-pitched
ringing imitating bullet
 Space: assailant performed repetition of ‘bang’ from front, behind,
middle: shouted, whispering frighteningly close to members of audience:
elevate sense of terror