New Theatre, Melbourne
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Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, formerly Melbourne Workers' Theatre Group, was one of a number of branches of Australia's New Theatre movement established in the 1930s. This was a radical left theatrical movement which staged performances with a political message. The theatre group existed from 1936 until 2000.


Background

New Theatre in Australia was inspired by similar movements abroad: the Workers Theatre Movement in the 1920s in the UK, and the New Theatre League in the United States. They were all affiliated with the Communist Party, and the plays were in the
agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
style of theatre favoured by the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Themes usually related to the
class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...
. Referred to as workers' theatre in the early days, groups formed in other cities around Australia: the Workers Art Club in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
in 1932 (later New Theatre), Workers' Theatre Groups in Melbourne and
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
; similar groups in
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
, and
Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
. Some disbanded and then got re-established, but only the Sydney's New Theatre is still in existence (). Themes explored in the productions were mostly related to exploitation of the working class,
sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...
,
racism in Australia Racism in Australia comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are held by various people and groups in Australia, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including violence) at various time ...
, and against war. It has been estimated that the total number of plays produced by all of the New Theatres was over 400.


History

The Melbourne Workers' Theatre Group was founded as a non-professional group in 1936 by Frank Huelin and
Betty Roland Betty Roland (22 July 1903 – 12 February 1996) was an Australian writer of plays, screenplays, novels, children's books and comics. Early years Betty Roland was born Mary Isobel Maclean at Kaniva, Victoria, the daughter of Roland and Matilda ...
. It was affiliated to the
Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...
, and created by the
Friends of the Soviet Union The International Association of Friends of the Soviet Union was an organization formed on the initiative of the Communist International in 1927, with the purpose of coordinating solidarity efforts with the Soviet Union around the world. It grew out ...
. In the early days the group produced short political sketches, which they often performed outdoors, including at factory gates. In 1936 the theatre group produced American playwright
Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize–winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withd ...
' full-length play (their first) ''
Waiting For Lefty ''Waiting for Lefty'' is a 1935 play by the American playwright Clifford Odets; it was his first play to be produced. Consisting of a series of related vignettes, the entire play is framed by a meeting of cab drivers who are planning a lab ...
'', and later that year his ''
Till the Day I Die image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
''. After the Nazi
Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...
complained to the
Commonwealth Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the prime ...
, the play was banned from being shown at Melbourne theatres, causing an outcry among the public. An attempt at a private performance at
Collingwood Town Hall Collingwood Town Hall is a civic building located on Hoddle Street in Abbotsford, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The hall was built between 1885 and 1887 to the competition-winning design of local architect George R. Johnson in the Sec ...
attracted a huge crowd, but did not proceed. Eventually, in February 1937, it was performed at Brunswick Town Hall. The publicity created by the debacle led to greater membership of the Workers' Theatre Group. In 1937 it became affiliated with the New Theatre League in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, which had been established in 1935. At this time the Melbourne group renamed itself as the New Theatre Club, and started performing plays and satirical revues at various small venues which they established in the city, as well as at some larger commercial theatres, such as the Princess Theatre. Architectural plans dated for a new building with the address given as 93
Flinders Street, Melbourne Flinders Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Running roughly parallel to the Yarra River, Flinders Street forms the southern edge of the Hoddle Grid. It is exactly in length and one and a half chains () in width. The stree ...
are kept in the archive, although ''
AusStage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...
'' records the address as no. 92 from 1942 onwards. Hilda Esson (1886–1953) and
Dot Thompson A dot is usually a small, round spot. Dot, DoT or DOT may also refer to: Orthography * Full stop or "period", a sentence terminator * Dot (diacritic), a mark above or below a character (e.g. ȧ, ạ, İ, Ċ, ċ, etc.), usually to indicate sou ...
(1914–2001) were just two of the many women participating directors, actors, and writers. Aboriginal rights activists from the
Aborigines Advancement League The Aboriginal Advancement League was founded in 1957 as the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL), is the oldest Aboriginal rights organisation in Australia still in operation. Its precursor organisations were the Australian Abori ...
(AAL) also performed in several productions. Among these was ''White Justice'', co-produced by the AAL and New Theatre in August 1946, based on the
Pilbara strike The Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The strike lasted between 1946 and 1949, and was the longest industrial action in Australian history. The strike has b ...
in
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. An excerpt from the play, which featured
Bill Onus William Townsend Onus Jnr (15 November 1906 – 10 January 1968) was an Aboriginal Australian political activist, designer, and showman, also known for his boomerang-throwing skills. He was father of artist Lin Onus. Early life and educat ...
' brother
Eric Onus The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...
and his wife Wynne,
Reg Saunders Reginald Walter Saunders, MBE (7 August 1920 – 2 March 1990) was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He came from a military family, his forebears having served in the Boer War and t ...
, Doug Nicholls, and many then-residents of Fitzroy, was captured on
35mm film 35 mm may refer to: Film * 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film * 35 mm movie film 35 mm film is a film gauge used in filmmaking, and the film standard. In motion pictures that record on ...
, making Onus possibly the first Aboriginal filmmaker. The story features in Bill Onus' grandson Tiriki Onus' film '' Ablaze''. New Theatre was the first theatre in Melbourne to stage works by international playwrights such as
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
. It also commissioned new Australian plays. In the 1950s there were some successes. '' The Ballad of Angel's Alley: A Pocket Opera'', by Jeff Underhill, was performed at the Flinders St theatre in December 1958 – January 1959. However, audiences were reducing in number, and the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
brought political pressures. The city theatre closed in 1959, and New Theatre became a suburban touring company. This focus continued even after Centre 63, a new city venue, opened in 1963. In 1964
Jack Charles Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous t ...
had his stage debut at Centre 63, in ''
A Raisin in the Sun ''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Ch ...
''. Charles and other Indigenous New Theatre actors went on to form the first Aboriginal theatre company, Nindethana Theatre, in 1971. Interest in New Theatre revived in the 1960s, partly owing to opposition to
Australian involvement in the Vietnam War Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War began with a small commitment of 30 military advisors in 1962, and increased over the following decade to a peak of 7,672 Australian personnel following the Menzies Government's April 1965 decision to ...
. The company shared the
Pram Factory __NOTOC__ The Pram Factory was an Australian alternative theatre venue in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton from around 1970 until 1981. It was home to the Australian Performing Group and Nindethana, Australia's first Aboriginal theatre group. B ...
in Carlton with the
Australian Performing Group The Australian Performing Group (APG) was a Melbourne-based experimental theatre repertory ensemble formed in an official capacity in 1970 from the La Mama Theatre (Melbourne), La Mama theatre group. Created to address a dissatisfaction with Austr ...
for a while, before moving into the Organ Factory in Clifton Hill in 1976. Dot Thompson was director of the theatre in 1970, when she cast
Jack Charles Jack Charles (5 September 1943 – 13 September 2022), also known as Uncle Jack Charles, was an Australian stage and screen actor and activist, known for his advocacy for Aboriginal people. He was involved in establishing the first Indigenous t ...
in South African playwright
Athol Fugard Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (; 11 June 19328 March 2025) was a South African playwright, novelist, actor and director. Widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright and acclaimed as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaki ...
's ''The Blood Knot''. New Theatre closed in 2000.


Records

Many records, costume and set designs, audio-visual material and other items pertaining to the theatre are held in the
Australian Performing Arts Collection The Australian Performing Arts Collection at Arts Centre Melbourne, formerly known as Performing Arts Museum (PAM), is the largest specialist performing arts collection in Australia, with over 780,000 items relating to the history of circus, danc ...
. The collection includes copies of the ''New Theatre Review'' and personal papers of Dot Thompson.


See also

* Melbourne Workers Theatre, 1987–2012


References


Further reading

*


External links

*{{Citation , title=Dot Thompson interviewed by Wendy Lowenstein for the Wendy Lowenstein 1930's Depression collection , author1=Thompson, Dot (1914–2001) , author2=Lowenstein, Wendy , year=1974 , format=audio , url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-214964609 }
ListenNew Theatre, Melbourne
on ''
AusStage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...
'' Amateur theatre companies in Australia 1936 establishments in Australia 2000 disestablishments in Australia Political theatre companies