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form y separately published work icon The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert single work   film/TV   humour   satire  
Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Tick' Belrose, a Sydney drag queen, accepts his ex-wife's invitation to bring his stage show to the outback. Felicia, a younger drag queen, and the grieving Bernadette. They set out for Alice Springs in a second-hand bus that they name 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. the journey takes them to Broken Hill, Coober Pedy and are rescued by an open-minded mechanic when Priscilla breaks down in the desert. In Alice Springs, Tick meets the young son he barely knows and the three climb Kings Canyon together in full drag, before making their debut at the Alice Springs casino.

Exhibitions

7921907
7913414

Adaptations

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Musical Stephan Elliott , Allan Scott , 2006 single work musical theatre humour satire

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Form: screenplay
    • Paddington, Kings Cross area, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 1994 .
      Extent: ix, 86p.p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0868194166

Works about this Work

Broken Hill Drag Queens Celebrate Priscilla, Queen of the Desert's Impact 30 Years on Coquohalla Connor , Alana Calvert , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , September 2024;

'On a rainy day on his family's outback sheep station, Tom Henderson went rummaging through the VCR collection and found a film that would change his life.'

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at 30 : More Important, Enjoyable and Vital Than Ever Stephen Gaunson , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 September 2024;

'The lavender painted bus named “Priscilla” continues to pick up new fans while never going out of favour with its legion of original devotees, 30 years after its release.' 

Vanity and Grace in the Return of Priscilla Andrew Hamilton , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 22 April vol. 34 no. 8 2024;

'Some years ago a pleasant British crime procedural was named The Last Detective. The title was shorthand for, ‘If we needed someone to solve this crime you would be the Last Detective we would send.’ The Last Detective, of course, was always the first to solve it.

'Two recent news stories recalled the series. Both concerned the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. At a time when the news is awash with economic stress, rising inequality, wars and rumours of war, and multiple threats to democracy, the last stories I would have thought pertinent were that of the recovery of the bus used in the movie, and the project to remake the film involving its original cast.' (Introduction)

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Sequel Announced 30 Years After Beloved Film's Original Release Nelli Saarinen , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , April 2024;
Making Queer Content Visible : Approaches and Assumptions of Australian Film and Television Stakeholders Working with LGBTQ+ Content Rob Cover , 2024 single work criticism
— Appears in: Media International Australia , February vol. 190 no. 1 2024; (p. 116-132)

'A concept of visibility frames much scholarship and public writing on LGBTQ+ representation in film and television, and underpins diversity reporting and inclusivity measurement. Although visibility is often depicted as a social good, there is a growing critical interest in asking if there are different kinds of visibility, and how these might be differentially valued. This paper reports insights gained from interviews with Australian stakeholders involved in the production of screen entertainment with LGBTQ+ content. The study found that stakeholders are motivated by to create texts that make LGBTQ+ stories and characters visible. The range of approaches to visibility was, however, nuanced and diverse: some understood any LGBTQ+ representation as valuable, while others discussed visibility in contexts of character depth, anti-stereotyping, and visibility tempered by concepts of human dignity. Although visibility is perceived diversely, it remains a significant lens by which creative artists involved in LGBTQ+ texts understand their work.' (Publication abstract)

Don’t Let Them Drag You Down Diana Sandars , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , 2008 no. 48 2008;

— Review of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Stephan Elliott , 1994 single work film/TV
Cultural Comparisons Constantine Santas , 2000 single work review
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , September-October no. 9 2000;

— Review of Muriel's Wedding P. J. Hogan , 1994 single work film/TV ; The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Stephan Elliott , 1994 single work film/TV
'I Will Survive!' : Australia's 10 Best LGBT Films Luke Buckmaster , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 7 April 2016;

— Review of The Getting Of Wisdom Eleanor Witcombe , 1978 single work film/TV ; The Sum of Us David Stevens , 1994 single work film/TV ; 52 Tuesdays Matthew Cormack , Sophie Hyde , 2014 single work film/TV ; The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Stephan Elliott , 1994 single work film/TV ; Head On Andrew Bovell , Ana Kokkinos , Mira Robertson , 1998 single work film/TV ; Love and Other Catastrophes Stavros Kazantzidis , Yael Bergman , 1996 single work film/TV ; Remembering the Man Eleanor Sharpe , Nick Bird , 2015 single work film/TV ; The Suicide Theory Michael J. Kospiah , 2014 single work film/TV
y separately published work icon The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Philip Brophy , Strawberry Hills Canberra : Currency Press Australian Film Commission , 2008 Z1471536 2008 single work criticism
The Orphan Complex : An Australian Myth Travels to Asia Gabrielle Finnane , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australia and Asia : Cultural Transactions 1997; (p. 52-69)
'This essay is a redescription of Australian films set in or dealing in some way with Asia. If an imaginary 'Asia' is sometimes a feature of Australian films, it is only as a generic motif viewed entirely through a lens of internal preoccupations of Australian culture. [...] To my eyes Romper Stomper and The Good Woman of Bangkok have a long cultural genealogy (pp. 53, 54).
Top Five Oz Road Films Gillian Cumming , 2009 single work column
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 20 December 2009; (p. 12)
Australia Crossed-Over : Images of Cross-Dressing in Australian Art Elizabeth McMahon , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Art And Australia , vol. 34 no. 3 1997; (p. 372-379)
McMahon discusses the way in which 'from the early colonial period, transvestism has been deployed as a central motif or conceit in Australian visual art, photography and film, as well as in ballads, literary narratives and drama (p.374).
Tripping on the Light Fantastic : A Bit of a Look at Australian Film Adrian Mitchell , 1997 single work criticism
— Appears in: Sydney Studies in English , vol. 23 no. 1997;
'In the beginning is the word: there has to be a script. But even before a word is said there's light, and camera, and action. Films are before all else about light, and about what can be realised through light. That pre-eminence of light was acknowledged in the old-time movie theatres, in the custom, now regrettably lapsed, of having the projection illuminating the screen before the curtains were drawn open, so that the promised world of light could be glimpsed before revelation, symbolically seen through a veil which then parted — and behold, a new heaven and a new earth. Those who arrived late, after the houselights had gone down, followed their own little subdued pool of light, the usherette's torch, down the carpeted aisles.' (Author's abstract)

Awards

1995 nominated Writers Guild of America Award Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
1995 nominated British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards Best Screenplay - Original
1994 nominated Australian Film Institute Awards Best Original Screenplay
Last amended 30 Aug 2017 09:55:28
Settings:
  • Australian Outback, Central Australia,
  • New South Wales,
  • South Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
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