Werbeloff Ya Arts

I've been inspired by an article in Crikey today to get some interesting Werbeloff takes on our local theatre industry.

According to Crikey;

There are two ways to werbeloff:

Classic werbeloff: Convey a current news story, literary or popular classic using the elements of polar opposites plus a racial epithet (e.g. fat/thin, tall/short, wog skip dago poofter etc) with a brief contrary exchange, followed by onomatopoeic gunfire or mimicry thereof.

Freestyle werbeloff: The same, using a limited palette of racial slurs, "sick" "chick" "totes" "mate" and a few other terms, in such a disdainful way that not even the desperate "politically incorrect" right would want to own it.


For instance, there were a few theatre examples in today's edition.

(Romeo and Juliet). There were these two wogs fighting and the fatter wog said to the skinnier wog, "Oi bro, your brother Romeo slepsht with my cousin Juliet" and the other one said "Nah man, he didn’t for sh-t, eh" and so Romeo took some fully sick poison and Juliet pulled out a gun and went Chk Chk Boom.

(Medea). This full bitch wog chick gets back at her bloke Jase cos he got off with some rich chick when he was on a footy trip by fully shooting her own kids, Chick Chick Boom!

(On The Merchant of Venice). The big nosed wog said to the skinny wog "Oi bro, you ripped me off eh, I'm going to get my fully sick boys to cut a pound of flesh from you", the skinny wog said "no you wont for sh-t eh cos you cant take a drop of blood" then he looked at the big nosed wog and said Rip Rip Jew.


So tonight, like, I'll be going to Ruben Guthrie where this ad guy, who's the total bomb, decides to like give up the booze and shit. But then his skip boss starts to get sick on his arse. But then, like, the ad guy says, "no way, you can stick that shit, I'm goin wiv ma fully sick boyz to AA Bro."

Any more?

Exit the King

The writing has been on the wall for a while now and today Company B announced the departure of Artistic Director, Neil Armfield.

To finish his tenure at the end of 2010, the company will look to appoint a new director by the end of this year. All money is on Wesley Enoch.

In a statement released by the theatre today Armfield said,"Company B has been my world for many, many years and for me this decision is like no other in its magnitude. I am fortunate to have been offered a number of exciting opportunities overseas and, in the wake of the success of Exit the King in New York, I feel it is the appropriate time to pursue them."

"There is also a huge momentum in the industry at the moment, with an abundance of talented directors soaring through the ranks – it’s time to give someone else a go. [General Manager] Brenna Hobson is part of the next generation of Australia’s arts leaders and I feel extremely confident that I’m leaving the company in good hands."

It's been an illustrious and exciting career for the man who did Cloudstreet. I'm only going to mention that one production because to me it represents a pinnacle of the Australian theatre industry which many directors in this country can only aspire to achieve.

(Ok, I'll also mention his 1995 Hamlet which was my introduction to the big wide world of professional theatre and I have been bitten ever since. Roxburgh, Rush, MacKenzie - what more could you want? Gush, gush, gush.)

Just last week, Armfield was named one out of a hundred Creative Catalysts by the Creative Sydney team as "a Sydney icon who continues to draw in new audiences for theatre and performance".

And they are right. It's astonishing that he has continued to do consistently good work over the twenty odd years he has been based at the old tomato sauce factory on Belvoir Street in Surry Hills.

It has been a gradual process whereby Armfield has been pulled away from the country and the theatre more and more over the last few years directing operas and shows across Europe and North America. Staff have often mentioned to me that when he isn't around the place lacks a certain direction.

No doubt, with the appointment of a new director towards the end of the year, they will have a more full-time AD once again.

But until then we have Armfield directing one of his favourite playwrights again David Hare (I still don't know what his fascination with Hare is) in a production of Gethsemane which opens later this year.

No doubt there will be more theatrical delights after that.

Thanks for the experiences Neil, and best of luck for the future.

Serpent's Teeth Honoured

Congratulations to Daniel Keene who scored the NSW Premier's Literary Prize for playwriting.

In a very tough field (Andrew Bovell's When The Rain Stops Falling and Damien Millar's The Modern International Dead were both in the running) it's good to seem Keene, a Melbourne playwright often ignored in Sydney, get the gong.

It must be a good sign of the rising standards of playwriting when such a strong group of writers are in the mix. I share the sentiments about the lack of female voices. However Debra Oswald won it last year.

So congratulations to Daniel.

Review: Ollie and the Minotaur

Ollie and the Minotaur
Downstairs Belvoir
Until 3 May
Tickets $23-29
Bookings (02) 9699 3444
Critic’s Rating 7/10


Ollie and the Minotaur opens like a fresh sea breeze of familiarity as old school friends Thea, Bec and Carla come together for a coastal weekend reunion.

It’s the type of weekend based on simple pleasures we’ve all had – lie in the sun, get drunk, relive your youth and maybe listen to Gen X anthems like Pump Up The Jam for good measure.

The dominant Thea (Wendy Bos) and the more retiring Bec (Sarah Brokensha) arrive first and from the first moments a pecking order of their status is established. Advertising executive Carla (Adriana Bonaccurso) is not far behind them as she quickly dons her sunnies and starts ordering young Bec to fix her a gin and tonic.

From Shakespeare to Chekhov, the dramatic potential and tension provided by three women on stage has been used by the greats of the stage.

Ollie and the Minotaur is no different. The three talk about boys, dance and yell madly but the innocence of their get-together unravels as a dark secret between the three opens a Pandora’s box.

It’s here that the dramatic tension lifts off and takes what could be a very ordinary plot into a complicated and more sinister world.

Working with three quite wonderful performers, playwright Duncan Graham has grabbed that tradition and developed a story that is engrossing and, when it reaches the end, very disturbing.

Director Sarah John allows the story to be told with a respectful simplicity and allows the gifted actors to deliver what is a sharp, realistic and well-crafted new Australian play.

Review: I Shall Be Remembered

I Shall Be Remembered
Parade Theatre, NIDA
Until 3 May
& 6-10 May at Glen Street Theatre
Tickets $20-55
Bookings 1300 795 012
Critic’s Rating 5/10


It was a fortune teller who first predicted the rise and rise of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, more familiarly known as Madame de Pompadour.

With an insatiable drive to 'be remembered' she conveniently got rid of her tax collector husband and rose from her more humble bourgeois origins to become part of the royal court at Versailles and eventually mistress to King Louis XV.

This monologue written by Elizabeth Woodman for performer Elaine Montgomerie follows the mistress from her early childhood - when her mother dreamt of her daughter rising to the aristocracy - to her later years when she yielded power within the court as confidant to the king.

Adorned with beautifully intricate costumes, Montgomerie performs the tale framed by enormous reproductions of the portraits the mistress commissioned while living at Versailles.

Unfortunately, neither the satin gowns nor the historical interest of the plot can carry this museum like piece of theatre. From the rather earnest voice-over commentary to the trumpeting musical interludes it’s all just a little too curious.

Montgomerie who worked extensively with the JC Williamson Shakespeare Company in the 1950s and 60s is accomplished but not enough to give it the life it needs for its two hour duration.

ArtStart (kind of) Gets the Nod‏

As published today in Crikey.


Arts Minister Peter Garrett has finally delivered on his promise to give ArtStart, infamously described by Peter Costello in the lead up to the last election as ‘welfare’ for artists, the green light.

At the time of its proposal in 2007 the Member for Higgins tore into the Member for Kingsford-Smith saying:

The member for Kingsford-Smith said that I would never have thought of something like this. Well, blow me down! I never have thought of something like this: that somebody on welfare needs more time to produce art! What are the responsibilities of someone who is on welfare? Do they have to turn up at the office at 8am and take them away from their easel?

First proposed as a way to develop a "Social Security and the Arts" policy that bridged current Australia Council for the Arts, Centrelink and the Australian Tax Office rules, it aimed to determine “the most equitable way to treat earnings and royalty payments for artists currently receiving welfare.”

Sensibly, Garrett has removed the words "Centrelink" and "Australian Tax Office" from the funding measure and it has now re-emerged as a grant which will be administered by the Australia Council.

It’s a major commitment in this year’s Budget with the Rudd Labor Government to spend $9.6 million over four years which will provide two hundred $10,000 grants to "individual graduate artists to enable them to create a major work or event to build their portfolio and increase their self‑sufficiency".

Aimed at visual artists, musicians, designers and performing arts practitioners, it will provide a much needed leg up particularly for those in capital cities who face rapidly rising rental costs and little support from state based arts bodies -- particularly NSW.

However, the real coup for Garrett is how he has managed to maintain all funding for the arts portfolio, even after the massive injections his predecessor George Brandis delivered under the Coalition government. It was a tall order in the face of a downturn in the economy and in fact, the Arts Minister has even delivered a little bit more.

The Indigenous Arts is another big winner in the Budget. A recommendation of last year’s Senate enquiry into Indigenous Arts and part of the "Closing the Gap" initiative will see an additional $10 million provided over four years to “increase the support for art centre operations, ensuring appropriate staffing, training and salaries for art centre employees, and addressing poor recruitment and retention rates in remote areas”.

Other highlights include $8 million over four years to the Books Alive program and $5 million for NIDA, the Australian Ballet School and Australian Youth Orchestra to get out to regional and out metropolitan areas to teach young kids.

Screen Australia, the newly formed national peak body which merged the Australian Film Commission, Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia into one, continues with funding maintained. It’s just a shame that the new organisation hasn’t done terribly much in the last twelve months (although they have got a nice new logo). Hopefully an additional $750,000 in this year’s budget to help administer the new 40 per cent producer off-set rebate will get them going a bit.

Garrett has also tried to address the lack of touring arts programmes to regional areas with a number of grants to get art exhibitions touring. But Regional Australia’s continuing request left over from last year for $24 million in touring funding is still left out.

There is also no sign that the Rudd Labor Government plans to re-install any aspect of Alexander Downer’s policy of using the arts as a means of second-tier diplomacy. The removal of the previous Downer’s On the World Stage program has been a blow to many of our top arts organisations -- most particularly in their attempts to engage with Asia.

But in a time of recession the arts should be happy with the renewed commitment of the Federal Government and their new Arts Minister. Now they just have to find a way to stop corporate sponsors from leaving the fold.