NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The word identity has a significant meaning in the contemporary world. It means more than being an independent nation or a geographical location. It has something deeper and more complex which is concerned with the lifestyle, thoughts, faith, arts, sport and how we respond cross-culturally to the values of heroes. Since the early twentieth century, Australia's national identity has been mirrored through its arts programs and use of drama and theatre. However, there has been significant change in the way Australias drama has reflected this national identity.
In the early 1900 s, less Australian drama appeared on stages around the country, and we were mainly home to foreign works such as Shakespeare. There was a slow increase in the projection of national identity through drama up until the late 1940 s and early 1950 s where Australia's theatre industry hit a boom. From that period onward, the countrys dramatic talent and literary works only enhanced. Plays such as The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, A Touch Of Silk, The Removalists and No Sugar were some of the most influential representations of Australian culture to date. They all portrayed the battling way of life through Australian eyes. To our modern day, Australia's national identity is still being strongly reflected through the use of stage drama.
The story of Australian drama had very humble beginnings. Mud huts with improvised stages, lit by candles were not uncommon. The actors were convicts of penal settlements and would put on very small productions of English restoration comedies. Australias theatre industry was all imported culture.
The first Australian play written by an Australian was The Bushrangers by David Burn, in 1829. Before the 20 th century, Australian drama was not particularly effective in conveying prominent issues and themes of the time partly due to political censorship prevailing then, and a lack of ability to describe an Australian identity through drama. With federation in 1901, there were increasing demands for a national theatre which truly reflected Australian life. A number of Australian writers were inspired by the growth of national theatre in Ireland and the emergence of a new realism in theatre through the plays of Ibsen, Chekhov and Shaw and the works of Stanislavski, and by the beginning of the 20 th century, there was a new nationalistic current surging through Australian theatre. Although the British theatre was still the popular trend, the nationalistic current was sustained by the growth of the little theatre movement. In 1908, Leon Brodsky wrote: Many of us are almost in despair when we see how little relation the theatre in Australia has to the national life of the country.
No-one can name any Australian play that has even had pretensions of being considered seriously as drama. He believed it was up to the writers themselves to get together and form a national organization. Such groups as Leon Brodskys Australian Theatre Society and the Independent Theatre actively encouraged Australian playwrights. They saw drama as a way of developing a national identity. The 1920 s and 30 s there emerged an interesting development in the appearance of playwrights in different parts of the country who wrote specifically about their own local events and concerns.
This was the beginning of national identity through drama. George Lander Dunn in Queensland wrote about the problems affecting Aborigines in his state. Fountains Beyond was the first Australian play to have an Aborigine as its hero, and to deal with the situation of aborigines as fringe dwellers in a serious drama. As a group, Australia's female playwrights contributed a number of significant plays to our theatre. As individuals, they provided a range of fresh insights and varied perspectives on our drama and our culture. Betty Roland's A Touch Of Silk, first performed in 1928, tells the story of Jeanne, a French girl who meets an Australian soldier in France during the First World War, and comes to live with him on a farm in Australia after the war, in the middle of drought.
She buys some silk underwear from a traveling salesman named Osborne. Her husband makes her life intolerable because of this waste of money, and she goes off to a dance with Osborne. Her husband follows and kills him. To save her husband, Jeanne publicly confesses to adultery with Osborne, which is not true. Jeanne's character is interesting and complex and it tells us a lot about Australian attitudes to women in the 1920 s. A new chapter opened dramatically in Australian theatre in the 1950 s.
Australians had become more aware of their own cultural identity. Since the Second World War there had been a mass of opinion that ways must be found to encourage the growth of national theatre, rather than always accepting imported actors and productions. The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, established by Dr Coombs in 1954 achieved awe-inspiring things for Australian drama when it presented its first Australian production of Ray Lawlers play The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. The Doll went on to become the most celebrated and influential of all Australian plays.
It explores the major themes of Australian lifestyle and literature mate ship, individualism and the corroding effects of time as well as the universal themes of ageing and illusion. Roo and Barney, the two cane cutters who come to Melbourne every year during the lay-off season in Queensland, are genuinely original creations, as is Olive, the woman who waits for Roo. The end of Olives dream, when Roo wants to settle down to work in a factory, is treated with compassion. It also marks the end of the Australian myth of the powerful, independent, outback Australian male. The play has universal meaning as well as a distinctively Australian significance, and yet the characters, the situation and the events of the play are completely believable and fascinating. The language is colorful and amazingly effective, yet entirely appropriate to the characters.
Barney: Now dont go runnin up to him hes chockablock. The Doll was somewhat radical for its time, as it was staged in a time when society was far more conservative that it is now, and it portrayed single, working women involved in long-term sexual relationships with men to whom they were not married! The bush - city dichotomy is an issue further raised, adding to the authentic feel of the play. Australia was maturing (as the characters are in the play) and their search for identity in many ways represents the nations search for a unique Australian identity the characters in the play are microcosmic of Australian society. A London critic praised The Doll for giving respect to the ordinary people. The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll was a worldwide success, and awakened interest in Australian drama not only in this country, but universally.
As well as The Doll other well known plays of this period included The Shifting Heart by Richard Beyond and The One Day of the Year by Alan Seymour. They all reflected the reshaping of the Australian image in its transition from the rural and working class society to the new middle class and urban Australia. Australia in the 1950 s was a time of post war reconstruction, immigration, affluence and a new self assurance as a nation and a loosening of the economic, social and cultural ties with England all of which was reflected in theatre. A new era had begun, and Australian drama was finally recognized.
The swinging sixties, a decade that saw anti-Vietnam protests, Beatle mania, flower power and a questioning of traditional values revolutionized western society and theatre. It also saw the appearance of a number of significant Australian writers. Patrick White was renowned as a novelist before he turned to writing plays, producing four plays in the early 1960 s. Ham Funeral, his most effective work is an interesting piece of anti-naturalism...
Free research essays on topics related to: theatre, australian, national identity, national theatre, 20 th century
Research essay sample on 20 Th Century National Identity
