Recollections At Play: A Life In The Australian Theatre (1993)
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Melbourne University Press 1993 398pp Soft cover. One major crease in both the front cover and the spine, otherwise in good condition. Born in England in 1924 he emigrated to Australia in 1952 and for the next 30 years was one of the most influential figures in Australian theatre. When John Sumner arrived in Melbourne in 1952, there was no professional drama company in Australia. Audiences had to rely on rare visits from overseas touring companies, or on amateur productions. The young Sumner, armed with references from Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quayle, had come out to manage the Union theatre at the University of Melbourne. Within 18 months he had started the Union Theatre Repertory Company, and over the following decades gradually built the fledgling venture into the nation's largest and most successful professional company, the Melbourne Theatre Company. "Recollections at Play" traces the growth of Australian theatre between 1952 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of one of its most influential practitioners. It sketches a multitude of personalities that helped shape the professional drama movement, and tracks the development of public enthusiasm for the performing arts which, in Melbourne, culminated in the building of the Victorian Arts Centre. It charts important landmarks such as the formation of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, the launching of Australia's most famous play, "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll", the introduction of government support for the arts, and the upsurge in Australian writing for the stage from the late 1960s.;Sumner offers numerous, sometimes surprising, insights into all aspects of theatre life: acting, directing and the production process, the question of standards, the role of government, and of course the changing terrains of Australian drama. Among those crossing centre-stage are Barry Humphries, Leo McKern, Zoe Caldwell, Tyrone Guthrie, Ray Lawler, Frank Thring, Googie Withers, Keith Michel, David Williamson and Patrick White. Directing the proceedings is the distinctive voice of John Sumner, a voice by turns exuberant, wistful, ironic, provocative, wry, instructive - and often funny.
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