Theatre in Australia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

'Theatre of Australia incorporates the theatrical arts produced in the area of, on the subject of or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia (or in its preceding indigenous and colonial societies). There are theatrical and dramatic aspects to a number of Indigenous Australian

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

ceremonies such as the corroboree

Corroboree

A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aborigines. The word was coined by the European settlers of Australia in imitation of the Aboriginal word caribberie. At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the...

, and fusions of this ancient theatrical content and style with Western theatrical productions are not uncommon in Australia, however, during its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies in which the theatrical arts were strongly linked to the broader traditions of English literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

and to British and Irish theatre. However, Australian literature

Australian literature

Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary tradition begins with and is linked to...

and theatrical artists (including Aboriginal as well as Anglo-Celtic

Anglo-Celtic

Anglo-Celtic is a term used to describe people of British and Irish descent. The term today is mainly used outside of Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia but also in Canada, New Zealand and the United States, where a significant diaspora is located....

and multicultural migrant Australians) have, since 1788, introduced the culture of Australia

Culture of Australia

The culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and by the diverse input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of Australia...

and the character of a new continent to the world stage.

Significant theatrical artists of Australia include such as Sir Robert Helpmann

Robert Helpmann

Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...

(Australian Ballet), Dame Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....

(Opera Australia

Opera Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...

), the performing artist Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries

John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...

and playwright David Williamson

David Williamson

David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...

. Notable theatrical institutions include the renowned Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...

, and the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney, whose alumni include noted performers Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...

, Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...

and Judy Davis

Judy Davis

Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....

Early history

The ceremonial dances of indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

comprise theatrical aspects and have been performed at corroboree

Corroboree

s since time immemorial (most scholars believe Aboriginal Australians arrived between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago). At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime

Dreamtime

In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...

through dance, music and costume and many ceremonies act out events from the Dreamtime.

European traditions came to Australia with the First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

in 1788, with the first production being performed in 1789 by convicts : The Recruiting Officer
The Recruiting Officer
The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury to recruit soldiers...

by George Farquhar

George Farquhar

George Farquhar was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer and The Beaux' Stratagem .-Early life:...

. Two centuries later, the extraordinary circumstances of the foundations of Australian theatre were recounted in Our Country's Good
Our Country's Good
Our Country's Good is a 1988 play written by British playwright, Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales, in the 1780s, who put on a production of The Recruiting...

by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Timberlake Wertenbaker

- Biography :Wertenbaker grew up in the Basque Country of France near Saint-Jean-de-Luz. She attended schools in Europe and the US before settling permanently in London...

: the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty. The play is based on Thomas Keneally

Thomas Keneally

Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...

's novel The Playmaker
The Playmaker
The Playmaker is a novel based in Australia written by the Australian author Thomas Keneally.In 1789 in Sydney Cove, the remotest penal colony of the British Empire, a group of convicts and one of their captors unite to stage a play...

.

The Theatre Royal, Hobart

Theatre Royal, Hobart

The Theatre Royal is situated in central Hobart, Tasmania. It stages many events including international ballet, opera, drama and musicals. It was constructed between 1834-1837 and is the oldest continually operating theatre in Australia....

, opened in 1837 and it remains the oldest theatre in Australia. Many international performances have appeared at the venue. Noel Coward

Noël Coward

Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

called it a Dream Theatre and Lawrence Olivier came to its defence when it was threatened with demolition in the 1940s.

The Melbourne Athenaeum is one of the oldest public institutions in Australia, founded in 1839 and it served as library, school of arts and dance hall and became Australia's first cinema, screening The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...

, the world's first feature film in 1906. Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

, Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...

, Lawrence Olivier and Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries

have all performed on this historic stage. The theatre in its present form was created in 1921 and . The Queen's Theatre, Adelaide opened with Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland.

The Australian gold rushes

Australian gold rushes

The Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...

beginning in the 1850s provided funds for the construction of grand theatres in the Victorian style. A theatre was built on the present site of Melbourne's Princess Theatre

Princess Theatre, Melbourne

The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...

in 1854. The present building now hosts major international productions as well as live performance events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

Post-Federation

After federation in 1901, theatre productions evidenced the new sense of national identity. On Our Selection (1912) by Steele Rudd

Steele Rudd

Steele Rudd was the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis an Australian author, best known for On Our Selection.-Early life:...

told of the adventures of a pioneer farming family and became immensely popular.

His Majesty's Theatre, Perth opened in 1904. The building remains a rare example of Edwardian theatrical architecture in Australia.. Sydney's grand Capitol Theatre

Capitol Theatre, Sydney

The Capitol Theatre is a historic theatre building located at 13 Campbell Street, Haymarket, Sydney, Australia.-History:The Capitol Theatre is at the former site of the Belmore Markets. The latter were built in 1891 by George McRae, City Architect, and the structural engineer Norman Selfe, but were...

opened in 1928 and after restoration remains one of the nation's finest auditoriums.

During the 1940s, John Antill

John Antill

John Henry Antill, CMG, OBE was an Australian composer best known for his ballet Corroboree.-Biography:Antill was born in Sydney in 1904, and was educated and trained in music at Trinity Grammar School, Sydney and St Andrew's Cathedral School. Upon leaving school in 1920 he became apprenticed to...

composed the music for his Corroboree

Corroboree (ballet)

Corroboree is a ballet written by Australian composer John Antill in the 1940s. It was first performed as a concert suite in 1946. In July 1950 it was performed as a ballet, at the Empire Theatre in Sydney, choreographed by Rex Reid, with dancers of the Melbourne-based National Theatre...

ballet based on the Aboriginal corroboree

Corroboree

. The production toured Australia during the 1950s and featured on the schedule of Queen Elizabeth II's first Royal Tour of Australia

Royal visits to Australia

Since 1867, there have been over fifty visits by a member of the Royal Family to Australia, though only six of those came before 1954. Elizabeth II is the only reigning monarch of Australia to have set foot on Australian soil; she first did so on 3 February 1954...

. It represents an early example of the fusion of Western and Aboriginal theatrical forms in Australia – now regularly expressed, as seen in the work of the Bangarra Dance Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Indigenous Australian contemporary dance company founded in 1989 by Carole Johnson, an African-American and founding director of National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association . Bangarra is the Wiradjuri word meaning "to make fire".Stephen Page has been the...

..

In early 1955, the fledgling Union Theatre Repertory Company invited a young Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries

to tour Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

with a production of Twelfth Night directed by Ray Lawler

Ray Lawler

Raymond Evenor Lawler is an influential Australian actor, dramatist and producer. His most notable play was his tenth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll , which had its premiere in Melbourne in 1955. The play changed the direction of Australian drama...

. On tour, Humphries gradually invented the character of Edna Everage as part of the entertainment for the actors during commutes between country towns, imitating the Country Women's Association

Country Women's Association

The Country Women’s Association of Australia is the largest women's organisation in Australia. It has 44,000 members across 1855 branches. Its aims are to improve the conditions for country women and children and to try to make life better for women and their families, especially those women...

representatives who welcomed the troupe in each town. By night Lawler worked on a new play, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a pioneering Australian play written by Ray Lawler and first performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on 28 November 1955...

. Both creations represented historic milestones in Australian theatre. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll portrayed resolutely Australian characters and went on to international acclaim. At Lawler's suggestion, Mrs Everage made her first appearance in a Melbourne University's UTRC revue at the end of 1955, as the city prepared for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games. The sketch involved a houseproud "average housewife" offering her Moonee Ponds home as an Olympic billet. Humphries left for London in his early 20s and enjoyed success on stage, including in Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...

's musical, Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....

. His satirical stage creations – notably Dame Edna and later Les Patterson – became Australian cultural icons. Humphries also achieved success in the USA with tours on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

and television appearances and has remained a stalwart of British and Australian theatre and been honoured in both nations.

The National Institute of Dramatic Art

National Institute of Dramatic Art

The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...

was created in Sydney in 1958. This institute has since produced a list of famous alumni including Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

, Toni Collette

Toni Collette

Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....

, Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...

and Baz Luhrmann

Baz Luhrmann

Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...

.

The Melbourne Arts Centre in the Melbourne Arts Precinct

Melbourne Arts Precinct

The Melbourne Arts Precinct is a series of galleries, performing arts venues and spaces in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. The precinct is situated less than 1 km from the Melbourne city centre in Southbank and is centred around, and near, St Kilda Road...

was designed by architect Sir Roy Grounds

Roy Grounds

Sir Roy Burman Grounds , wasone of Australia's leading architects of the modern movement.-Biography:Born in Melbourne, Grounds was educated at Scotch College and then Melbourne University and worked for the architectural firm of Blackett, Forster and Craig...

, the masterplan for the complex was approved in 1960, and construction of the Arts Centre began in 1973. The complex opened in stages, with Hamer Hall opening in 1982, and the Theatres Building opening in 1984. The centre now hosts regular performances by Opera Australia

Opera Australia

, The Australian Ballet, the Melbourne Theatre Company

Melbourne Theatre Company

The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...

and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...

as well as a large number of Australian and international performances and production companies.

The Australian Ballet is the foremost classical ballet

Classical ballet

Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian ballet...

company in Australia. It was founded by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh

Peggy van Praagh

Dame Margaret "Peggy" van Praagh, DBE had a long and distinguished career in ballet as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, producer, advocate and director.-Dancing:...

in 1962 and is today recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies. It is based in Melbourne and performs works from the classical repertoire as well as contemporary works by major Australian and international choreographers. As of 2010, it was presenting approximately 200 performances in cities and regional areas around Australia each year as well as international tours. Regular venues include: the Melbourne Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

, Sydney Theatre

Sydney Theatre

Sydney Theatre is a theatre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Theatre seats up to 896 people and is part of the Sydney Theatre Company....

, Adelaide Festival Centre

Adelaide Festival Centre

The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...

and Queensland Performing Arts Centre

Queensland Performing Arts Centre

The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct....

.

Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre

Adelaide Festival Centre

began in 1970 and South Australia's Sir Robert Helpmann

Robert Helpmann

became director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. The new wave of Australian theatre debuted in the 1970s with the works of writers including David Williamson

David Williamson

David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...

, Barry Oakley and Jack Hibberd

Jack Hibberd

Dr Jack Hibberd is an Australian playwright.-Biography:Hibberd studied medicine at the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Newman College and practised as a clinical immunologist in Melbourne from 1964 until 1973...

. The Belvoir St Theatre

Belvoir St Theatre

Belvoir St Theatre is an Australian theatre venue in Sydney. The venue in Belvoir Street, Surry Hills previously operated as the Nimrod Theatre, and was founded as "Belvoir St" in 1984 by Sue Hill and Chris Westwood...

established by John Bell

John Bell

- Law and politics :* John Bell , English barrister* John Bell , professor of law and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge* John Bell , Member of Parliament from Thirsk...

and Richard Wherrett

Richard Wherrett

Richard Bruce Wherrett AM was an influential and successful Australian theatrical director, whose career spanned 40 years.Richard Wherrett was born in 1940...

originated in Sydney around 1970 and presented works by Nick Enright

Nick Enright

-Life:He was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, where, like Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming, he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. At that school, he won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967....

and David Williamson

David Williamson

David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...

.

In 1973, the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

was inaugurated in Sydney – becoming among the most famous theatre buildings in the world. Opera Australia

Opera Australia

made its home in the building and its reputation was enhanced by the presence of the diva Joan Sutherland

Joan Sutherland

.

The Sydney Theatre Company

Sydney Theatre Company

The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....

was founded 1978 becoming one of Australia's foremost theatre companies. Players associated with the company include Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

, Judy Davis

Judy Davis

Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....

, Hugo Weaving

Hugo Weaving

Hugo Wallace Weaving is a Nigerian born, English-Australian film actor and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, "V" in V for Vendetta, and performances in numerous Australian character dramas.-Early...

, Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

and Toni Collette

Toni Collette

. Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

and husband Andrew Upton

Andrew Upton

Andrew Upton is an Australian playwright, screenwriter, and director. He is the husband of the actress Cate Blanchett.-Career:As a playwright, Upton created adaptations of Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard, Cyrano de Bergerac, Don Juan and Uncle Vanya for the Sydney Theatre Company and Maxim...

are currently artistic directors of the Company. It operates from The Wharf Theatre

The Wharf Theatre

The Wharf Theatre is a theatre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This theatre is part of the Sydney Theatre Company and located on Pier 4/5 of the former Sydney port facility in Walsh Bay at Dawes Point.-History:...

near The Rocks

The Rocks, New South Wales

The Rocks is an urban locality, tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney's city centre, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, immediately north-west of the Sydney central business district...

, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre.

In 1979, two impoverished young Sydney actors, Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson

and Geoffrey Rush

Geoffrey Rush

, shared a flat and co-starred in a local production of Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...

. Gibson had studied at NIDA

National Institute of Dramatic Art

and made his stage debut alongside classmate Judy Davis

Judy Davis

Judy Davis is an Australian actress best known for her roles in Husbands and Wives, Barton Fink, A Passage to India and in the TV miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows....

in a 1976 production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

. The 1979 Australian film Mad Max
Mad Max
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...

carried Gibson to the beginnings of a global film career. Rush joined Jim Sharman

Jim Sharman

James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...

's Lighthouse Theatre troupe in the 1980s and built a reputation as one of Australia's leading stage actors before winning the best actor Oscar for Shine
Shine
Shine may refer to:* Reflection* Shine , a 1996 Australian film starring Geoffrey Rush* Shine * Shine Guitars* LG Shine, mobile phone* Donal Shine, Gaelic footballer...

in 1997.

The Bell Shakespeare Company

Bell Shakespeare Company

Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare. It was founded in 1990 by John Bell..Bell Shakespeare is Australia's only national touring theatre company. Its current practice is to tour three mainstage productions to each Australian state in...

was created in 1990. A period of success for Australian musical theatre came in the 1990s with the debut of musical biographies of Australian music singers Peter Allen

Peter Allen

Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...

(The Boy From Oz
The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz is a jukebox musical based on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and featuring songs written by him. The book is by Nick Enright. The production had its world premiere, directed by Gale Edwards, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Australia, on 5 March 1998 and toured Brisbane,...

in 1998) and Johnny O'Keefe

Johnny O'Keefe

John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...

(Shout! The Legend of The Wild One).

In The One Day of the Year, Alan Seymour

Alan Seymour

Alan Seymour , is an Australian playwright and author. He was educated at Perth Modern School, leaving at 15 after failing to complete the Junior Certificate. He found work as a radio announcer in a commercial radio station 6PM. During his two years there he wrote a number of short radio plays that...

studied the paradoxical nature of the ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...

commemoration by Australians of the defeat of the Battle of Gallipoli

Battle of Gallipoli

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...

. Ngapartji Ngapartji, by Scott Rankin and Trevor Jamieson, recounts the story of the effects on the Pitjantjatjara people of nuclear testing in the Western Desert during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

. It is an example of the contemporary fusion of traditions of drama in Australia with Pitjantjatjara actors being supported by a multicultural cast of Greek, Afghan, Japanese and New Zealand heritage.

Eminent contemporary Australian playwrights include David Williamson

David Williamson

David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...

, Alan Seymour

Alan Seymour

, the late Nick Enright

Nick Enright

and Justin Fleming

Justin Fleming

Justin Fleming , born Sydney, Australia is a playwright and author. He has written for theatre, music theatre, television and cinema and his works have been produced and published in Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Poland and France...

.

There are a number of publishers of Australian playscripts. Publishers include the non-profit Australian Script Centre

Australian Script Centre

Australian Script Centre has been selectively collecting, promoting and distributing contemporary Australian plays in manuscript form since 1979. It is recognised by the Australia Council for the Arts as a Key Organisation providing essential infrastructure services to the theatre sector...

, the well-known Currency Press, Playlab Press and Full Dress Publishing. The Australian government supports a website (australianplays.org http://www.australianplays.org) that aims to combine playwright biographies and script information. Scripts are also available there.

There are a range of amateur and professional theatre groups throughout the country, as well as a vibrant independent and fringe theatre

Fringe theatre

Fringe theatre is theatre that is not of the mainstream. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which name comes from Robert Kemp, who described the unofficial companies performing at the same time as the second Edinburgh International Festival as a ‘fringe’, writing: ‘Round the fringe...

community, largely concentrated in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, home of La Mama

La Mama Theatre (Melbourne)

The La Mama Theatre is a theatrical venue located at 205 Faraday St, Carlton, Victoria. It opened in a former factory building on 30 July 1967 and still operates today under the direction of Liz Jones....

Theatre companies

Professional

Bell Shakespeare Company
Bell Shakespeare Company
Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare. It was founded in 1990 by John Bell..Bell Shakespeare is Australia's only national touring theatre company. Its current practice is to tour three mainstage productions to each Australian state in...
Black Swan Theatre Company
Black Swan Theatre Company
Black Swan State Theatre Company formally known as The Black Swan Theatre Company is the state theatre company of Western Australia, running an annual subscription season in Perth.-History:...
Brink Productions
Brink Productions
Brink Productions is a professional theatre company based in Adelaide, South Australia established in 1996 as an actor-driven collective of seven members, primarily graduates from the drama school of Flinders University, in order to "improve artistic production" in Australian theatre...
Company B
Company B (theatre)
Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia. Its Artistic Director is Ralph Myers.Belvoir receives government support for its activities from the federal government through the Major Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts and...

- based at the iconic Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney.
Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company
Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia...
Kookaburra Musical Theatre
Kookaburra Musical Theatre
Peter Cousens' Kookaburra: The National Musical Theatre Company was an Australian theatre company dedicated to musical theatre. Launched in 2006, with its first production Pippin in 2007, it collapsed in late 2009....
La Boite Theatre
La Mama Theatre
La Mama Theatre (Melbourne)
The La Mama Theatre is a theatrical venue located at 205 Faraday St, Carlton, Victoria. It opened in a former factory building on 30 July 1967 and still operates today under the direction of Liz Jones....

(Melbourne)
Leigh Warren & Dancers
Leigh Warren & Dancers
Leigh Warren & Dancers is a contemporary dance company based in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Formed in 1993 by Leigh Warren , the company has toured internationally and won several awards....
Malthouse Theatre
Melbourne Theatre Company
Melbourne Theatre Company
The Melbourne Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Melbourne. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest professional theatre company in Australia, and has its own theatre, The MTC Theatre – which houses the 500-seat Sumner Theatre and the 150-seat Lawler Studio – located in Melbourne's Arts...
Playbox Theatre Company
Queensland Theatre Company
Queensland Theatre Company
The Queensland Theatre Company was established in 1970 as the Royal Queensland Theatre Company. The Company is the state's flagship professional theatre company, headed up by multi-award winning playwright and director Wesley Enoch...

- the oldest continuous professional theatre company in Queensland.
Restless Dance Company
Restless Dance Company
Restless Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company based in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Founded in 1991, it comprises young performers with and without a disability. It conducts workshops and tours throughout Australia...
State Theatre Company of South Australia
State Theatre Company of South Australia
The State Theatre Company of South Australia is South Australia's leading professional theatre company. It is based in the Dunstan Playhouse at the Adelaide Festival Centre. The current artistic director is Adam Cook...
Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
Twelfth Night Theatre
Twelfth Night Theatre
thumb|250px|Twelfth Night TheatreThe Twelfth Night Theatre is an established Australian entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, in Brisbane, Queensland. Australian actors such as Rowena Wallace, Sigrid Thornton, Judith McGrath, Jon English, June Salter, Penny Downie, Carol Burns, Kate Wilson,...
Tropic Sun Theatre Company
Tropic Sun Theatre Company
Full Throttle Theatre Company is an organisation based in Townsville, North Queensland, Australia which is primarily focused on promoting theatre and the arts in the region...
Windmill Performing Arts
Windmill Performing Arts
Windmill Performing Arts established in 2002 as a South Australian Government initiative is Australia's flagship professional theatre company for child and young adult audiences. The current artistic director is Rosemary Myers.Since 2002, it has grown into a leading national company...

Independent

Black Lung
Stuck Pigs Squealing
Theatre in Decay
Theatre in Decay
Theatre in Decay is an independent theatre company operating in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 2000 by artistic director Robert Reid and producer Anniene Stockton.Theatre in Decay is a multi award winning independent theatre company, which has produced 28 unfunded original shows in various...
Sample Theatre
yellow glass theatre inc.
Goulburn Lieder Theatre

Amateur

Adelaide Repertory Theatre
Adelaide Repertory Theatre
'The Adelaide Repertory Theatre is an amateur theatre company in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the longest surviving amateur theatre company in the Southern Hemisphere...
Brisbane Arts Theatre
Brisbane Arts Theatre
The Brisbane Arts Theatre is the oldest surviving community theatre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It has existed for nearly seventy-five years. It once received funding from the Queensland state government. This ceased under the Goss Labor government. Since then it has operated without any...
The Company of Seven Theatre Company
GSODA Junior Players
Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre
The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
PLOS Musical Productions
Toowoomba Repertory Theatre
Windmill Theatre Company
Windmill Theatre Company
Windmill Theatre Company Inc is a non-professional theatre company located in the outer-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Specifically, their activities occur, and the bulk of their members reside, in the municipalities of Casey, Cardinia and Dandenong...
Wollongong Workshop Theatre

Physical theatre

Circa
Circa
Circa , usually abbreviated c. or ca. , means "approximately" in the English language, usually referring to a date...

Brisbane
Circus Oz
Circus Oz
Circus Oz was founded in December 1977, with its first performance season in March 1978. Circus Oz was the amalgamation of two already well-known groups - Soapbox Circus, a roadshow set up by the Australian Performing Group in 1976, and the New Ensemble Circus, a continuation of the New Circus,...
Kage Physical Theatre
Kage Physical Theatre
Kage Physical Theatre is a physical theatre/contemporary dance company founded in 1996, by Kate Denborough and Gerard van Dyck. They perform at the intersection of dance, circus and theatre...
OzFrank Brisbane
Zen Zen Zo Brisbane

Opera companies

Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland
Opera Queensland is an opera company based in Brisbane, Queensland. The company was founded with funding from the Queensland State Government in 1981, then under the name Lyric Opera of Queensland, after the Queensland Opera Company was closed in December 1980.It is after Opera Australia the second...
State Opera Company of South Australia
Victorian Opera
Victorian Opera (Melbourne)
Victorian Opera is an opera company based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The company was founded in 2005 and commenced operations in January 2006 with funding from the Victorian government, and Richard Gill as Artistic Director...
West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera is the principal opera company of Western Australia and is based at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth.The company formed in 1967 and works in close association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As of 2008, the Chairman is Erich Fraunschiel and Artistic Director is...
J. C. Williamson Ltd.

Theatre education

National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
Ballarat Academy of Performing Arts
WAAPA
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts , Edith Cowan University was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition comparable to the highest calibre of national and international training benchmarks to be able to meet industry needs around the globe.The school is located in the...
Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
National Institute of Circus Arts
National Institute of Circus Arts
The National Institute of Circus Arts is the only government-accredited institution that provides professional training in contemporary circus arts in Australia. It is a subsidiary of Swinburne University of Technology and is based at the university's Prahran campus.NICA is a registered cultural...
Adelaide College of the Arts
Flinders University Drama Centrehttp://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/drama_centre/about/
Australian Insitute of Music
Monash University Performing Arts

Awards and competitions

Green Room Awards
Green Room Awards
The Green Room Awards are peer awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, drama, fringe theatre, musical theatre and opera in Melbourne....
Helpmann Award
Helpmann Award
The Helpmann Awards recognize distinguished artistic achievement and excellence in Australia's live performing arts sectors. The recognized disciplines include musical and physical theatre, contemporary and classical music, opera, and dance, with a comedy category introduced in 2006...
Mo Awards
Mo Awards
The Mo Awards are long running annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia....
Short and Sweet
Short and Sweet
Short+Sweet is a multi-form arts platform presenting festivals in theatre, dance, music-theatre and cabaret across Australia and Asia...
Matilda Awards
Matilda Awards
The Matilda Awards are awards which recognise excellence in cabaret, dance, theatre, and performance in Brisbane, the Australian state capital of Queensland and are the only awards to do so in that state...

Brisbane

Performing Arts Publishers

Australian Script Centre
Australian Script Centre
Australian Script Centre has been selectively collecting, promoting and distributing contemporary Australian plays in manuscript form since 1979. It is recognised by the Australia Council for the Arts as a Key Organisation providing essential infrastructure services to the theatre sector...
Currency Press
Currency Press
Currency Press is Australia's only specialist performing arts publisher and its oldest independent publisher still active. Their list includes plays and screenplays, professional handbooks, biographies, cultural histories, critical studies and reference works....
Playlab Press
Full Dress Publishing

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Early history

Post-Federation

Theatre companies

Professional

Independent

Amateur

Physical theatre

Opera companies

Theatre education

Awards and competitions

Performing Arts Publishers

See also

External links