Cirrus@Austlit

'A 55 minute show about the history and present threat of nuclear war and the evils of militarism. Set in the metaphor of an insane asylum, the actors played a series of terrifying characters which arose out of their "MADness"...The military-industrial complex was analysed and, towards the end of the show, all pretence at satire was quite purposely dropped for a dramatic monologue based on extracts from Wilfred Burchett's post-Hiroshima journalism and from the book on Hiroshima by J. Hersey.'

Source: Errol O'Neill, 'A Chronology of the Popular Theatre Troupe : 1974-1983,' p.81.

Researched, written, designed and directed by Richard Fotheringham, Fallout and Follow Me is a 25 minute show focusing on the debate around uranium and domestic nuclear energy. One of the key targets is the involvement of large corporations such as Westinghouse and General Electric in trying to popularise domestic nuclear power stations in the USA and elsewhere, regardless of the dangers.

The production used a World War One recruiting rally as its metaphor, and utilised songs from that era.

Source: Errol O'Neill. Challenging the Centre, p.66-67.

Considered one of the Popular Theatre Troupe's most accessible shows, The Millionaire's Handicap was the result of Albert Hunt's last visit as a consultant and director for the company.

'Based on a booklet published by Action for World Development about the activities of the Comalco Bauxite Mining Company in North Queensland, where the aboriginal people had been removed at gunpoint from their tribal lands. There was also evidence of transfer price fixing in Hong Kong to deny Australia a share of the profits resulting from the mining, The Millionaires Handicap used training and racing horses as a metaphor for the treatment of different "races" of people by big business.'

Source: Errol O'Neill. Challenging the Centre, p.65-66.

Described by Errol O'Neil as relatively simple, and in a more agit-prop style than previous productions, Dutch Treat's topical subject matter also gave it an immediate impact with audiences. O'Neil further notes:

The idea for the show came from journalist Anthony Samson, who suggested in a book on the activities of multi-national companies that they were modern-day pirates in the precise sense of having allegiance to no nation but simply operating under flags of convenience. Dutch Treat had characters dressed as pirates but carrying businessmen's umbrellas and, in a Hollywood swashbuckling pirate musical style combined with agit-prop placards and demonstration scenes, analysed the role of international capital in Australia, particularly after the sacking of the Whitlam government in November 1975.

Source: Errol O'Neill. Challenging the Centre, p.65.

Albert Hunt proposed staging The White House Goes to the Movies to the organisers of the 1976 Adelaide Festival as a double bill with The White Man's Mission. The show comprises two short plays that had previously been performed in England by Albert Hunt's Bradford company. Each looks at a particular American presidency - those of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Hunt's take on Johnson was to see him as if he was Longfellow Deeds, the simple country bumpkin who refuses to be corrupted by the city in Capra's Mr Deeds Goes to Town. He treats Nixon as if he were Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot.

Source: Errol O'Neill. Challenging the Centre, p.64).

'The White man's Mission was a musical entertainment using the metaphor of rousing revivalist meeting to present episodes in the history of Australia and the South Pacific. Racism, slavery and exploitation were examined in a bitterly humorous documentary about the fate of Aborigines after the arrival of the white man on the continent, and the fate of the 50,00 descendants of the South Sea Islanders still living in Australia today' (Errol O'Neill. Challenging the Centre, p.63).

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.