Theatre reflects the society in which it is in. Use of particular elements of drama and production in Harrison’s Stolen and Keene’s Life Without Me and evokes the audience’s engagement and understanding of the dramatic meaning that is created. By exploring the development of the character’s personal concerns the audience can effectively engage with and consider the cultural issues expressed in these two plays. By highlighting and exploring these key issues the audience is challenged and confronted with a representation and reflection on parts of Australian culture. The thematic issues and concerns of both plays include – Racism, Discrimination, Persecution, Lack of Respect, Identity, Belonging (or lack of), Discovery and the issues of Home.
Harrison’s production is an empathetic insight into the sustained impact of the “Stolen Generation” on its victims. Harrison’s stage directions allow performers to powerfully use sets and props to represent the experience of each character. This was demonstrated while viewing different scenes of “Stolen” workshopped in class. The actors started off each holding a suitcase conveying the absence of home, stability and security. This
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For non-Australians and even for many Australian citizens, knowledge of Australian policies such as the Half Caste Acts, Aboriginal Protection Act and non-indigenous policies such as the White Australia policy and the Assimilation policy stained Australian culture as incredibly racist. This context would help the audience of Stolen to understand just how much cruelty Indigenous Australians experienced. Harrison pushes the thematic concern of inequality through the five children institutionalised. The children are played by adults who symbolises the transgression of pain from child to adult; sexual abuse, intellectual abuse and physical abuse never just
For Pearson, allusions to the Redfern Speech alongside clever implementation of inclusive language facilitate the notion that Indigenous issues are a concern for the nation as a whole. This is evident through the usage of ‘our nation’ and the actions that ‘we’ have to take to correct the injustices of the past, which has the effect of reconciling the divide between Indigenous and European Australians; thus unifying the nation. Atwood, on the other hand, employs pathos through personal anecdotes and humour in order to establish a relationship with her audience. This provides her textual integrity, as it resonates with her audience on a personal level. The humorous personal anecdote of her daughter’s breakfast play allows Atwood to reinforce her argument that in order to ignite interest in literature “something else has to happen”, assisting her audience to emotionally identify with her perspective.
To start off, Alicia Elliot illustrates in this particular section of her book how everything was taken away from the indigenous peoples, as well as the children that took no part in the disagreements happening between the two parties. In this chapter, we notice how the children in this story are being used, treated terribly, overworked as well as “[stolen]”... from their “families, language, and culture” (146). The story described in the text demonstrates how the children of the Indigenous people face dispossession as their childhood was being ripped from their hands as well as being taken away from their families leading to
Racism and gender equality are still relevant issues in Australia today, however, are not as dominant now as they were in 1965. (Dexter B. Wakefield, 2009) The film, ‘Jindabyne’ by Ray Lawrence and the novel, ‘Jasper Jones’ by Craig Silvey are two effective texts that incorporate individuals and relationships in society. Both Ray Lawrence and author Craig Silvey challenge the audiences in relation to how society treats these individuals, emphasising the themes, racism and gender equality. These perspectives are shown through context, characters and themes.
Michael Futcher says, “….the issues explored in this play are important to all Australians, and viewed against the current backdrop of the refugee and immigrant debate, challenge us to question as a society, what we value most.” His interpretation of the classic novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ turned into a realistic play of ‘Tequila Mockingbird,’ interpreted by Shake and Stir, clearly illustrates and develops this idea of what Australians find important and value most in our society of the dark issues of racism, personal prejudice and abuse throughout the demonstration of the conventions of drama. Ross Balbuziente was successful in playing both roles of Joel Abbot and Mitch by the manipulation and enhancement of dramatic language and meaning.
The nation (Australia) is constantly looking for a person/group of people to follow. The underprivileged are stuck in the midst and subsequently, they feel a sense of inequality. Noonuccal accentuates the auditory effect of the underprivileged, in an attempt to evoke a depressing or compassionate feeling towards them from the reader through the use of imagery in the ‘underprivileged call’. The use of personification in ‘unfriendly doors’ displays how the statesman can force the ‘unfriendly doors’ to groups of people in which he dislikes, which shows how mean and unfriendly Australians can be.
This change in the 1960’s led to a change in Australian identity and the idea of a white Australia. One literary text that reflects the issues and challenges faced in the 1960’s is Michael Gow’s play, Away. Dealing with the challenges of this time, Away focuses on the lives of three different families and the idea of reconciliation and self-discovery. Through themes, language and characterisation Away challenges ideas
This article discusses the speech given by an Indigenous journalist, Stan Grant who participated in a debate where he spoke for the motion “Racism is destroying the Australian Dream’’. Hence, the main points of this article are mostly evidence given by Grant in his debate to support his idea that the Australian Dream is indeed rooted in racism. One of the main points is that the indigenous Australians are often excluded and disregarded as non-Australians simply due to their race and skin colour. Grant pointed out the incident where AFL player Adam Goodes was publicly jeered and told that he did not belong to his country as he was not an Australian despite the fact that Australia indeed is the land of his ancestors.
No matter what changes are made, as long as their skin colour isn’t pure white, they will never be regarded as “Australian”. This puts stress on the requirement for migrants to completely dispose of their own identity for an “Australian” identity. The fact that the protagonist claims that he or she has provided the migrants with equality is also ironic. “Learn English to Distinguish ESL from RSL”, the utilisation of assonance and internal rhyme
There is the underlying theme of prejudice, especially through racism; against refugee of the Vietnam War, Jeffrey Lu; Jasper Jones, an indigenous Australian of mixed descent often being the town’s
Black Diggers is an epic theatre production produced by an Australian Queensland Theatre Company. Tom Wright, using his extensive knowledge on Australian History wrote the piece in 2014 and expresses clear themes of war, race and equality. Subsequently, the themes assist in creating the overall dramatic meaning. Black Diggers engages its audience through conveying a didactic message, it brings the realisation that Australian aborigines were brave honourable men who were ultimately rejected and their story lost, thus creating the dramatic meaning. Through employing dramatic languages of symbol, space and roles and relationships, Black Diggers successfully conveys the overall dramatic meaning to its audiences.
The Aborigines Act was one of the most horrific acts of hatred and racism to ever commence in history, and has affected generations of Indigenous Australians, and will continue to affect several generations of Indigenous Australians to come. It led to decades of generational trauma, an irreversible loss of cultural identities within society, and ongoing educational and occupational inequalities. Mistreated children often grow up to have children of their own, who are often mistreated due to their parent’s trauma. This is called Generational Trauma, which can impact several generations of children, often called a ‘cycle of abuse’, much like a ripple effect. In other words, Generational Trauma involves the transmission of trauma from one generation
It effectively describes the story of Mathinna, a young Aboriginal girl removed from her family and raised as white girl and the problems and consequences of such an act. Bibliography Mathinna | Bangarra Dance Theatre. 2015. Mathinna | Bangarra Dance Theatre. [ONLINE] Available at: http://bangarra.com.au/performance/mathinna.
Picture book review: Stolen girl August 2015 ‘Stolen girl’ written by Trina Saffioti and illustrated by Norma MacDonald, is a touching, emotionally stirring picture book about the tourment a young aboriginal girl experiences when she was taken away from her mother, by the Australian government. The story takes place in a children’s home and is told with the use of small bursts of detailed paragraphs and intense, colourful and melancholy illustrations. Written for 8-10 year olds, the purpose of the book represents the experiences of children who were a part of the stolen generation in the 1900s-1970s. In this time period it was government policy in Australia that each indigenous Australian child was to be removed from their families as the