Another feather falls from the sky

The Daily Telegraph has reported today that yet another Kookaburra musical has been cancelled. This follows hot on the heels of the cancellation of Floyd Collins only a few weeks ago.

"Stagedoor hears that Kookaburra, our embattled national musical theatre company has cancelled its first show for next year, Sideshow Alley,"writes Arts Editor Simon Ferguson, "which was to kick off the 2008 season and fulfill the promise made by Kookaburra boss Peter Cousens to stage Australian works, has been canned."

Kookaburra must be going through a period of soul-searching as they have given their publicist, Michelle Guthrie, the flick and instead opted to use Wilkinson Media "a Sydney based corporate communications company with specialist skills in media and issues management".

The Wilkinson Media website states that they "have an extensive track record in issues and crisis management".

Crisis indeed. With Floyd Collins cancelled and the under-study crisis that shrouded the success of Company as reported in the Herald, Kookaburra really needs to settle the nest.

As Ferguson also wrote today, the head of Kookaburra, Peter Cousens "reportedly called a senior journalist 'dickhead' in a text message during the fall-out from the Company catastrophe".

Sydney Arts Journo understands that Cousens sent the delightful message to a senior Fairfax journo... which, if as alleged, is like waving a red flag at a bull. You can be pretty much guarantee front page coverage from that point on and not in the best possible light.

Maybe the crisis is from within, and less about the press releases you are sending out.