|
|
|
The Doll's revolution: Australian theatre and cultural imagination
Rachel Fensham
Melbourne, Vic : Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2005
|
If you are:
- a member of the Monash community; and
- have published, or are about to publish a book.
Let us know about it by
emailing:
authors@monash.edu.au
|
|
Book description
Drawing on the title of the ground breaking Australian play of
the 1950's, Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, this provocative
new book is the first detailed study of the work of prominent women
playwrights - Jenny Kemp, Hannie Rayson, Joanna Murray-Smith, Katherine
Thomson, Jane Harrison, Leah Purcell, Odette Best and Beatrix Christian.
It proposes that these women artists have created 'the dolls' revolution, a
theatrical revolution whose effects reach beyond theatre and drama to the
cultural imagination itself.
The launch of The Dolls'Revolution pays tribute to a 'acatalytic
event' that took place whose effects have changed the face of Australian
theatre. This was the inaugural season of the Playbox Theatre Company
in 1990 in which five out if the eight plays were written by woman.
Set against 'the new wave' of Australian drama in the 1960s and 70s, which
gave prominence to male writers in a largely masculine theatre culture,
The Dolls' Revolution examines how women have quietly stormed the main
stages of the nation's theatres.
During subsequent decades, women playwrights have ceased to write in a
feminist ghetto and have become the mainstream, transforming it from within.
In an era of globalization, conservative politics and troubled race
relations, these writers speak about the experience and concerns of many
Australians. Indeed they are highly tuned to the nuances of public and
private lives in a rapidly changing Australian culture.
About the author
Rachel Fensham is a Senior Lecturer with the Centre for Drama and
Theatre Studies at Monash University.
Need help? Library frequently asked questions and online
enquiries: current students/staff | public users, online chat,
or phone +61 3 9905 5054
Something to say? Use our online enquiry service to send us
your feedback and suggestions: current students/staff | public users
|
