Cirrus@Austlit

Errol O'Neill records in Challenging the Centre that 'Star Trick was an entertainment based on the idea that the American TV series Star Trek was being produced by the Australian impresario Hector Crawford.' Its purpose was to provide a satirical commentary on political events in Australia. He further notes that the show began with workshops exploring the television characters and situations:

The TV show was not being broadcast at the time but it was accessible through spin-off books. Initially the idea was to use a 'who are the aliens' sci-fi metaphor to write a show about Aboriginal-white relations in Australia... Just after rehearsal started, the 1974 federal election was announced, forced by a hostile Liberal Party controlled Senate on the newly elected Labor Government. This led to a radical revision of the nature and purpose of the show, which Richard Fotheringham rewrote in just a few days, using Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and the Liberal leader Billy Sneddon as the principal antagonists. Star Trick was a relatively gentle satire compared to the harder-hitting later works, but succeeded in the challenge of successful performance in a wide range of informal venues, and helped the participants to build up a body of experience about what worked in such conditions.

The production involved direct to audience speech and the use of music and songs to puntcuate and comment on the action.