THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS
The year is rapidly coming to an end and most critics and obsessives are looking back and compiling their "best of" lists. But DIANA SIMMONDS was preoccupied by the reappearance of one Paul John Keating. It was like a second coming and began a meditation and remembrance of things past. Main photo: The Shadow King by Jeff Busby.
In 1994 the hungry and hopeful of the Arts Tribe gathered in Canberra. Our very own Placido Domingo or, take your pick, Lorenzo de Medici, aka Paul Keating, aka the Coolest Dude ever to stalk the halls of Parliament House, had promised to re-enact the loaves and fishes and give us all a feed. It was exciting hanging about waiting in the marquee - erected over the walkway that used to connect the Australian National Gallery to the outside world. Later, for no good reason the place was renamed the National Gallery of Australia, but that's a digression.
Placido was late - apparently he was still crossing the Ts and dotting the Is to his satisfaction and wouldn't let the document go until he was happy with it. It was worth waiting for - a pretty thing, neatly bound and mattly gleaming. The cover was a William Robinson painting, if my memory isn't up the spout (can't find my copy at the moment). Anyway, it was one of those looking-up-into-the-trees-from-a-strange angle-scapes; all greens and blues and distorted perspectives. The document was titled Creative Nation and it was a defining moment in Australian life.
The defining moment occurred in the marquee in Canberra, of course, because there were no iPhones, WiFi, YouTube, no selfies, Instagrams - that's right! Nobody Facebooked or Tweeted their presence to one-up their non-attending mates. No instant communication or photos of any kind. So nobody else knew about it for hours - days even. How weird is that?
The PM - and Arts Minister - talked that day about the performing arts and their importance to Australia, about making sure live arts were made available to those not living in the capitals and major regional cities. That was to be done through Playing Australia, first funded the year before by the Labor Government and now with more money to keep on keeping on. He also talked a lot about the new-fangled techno stuff that was about to become the next big thing: mixed media it was called and it was going to be so cool.
It seemed like we were in on the dawning of the next phase of Labor-led arts and cultural growth - the kind of thing that Gough Whitlam and Don Dunstan had championed and which changed the cultural and artistic landscape for all Australia, not just the practitioners. We were excited, we were full of hope and excitement.
However, the real and lasting effect of Creative Nation was not one that could have been anticipated by Paul Keating, nor anyone else present and it was disastrous. The trouble was, the Tribe got big ideas above its station. From this launch and this little booklet, the Arts Tribe developed the fatal theory that it really mattered to government, to the nation, to culture and to others outside the magic circle. Sadly this was not the case. Truth was, virtually no one in government, aside from the Prime Minister, gave a toss about the arts. Never had, never would. And while Keating thought he could lead from the front, he under-estimated the power of intellectual indifference and sheer, bloody-minded boganism.
For the Arts Tribe the actual train wreck occurred at the State Theatre in Sydney on the occasion of the pre-federal election "Arts For Labor" shindig. Although none realised it at the time, hindsight being the ill-timed thing that it is. The arty-farty glitterati gathered to salute and support Placido and it was all just fabulous. The back-patting was contagious, the optimism epidemic - as Australia approached the Millennium it was as a nation whose creative talents were admired, loved, revered, funded and front and centre. Politicians could no longer afford to ignore the arts and artists. Huzza!
History relates, of course, that the election was a large bucket of very cold and nasty reality and the chill has never entirely gone away. Unfortunately, in so publicly associating themselves with PM Keating, those leaders of the Tribe - and therefore by association the Tribe itself - are tainted to this day; to be derided in private and ignored in public. More than that, it's now okay - even more than okay - to be a politician and openly not give a flying fig about arts and culture. At least Julia Gillard was honest and didn't attend anything more uplifting than the football, but the rest? They'll front up to a nice big musical, maybe, or if there are stars with whom they can be social-snapped. Otherwise - are you kidding?
Labor finally made a bit of an effort: in 2011 then Arts Minister Simon Crean got a move on with the National Cultural Policy - calling for input from the public. But it was too little, too late and way too many trees bit the dust in aid of policy papers, reviews, public submissions and discussion papers - the favourite do-nothing action of political parties down the ages.
Meanwhile, in Sydney, the pollies who've been regularly and voluntarily seen in theatres and concert halls without having to be dragged by their better halves can be counted on one hand: Barry O'Farrell, Tony Burke, Bronwyn Bishop and occasionally, Tanya Plibersek although to be fair to the latter, she would be forgiven for spending what little spare time she has asleep or with her kids. Is it much different elsewhere across the country? Maybe…
When the Credlin government Cabinet was announced, three months ago, the news that Sport would henceforth be within the Cabinet room was as typical as the absence of even a mention of the Arts. It appeared, like an unfortunate old stain on the tie of Senator George Brandis, the new Attorney General. He retained the portfolio from ancient times aka the Howard era, but during Rudd-Gillard-Rudd was having way too much entertainment with the long-running drama and farce of Slipper and Thomson to pay attention to the arts. Happy days.
So where is the Arts Tribe - in Sydney and the rest of Australia - halfway through the second decade of the 21st century? Up the creek with very few paddles. Interviewed by Crikey before the election Senator Brandis said that the Coalition's arts policy would be strong on "respect of the integrity of the arts, the sector and of artists” bearing in mind the Coalition's “regard of the arts as one of the great expressions of Australian excellence”. Motherhood statements being what they are, it's not clear what any of that means, if anything.
Both side of politics finds comfort in the Edifice Complex. In the same Crikey article, Minister Crean reminded us that “Since 2007, $300 million has been invested in infrastructure funding for nearly 500 arts and cultural projects including community libraries, local heritage sites, museums, cultural centres, historic buildings, theatres, music venues and art centres across Australia.”
It sounds splendid - unless you're one of the majority of artists of all kinds whose annual income from their years of training and finely honed talent is usual much less than the minimum wage. And it doesn't sound nearly so benevolent if you take into account the simple monetary value of the arts sector to state and national coffers. Taking just one instance that's nevertheless reasonably typical, it was reported in March that for every $1 contributed from state revenue, the Art Gallery of South Australia contributes $3 to Adelaide's economy. According to the Deloitte Access Economics report, the dollar impact of AGSA in 2010-11 was $19.8 million. Its cultural, social and educational impact is, of course, impossible to properly quantify. Yet there is enough evidence worldwide of the value of the arts and arts education education to children and - later - to society at large to know how vitally important arts and artists are to the nation.
This mood of reflection and semi-melancholy has been prompted by the recent Keating Interviews on ABC1. After all these years he remains the most exciting, most visionary, most outrageous and most loved and loathed political figure since Gough Whitlam. Lorenzo-Placido Paul Keating offered Australians a vision of the future that was exciting, a leap into the unknown, possibly a bit dangerous and definitely about being grown up and taking our future in our own hands. "Come with me," he urged. "It'll be thrilling and scary and we'll become a society we can be proud of." The alternative was John Howard, and he offered Australians the promise of being "comfortable and relaxed."
It was a choice that was so easy to make for so many and we've been on a moral and spiritual downhill slope ever since. I would argue that Manus Island and Scott Morrison are the direct descendants of that Howard promise. It remains for the arts and artists to make a difference and hold up the mirror and to date, I don't see much evidence of it. In Sydney this past year we've had some wonderful theatre and pretty much all of it has existed in a very entertaining but ultimately politically vacuous bubble. That may change with the imminent unleashing onto an unsuspecting public of Stephen Sewell's first batch of playwrighting graduates at NIDA.
Meanwhile, in 2013 we're still grappling with what is still "the Aboriginal question" namely via the marvellous The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Festival), which is one of four nominees for Best Mainstage Production in the Sydney Theatre Awards. In Melbourne, Malthouse staged The Shadow King - the black King Lear (pictured here) - and that comes to Sydney for the 2014 Festival in January. Otherwise, looking down the lists of shortlisted nominees, impressive though they are, they could come from any theatre city in the western world.
So much for old Australia - where is new Australia? Ros Horin gave us a tantalising and excellent taste with The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe (Riverside Parramatta) and out of the Sydney Comedy Festival of 2011 burst Anh Do - the 2013 face of Coles. But where is political theatre? Where is the theatrical anger and distaste at the current refugee policy? The winding back of education, disability insurance and [insert broken promise or backflip of your choice here]? It can't all be left to GetUp! and Change.org and Facebook rants, surely.
In the end it comes back to where we started: money, inspiration and ambition. Theatres need audiences and Sydney's audiences appear to have been comfortable and relaxed for so long they've forgotten what it's like to be stirred and shaken. Otherwise why are they happy with what's on offer? Or are they? It's telling that Griffin Theatre's nominee for Best Mainstage Production is John Romeril's The Floating World. Telling in that the play grabs emotions, prejudices and ideas by the neck and shakes them so thoroughly and so entertainingly it's impossible to forget its impact. Yet the play was first seen in 1975 and Romeril is an elder statesman at 69.
There was much to love in 2013, but looking back I'm amazed and bemused by what has floated to the top - which is not to say that great works have been neglected or allowed to sink. The fact is, I want more - tougher, more thoughtful Australian work. I want to see stories about Australia now. I think I'm a bit over a constant diet of classics, be they Greek or re-ripped off, Coward, Shakespeare, Miller or whomever. What's happened to originality, bold ideas and theatrical imagination? Ironically, the best example of those three demands is to be seen in an edifice: the City of Sydney's investment in the Eternity Playhouse! I give up - for the time being.
Happy New Year everyone - I'm going to the beach to be comfortable and relaxed. And if you haven't seen them - here are the shortlisted nominees for the Sydney Theatre Awards - voted for by yours truly with Elissa and Jason Blake, Deborah Jones, Jo Litson, John McCallum, Polly Simons, John Shand and Brad Syke.
BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Angels In America (Belvoir)
The Floating World (Griffin)
The Secret River (Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Festival)
Waiting for Godot (Sydney Theatre Company)
BEST INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Cyrano de Bergerac (Sport for Jove)
Jerusalem (New Theatre)
The Motherf**ker with the Hat (Workhorse Theatre Company)
Penelope (Siren Theatre Company)
BEST DIRECTION OF A MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Neil Armfield (The Secret River)
Eamon Flack (Angels in America)
Sam Strong (The Floating World)
Andrew Upton (Waiting for Godot)
BEST DIRECTION OF AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Kate Gaul (Penelope)
Damien Ryan (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Iain Sinclair (All My Sons)
Helen Tonkin (Jerusalem)
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Valerie Bader (The Floating World)
Cate Blanchett (The Maids)
Harriet Dyer (Machinal)
Sharon Millerchip (Bombshells)
Helen Thomson (Mrs Warren's Profession)
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Paul Blackwell (Vere)
Lee Jones (Frankenstein)
Peter Kowitz (The Floating World)
Luke Mullins (Small and Tired)
Richard Roxburgh (Waiting for Godot)
Hugo Weaving (Waiting for Godot)
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Abigail Austin (Twelfth Night)
Diana McLean (4000 Miles)
Toni Scanlan (All My Sons)
Zoe Trilsbach (The Motherf**ker with the Hat)
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Laurence Coy (The Removalists)
Nicholas Eadie (Jerusalem)
Marshall Napier (All My Sons)
Yalin Ozucelik (Cyrano de Bergerac)
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Lynette Curran (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
Elizabeth Debicki (The Maids)
Amber McMahon (Angels in America)
Susan Prior (Small and Tired)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Marcus Graham (Angels in America)
Ewen Leslie (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
Luke Mullins (Waiting for Godot)
Philip Quast (Waiting for Godot)
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Megan O’Connell (The Motherf**ker with the Hat)
Eloise Snape (4000 Miles)
Eloise Winestock (The Comedy of Errors)
Lizzie Schebesta (Cyrano de Bergerac)
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Justin Stewart Cotta (The Removalists)
Andrew Henry (All My Sons)
Damien Ryan (Othello)
Jeremy Waters (Jerusalem)
BEST STAGE DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Alice Babidge with Sean Bacon (The Maids)
Stephen Curtis (The Secret River)
Michael Hankin (Angels in America)
Gabriela Tylesova (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Renee Mulder (Mrs Warren’s Profession)
Teresa Negroponte (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Tess Schofield (The Secret River)
Gabriela Tylesova (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Verity Hampson (Machinal)
Nicholas Higgins (Frankenstein)
Mark Howett (The Secret River)
Nick Schlieper (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)
BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN IN A MAINSTREAM PRODUCTION
Steve Francis and Iain Grandage (The Secret River)
Elena Kats-Chernin and Daryl Wallis (Frankenstein)
Kelly Ryall (The Floating World)
Luke Smiles (School Dance)
BEST STAGE DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Tom Bannerman (Jerusalem)
Tom Bannerman and Kate Gaul (Penelope)
Marg Horwell (Summertime in the Garden of Eden)
Ally Mansell (The Removalists)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Rita Carmody (The Removalists)
Anna Gardiner (Cyrano de Bergerac)
Marg Horwell (Summertime in the Garden of Eden)
Jennifer Ham (Jerusalem)
BEST SCORE OR SOUND DESIGN IN AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION
Benny Davis and Alister Mew (Delectable Shelter)
Jed Silver (The Removalists)
Alistair Wallace (Jerusalem)
Darryl Wallis (Penelope)
BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
Andrew Bovell (The Secret River)
Kit Brookman (Small and Tired)
John Doyle (Vere)
Matthew Whittet (School Dance)
BEST NEWCOMER
Elizabeth Debicki (The Maids)
Taylor Ferguson (Miss Julie)
Harry Greenwood (Fury)
Elizabeth Nabben (Dance Better at Parties)
BEST PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
Carrie the Musical
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Lion King
JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Hilary Cole (Carrie the Musical)
Amy Lehpamer (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Lucy Maunder (Grease)
Katrina Retallick (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
JUDITH JOHNSON AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Russell Dykstra (The Lion King)
Matt Hetherington (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
Tim Minchin (Jesus Christ Superstar)
Tony Sheldon (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels)
BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN
Compass (atyp)
The Listies in 6D (Sydney Opera House)
Random Musical (Spontaneous Broadway and Sydney Opera House)
The 13-Storey Treehouse (CDP and Sydney Opera House)
BEST PRODUCTION FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Peter Pan (Belvoir)
School Dance (Windmill Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company in association with Sydney Festival)
Spur of the Moment (atyp)
Storm Boy (Sydney Theatre Company and Barking Gecko Theatre Company)
