Book offers new perspectives on women's intercultural performance
A new book, due out late next year, aims to fill a gap in performance theory by looking at women's intercultural theatre.
Dr Joanne Tompkins, from the University of Queensland's English Department, and Associate Professor Julie Holledge, Director of the Drama Centre at Flinders University of South Australia, have been collaborating on the project for about a year. This will be the second book they have co-authored.
Their work examines intercultural theatre, or instances where two or more cultures meet on stage. It looks at the interaction between performers and the audience, covers several different countries and includes historic and contemporary examples.
Pol Pelletier, a performer from Canada who incorporates Indian and Japanese performance traditions, and Tomiko Takai who appeared in The Masterkey, directed by Mary Moore for the 1998 Adelaide Festival, also come under the spotlight.
A classic example from earlier this century was A Doll's House, by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, which was widely performed in Japan and China from 1910.
In 1935, the role of Nora was played in Shanghai by the actress Lan Ping, who later became Madame Mao Zedong, wife of Communist Party leader Chairman Mao.
"A Doll's House was the most popular western play in China in the early part of this century and in Japan it was a significant influence in the women's movement at the same time," Dr Tompkins said.
"We are looking at the fascination with this play and how it relates to changes for women in those countries. Japan and China even produced their own sequels to A Doll's House."
Another example which considers how plays from the past have been reworked by different cultures is the staging in Argentina of Antigone, by the ancient Greek writer Sophocles.
Griselda Gambaro, an Argentinian playwright and novelist, uses Antigone as the basis of her 1986 Antigona Furiosa, which commented on the aftermath of Argentina's "dirty war".
Dr Tompkins said this play built on the well-known images of one of the major women's protest movements in that country, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.
Besides examining the role of women in the theatre as a tool for social and political development, the book also looks at performers from other cultures who have appeared more recently in Australia's main centres.
Dr Holledge was involved in staging the much more recent intercultural theatre production, The Masterkey, a new work involving Japanese and Australian performers.
The book uses this instance to explore different conceptions of time and space between cultures and looks at how the Japanese and Australian actors had different approaches to spatial confinement and emotional expression.
The analysis of ritual theatre includes performances in 1994 at Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne by Korean shaman (spiritual leader) Kim Kum hwa and Aboriginal ritual by Warlpiri women from central Australia.
Drs Tompkins and Holledge have researched the Warlpiri dance performances in central Australia and certain performances that have also been given in Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Such urban performances often mark special occasions, such as the opening of civic buildings.
Other chapters focus specifically on the marketing and promotion of intercultural performance, most notably at international festivals.
Dr Holledge said the book was intended as a significant addition to the existing body of academic and research work on theatre, and also as a practical handbook for directors, performers and others working in the industry.
For further information, contact Dr Joanne Tompkins (telephone 07 3365 1435) or Dr Julie Holledge (telephone 08 201 2019).
