Robert Helpmann remembered

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Tags: Arts, books, UQP, winter-2009

To celebrate the 2009 centenary of Robert Helpmann’s birth, UQP has published Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art by Anna Bemrose.

The cover of Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art

Dr Bemrose, an honorary research adviser in the UQ School of English, Media Studies and Art History, has brought to life the enduring and charismatic story of one of Australia’s most notable international performers.

The book, which contains more than 100 images, profiles one of our greatest performers from dancer to mime, choreographer, stage and film actor, director of operas, make-up artist, co-artistic director and later sole director of the Australian Ballet and director of the 1970 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Dr Bemrose said many people assumed Helpmann went to England to learn his craft, but her research discovered he had already choreographed his first ballet and was involved in experimental theatre in Adelaide before he went overseas at the end of 1932.

She writes about Helpmann’s 17-year partnership with Dame Margot Fonteyn, his choreographic works for the Australian Ballet and his pivotal role in showcasing home-grown talent to the rest of the world.

“One of the most important patterns that emerges in Helpmann’s development as an artist was his driving ambition to learn as much as possible about every facet of the performing arts and to be taught by the best teachers in each discipline,” Dr Bemrose said.

Dr Bemrose’s research took her on a whirlwind journey through the Helpmann Papers and other collections in the National Library, and personal interviews with many of Helpmann’s professional collaborators including Peter Sculthorpe, Bill Akers, Richard Bonynge and Royal Ballet founder Dame Ninette de Valois (then 100 years old).

By Eliza Plant

Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art, UQP, RRP $49.95

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