See also
https://vimeo.com/388651052?ref=em-share Order By Numbers
The Popular Theatre Troupe was an agitprop ensemble [1] formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1974 as part of a radical movement against Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen's conservative Queensland's government of the day. The troupe toured Australia with a total of 25 original shows between 1974 and 1983. The key players in the ensemble organised ten large community events and were behind many community arts projects. [2]
The Popular Theatre Troupe had its genesis in the meetings Richard Fotheringham called during 1973 to discuss options for the planned 'fringe theatre' for Queensland's first 'Festival of the Arts' directed by Lesley Gotto. Inspirations and influences included Oh! What a Lovely War and The Legend of King O'Malley. A leader of alternative theatre in Britain, Albert Hunt, was brought out by the University of Queensland's English Department to mentor the group. Their first production was Star Trick, a satire lampooning the Star Trek television series focussing on the absurdity of local Queensland politics interspersed with ironically sung old popular songs. [2]
Geoffrey Milne in Theatre Australia (un)limited: Australian theatre since the 1950s suggests precursors to the Popular Theatre Troupe's type of political theatre included Peter Oysten at Victoria College of the Arts, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and run-of-the-mill communist theatre featured at worker's clubs. [3]
The White Man's Mission (1975) by Richard Fotheringham and Albert Hunt stands out as one of the troupe's strongest scripts. It is reproduced in full in one of the few published texts on Brisbane's political theatre, "Challenging the centre" (1995) edited by Steve Capelin, where it takes up 36 pages about Australian racism, slavery and exploitation. [4] It was invited to the Adelaide Festival in 1976.
Although funded by the Community Arts and Theatre Boards of the Australia Council, the Popular Theatre Troupe received no financial assistance from the Queensland Government. Quite the contrary, as a radical extra-parliamentary opposition, the Popular Theatre Troupe's activities were monitored closely by the Special Branch of the Queensland Police and two of their shows were banned. [1]
The Popular Theatre Troupe were followed by another group, Order By Numbers, which was in some ways an unfunded Popular Theatre Troupe reprise in 1985–86, featuring writers Hugh Watson, Dee Martin, Penny Glass, Kery O'Rourke, Nat Trimarchi and Gavan Fenelon. Order By Numbers and a sister company Teatro Unidad y Liberacion, were administered by an incorporated group called The New Actor's Company. The material for the satires performed were Brisbane cultural and political events, such as the SEQEB Strike in 1985. A few short wicks in paradise by the ensemble took the side of the striking workers in opposing anti-union laws of the Bjelke-Petersen government. The founding members of Order By Numbers were Dee Martin, Penny Glass, Gavan Fenelon and Nat Trimarchi. Hugh Watson and Kerry O'Rourke were involved as writers.
Overlapping this period was the genesis of Street Arts a community-arts driven theatre company which, unlike Popular Theatre Troupe which was more classically agit-prop in performing for the audience, were interested in creating theatre by enabling the communities suffering disadvantage, through, circus, song, drama and cabaret. Many of the players, thinkers, writers and artists involved in the and were to find homes in Street Arts.
Key members of the group included writers and directors Errol O'Neill, John Watson, Fiona Winning, Alexandra Black, Kerry O'Rourke, Dee Martin, Bernie Lewis, Hugh Watson, Stephen Stockwell, Richard Fotheringham, Robert Perrier, Doug Anderson and Albert Hunt. Performers included Kathryn Porrill, Therese Collie, Ken MacLeod, Julie Hickson, Michael Cummings, Lynne Samson, Teresa Wilkinson, John Lane, Duncan Campbell, Lindy Morrison, Errol O'Neill, Leah Cotterell, Katrina Deverey, Nat Trimarchi, Gavin Fenelon and Penny Glass. [2]
Six members of the group staged an English tour of The White Man's Mission in 1977, assisted by a cash grant from the Arts Council of Great Britain, a minibus from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, and in kind resources from Bradford College [2] Five of those members were, Duncan Campbell, Nick Hughes, Kath Porrill, Janet Mahoney and Micko O'Byrne. The tour received favourable reviews and ran for three weeks in London before doing a regional tour of England.
Australia Council funding was withdrawn in 1982 and though some members of the company struggled on, it eventually folded in 1983. [3]
https://vimeo.com/388651052?ref=em-share Order By Numbers
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of around 2.6 million, and it lies at the centre of the South East Queensland metropolitan region, which encompasses a population of around 3.8 million. The Brisbane central business district is situated within a peninsula of the Brisbane River about 15 km (9 mi) from its river mouth at Moreton Bay, a bay of the Coral Sea. The metropolitan area extends in all directions along the hilly floodplain of the Brisbane River Valley between Moreton Bay and the Taylor and D'Aguilar mountain ranges. It sprawls across several of Australia's most populous local government areas (LGAs) — most centrally the City of Brisbane, the most populous LGA in the nation. The demonym of Brisbane is "Brisbanite", while common nicknames include "Brissie" and the "River City".
Sir Johannes Bjelke-Petersen was an Australian conservative politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during which time the state underwent considerable economic development. He has become one of the most well-known and controversial figures of 20th-century Australian politics because of his uncompromising conservatism, political longevity, and the institutional corruption that became synonymous with his later leadership.
Wayne Keith Goss was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996, becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics, Goss was a solicitor, and after leaving politics he served as Chairman of the Queensland Art Gallery and Chairman of Deloitte Australia.
The Joh for Canberra campaign, initially known as the Joh for PM campaign, was an attempt by Queensland National Party premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become Prime Minister of Australia. The campaign was announced in January 1987 and drew substantial support from Queensland businessmen and some conservative politicians. The campaign caused a split in the federal Coalition. It did not attract widespread support and collapsed in June 1987. The Australian Labor Party, led by Bob Hawke, went on to win by an increased majority in the 1987 federal election, gaining its highest-ever number of seats. Bjelke-Petersen came under increasing scrutiny as the Fitzgerald Inquiry gained traction, and was forced out of politics altogether in December 1987.
The Bjelkemander was the term given to a system of malapportionment in the Australian state of Queensland in the 1970s and 1980s. Under the system, electorates were allocated to zones such as rural or metropolitan and electoral boundaries drawn so that rural electorates had about half as many voters each as metropolitan ones. The Country Party, a rural-based party led by Joh Bjelke-Petersen, was able to govern uninhibited during this period due to the 'Bjelkemander' and the absence of an upper house of Parliament.
Michael John Ahern is a former Queensland National Party politician who was Premier of Queensland from December 1987 to September 1989. After a long career in the government of Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Ahern became his successor amid the controversy caused by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into official corruption. Ahern's consensus style and political moderation contrasted strongly with Bjelke-Petersen's leadership, but he could not escape the division and strife caused by his predecessor's downfall.
Florence Isabel Bjelke-Petersen was an Australian politician and writer. She was a member of the Australian Senate from 1981 to 1993, and was the wife of the longest-serving Premier of Queensland, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. She was styled as Lady Bjelke-Petersen upon her husband's knighthood, and was also known informally as Lady Flo.
Sir Walter Benjamin Campbell, was an Australian judge, administrator and governor. He was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Chancellor of the University of Queensland, and the 21st Governor of Queensland from 1985 to 1992.
The 1989 Queensland state election was held in the Australian state of Queensland on 2 December 1989 to elect the 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. This was the first election following the downfall of seven-term premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen at the end of 1987.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the performing arts in Australia, or produced by Australians. There are theatrical and dramatic aspects to a number of Indigenous Australian ceremonies such as the corroboree. During its colonial period, Australian theatrical arts were generally linked to the broader traditions of English literature and to British and Irish theatre. Australian literature and theatrical artists have over the last two centuries introduced the culture of Australia and the character of a new continent to the world stage.
The ginger group, in Queensland politics was a group of Liberal Party MLAs during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, who despite nominally being a part of the government, were opposed to some of the policies of their senior coalition partner, the National Party. Initially a small informal grouping within the Liberal Party, the group came to wield greater and greater power within the Liberal partyroom, culminating in Terry White's successful leadership challenge in 1983, and the party's subsequent defeat and loss of influence at the 1983 election.
Mick Miller was a notable Aboriginal Australian activist, politician, and statesman who campaigned for most of his life seeking greater social justice, land rights, and improved life opportunities for Aboriginal Australians in North Queensland and Australia.
Terry O'Gorman is a lawyer in Queensland, Australia and leading civil libertarian. In 1979, O'Gorman was elected President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties ('QCCL') and served as president until 1985. He again held presidency from 1990 to 1994. He is currently the Vice President of the QCCL.
The Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (QCCL) is a voluntary organisation in Australia concerned with the protection of individual rights and civil liberties. It was founded in 1966 in order "to protect and promote the human rights and freedoms of Queensland citizens." The QCCL is regularly asked by the Government to make submissions to committees, which is how bills are made in Parliament. These submissions cover issues such as closed circuit television, abortion law reform, sentencing issues in our court system and changes to legislation already in place, which are called amendments.
The Cane Toad Times was a satirical humour magazine based in Brisbane, Queensland. It was first published in the late 1970s, then revived under the same name by a new team from 1983–1990.
Street Arts Community Theatre Company was a theatre company in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was founded in October 1982 in West End, Brisbane, by Denis Peel, Pauline Peel, Steve Capelin and Andrea Lynch. Street Arts was preceded in Brisbane by the agitprop ensemble the Popular Theatre Troupe. While continuing in the Popular Theatre Troupe's tradition of satire and radical political commentary, the Street Arts approach was to create theatre and circus by enabling disadvantaged communities. This became the dominant community arts methodology in Queensland in the mid-1980s, attracting funding from Australian arts boards including the Community Arts Board and Performing Arts Board. In 1997 it changed its focus to interdisciplinary public art and renamed itself The Arterial Group Inc. It deregistered as an association in 2014.
Eva Bacon, born Eva Goldner, was a socialist and feminist based in Brisbane, Australia, who was most active between the 1950s and the 1980s. Raised in Austria and a member of several leftist political organisations in her youth, Eva Goldner escaped Nazi occupied Austria in 1939, eventually migrating to Australia. Goldner remained involved in local and international politics and joined the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), marrying fellow member Ted Bacon in 1944. Throughout her career Bacon was an active member of the CPA, and the Union of Australian Women (UAW), where she was heavily involved in International Women's Day campaigns, including attending the 1975 UN World Conference on Women in Mexico celebrating International Women's Year. Bacon was also an active member of the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL), the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). She was passionate about childcare issues, and through her political work clashed particularly with conservative Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
Maureen Watson, also known as "Aunty Maureen", was a supporter of Aboriginal rights in Australia, actor, vocalist, writer, musician and storyteller.
Joh for PM is an Australian musical comedy written by Stephen Carleton with music and lyrics by Paul Hodge.
The Liberal Party of Australia , branded as Liberal Queensland, was the Queensland division of the Liberal Party of Australia until 2008.
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