'Over the past 50 years, Indigenous Australian theatre practice has emerged as a dynamic site for the discursive reflection of culture and tradition as well as colonial legacies, leveraging the power of storytelling to create and advocate contemporary fluid conceptions of Indigeneity.
'Performing Indigenous Identities on the Contemporary Australian Stage offers a window into the history and diversity of this vigorous practice. It introduces the reader to cornerstones of Indigenous Australian cultural frameworks and on this backdrop discusses a wealth of plays in light of their responses to contemporary Australian identity politics.
'The in-depth readings of two landmark theatre productions, Scott Rankin's Namatjira (2010) and Wesley Enoch & Anita Heiss' I Am Eora (2012), trace the artists' engagement with questions of community consolidation and national reconciliation, carefully considering the implications of their propositions for identity work arising from the translation of traditional ontologies into contemporary orientations. The analyses of the dramatic texts are incrementally enriched by a dense reflection of the production and reception contexts of the plays, providing an expanded framework for the critical consideration of contemporary postcolonial theatre practice that allows for a well-founded appreciation of the strengths yet also pointing to the limitations of current representative approaches on the Australian mainstage. This study will be of great interest to students and scholars of Postcolonial, Literary, Performance and Theatre Studies.' (Publication summary)
Table of Contents
Introduction
Mapping the field
Conceptual frame
Production
Dramaturgy
Reception
References
1. Cultural and historical context
Cultural relations in Australia
Indigenous Australian ontologies and cultural practice
A brief overview of Australian colonial history
References
2 Contemporary Indigenous Australian theatre
The beginnings
Coming of age
Maturing practice
Autobiographical plays
Stories of family
Trauma and the female role model
Romance
Adaptations of classics
Historiographical intervention
Oppression
Agency, tenacity and inclusion
Relation to traditional formats
References
'The history chapter could have been better organised. Because these sectioned topics were oddly placed, it interfered with the flow of this chapter. In addition to the creation of the play, Thurow includes the equally important role that Big hART played with members of the Arrernte community, through Pitjantjatjara language maintenance and creating employment and skill development opportunities for marginalised communities across the APY lands. Thurow explores the problematic association of 'authenticity' with outdated images and assumptions of what Indigenous stories should look like, but at the same time she is contributing to this by using an outdated an inaccurate term 'traditional' when referring to the cultural practices of Indigenous people.' (Publication abstract)
'The history chapter could have been better organised. Because these sectioned topics were oddly placed, it interfered with the flow of this chapter. In addition to the creation of the play, Thurow includes the equally important role that Big hART played with members of the Arrernte community, through Pitjantjatjara language maintenance and creating employment and skill development opportunities for marginalised communities across the APY lands. Thurow explores the problematic association of 'authenticity' with outdated images and assumptions of what Indigenous stories should look like, but at the same time she is contributing to this by using an outdated an inaccurate term 'traditional' when referring to the cultural practices of Indigenous people.' (Publication abstract)