Welcome to our June newsletter! In this issue you'll get to know Catharine Lumby, one of our leading feminist cultural commentators and author of Alvin Purple—the ninth title in our Australian Screen Classics series. Alvin Purple will be launched in Canberra and Sydney—join us for screenings of the film followed by Q&A sessions, all the details are below.

Also in this issue: ' Currency's Clearance Cupboard': a great selection of theatre books at an amazing price; give-aways and ticket offers, awards and the latest on what's happening on stage. Enjoy!

Catharine Lumby is one of our leading feminist cultural commentators. In her affectionate and perceptive critique of Alvin Purple—the ninth title in the Australian Screen Classics series—she argues for the film’s iconic status and examines the forces that fuelled its success.
We spoke to Catharine about the furore Alvin Purple caused in 1970s Australia, how society has changed since and what contemporary filmmakers can learn from this seminal film. Click here to read the interview.

Alvin Purple

Catharine Lumby

‘A wonderful read: I feel like I’ve been excavated and carbon dated’ Graeme Blundell

Australia's first R-rated film, Alvin Purple survived a critical mauling and went on to become the most commercially successful Australian film of the 1970s.

Catharine Lumby takes a fresh look at the film, the social and political era in which it was made and the forces that fuelled its success. She revisits claims that the movie is little more than an exercise in sexploitation and argues that the film is far more complex than its detractors have allowed.

Catharine Lumby’s critique of Alvin Purple will be launched in Canberra and Sydney:

Canberra: Launch and Screening, followed by a Q&A with Catharine Lumby and series editor Jane Mills at Arc Cinema at the National Film and Sound Archive in Acton on Thursday, 26 June 2008, 6 for 6:30pm. Tickets for the screening can be bought at the NFSA box office on the night ($9.50 per ticket). For more information on the event, visit www.screensound.gov.au

Sydney: Launch and Screening, followed by a Q&A with Catharine Lumby, Graeme Blundell and series editor Jane Mills at Chauvel cinema in Paddington on Thursday, 3 July, 6pm for 6:30pm.Tickets for the screening can be bought at Chauvel box office (02 9361 5398) or online at www.palacecinemas.com.au. For more information on the event, visit www.chauvelcinema.net.au

To pre-order your copy of the book, click here.

CURRENCY'S CLEARANCE CUPBOARD

It's sale time at Currency with our $10 specials basket where we have some great bargains on a selection of theatre books. Be quick though, stocks are limited and the special ends 18 July.

We also have a $5 specials basket with Bin End stock.

Each month we will bring you a selection of specials with different themes so stay tuned and check out what's on offer in July.
 

Workers' Playtime: Theatre and the Labour Movement Since 1970

Alan Filewod & David Watt

Workers’ Playtime looks at politically-engaged theatre workers who have moved into innovative and flexible ways of operating, focusing on the work of four ‘strategic ventures’: the entrepreneurial Ground Zero Productions in Canada, the ‘actuality’ technique of Britain’s Banner Theatre and, in Australia, the early shopfloor work of Melbourne Workers Theatre and the community participation in Darwin’s union-sponsored May Day parades.

It’s a fascinating look at how socially-engaged theatre artists can meet the challenges of survival and resistance in an increasingly corporatised world.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

See How it Runs: Nimrod and the New Wave

Julian Meyrick

The fascinating story of the Nimrod Theatre from its genesis as a small company, full of ideas and energy, to its third bankruptcy in 1985 and the departure of its longest-serving director, John Bell. In seeking to explain why Nimrod journeyed from cutting edge to collapse, See How It Runs has important lessons for contemporary Australian theatre.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

The Theatre of Louis Nowra

Veronica Kelly  

In the thirty stage plays which have put  him at the forefront of the  Australian theatre as well as in his film and television writing, Louis Nowra has challenged our views of Aboriginal dispossession, of Australian history, of middle-class values; and satirised our patronage, ambition, sexual relationships and corporate greed.

In her compelling study Veronica Kelly draws out the sources of Nowra's passionate, idiosyncratic vision and demonstrates how it reveals the turbulence at the root of Australian history of which the 1990s has seen the eruption.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

O Brave New World: Two Centuries of Shakespeare on the Australian Stage

John Golder and Richard Madelaine (eds)

This groundbreaking cultural history of Shakespearean production in Australia gives an overview of his part in the cultural evolution of the nation during the past 200 years. From early, improvised performances to the Bell Shakespeare Company today, the book traces how practitioners and audiences have clung to, exploited and finally discarded ties with Britain. Australia’s appropriation of Shakespeare is now being exported back to Stratford and the world in the work of directors like Baz Luhrmann.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

Performing the Unnameable: An Anthology of Australian Performance Art Texts

Richard Allen & Karen Pearlman

A unique collection of Australian performance pieces. Includes texts by Sydney Front, Jenny Kemp ( The Call of the Wild), Kooemba Jdarra, Tasdance/That Was Fast, Margaret Cameron, Sidetrack Performance Group, Doppio Teatro, Kinetic Energy Theatre Company, Entr’Acte, Legs on the Wall, Ex-Stasis Theatre Collective and All Out Ensemble.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July. Click here to order.

Not Wrong, Just Different: Observations on the Rise of Contemporary Australian Theatre (PB)

Katharine Brisbane

A collection of writings and commentary from Australia’s foremost theatre writer and Currency Press founder.

Not Wrong Just Different traces the development of theatre in Australia from the time that Katharine Brisbane joined the staff of the Australian in mid 1967 right up to today’s state of the performing arts.

From Brecht to Barry Humphries, from Chekhov to Patrick White, Katherine Brisbane’s lucid account of Australian theatre is presented comprehensively in this original collection.

Shortlisted for the Colin Roderick Award for 2006.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

Converging Realities: Feminism in Australian Theatre

Peta Tait

Looks at the work of women in theatre who express feminist ideas in a variety of forms. Tait identifies how women’s work adopts both comic and physical styles, and how it is often performed in unusual spaces, necessitating a redefinition of feminist theatre.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

Reel Meals, Set Meals: Food in Film and Theatre

Gaye Poole 

An original study of the social and symbolic  meaning of food in films and plays, from the  Danish Babette’s Feast to the Japanese Tampopo. Poole examines how food creates opportunities for drama and comedy, and how it communicates complex details about class, emotional states and gender, as well as embodying metaphors for the meaning of life.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

Upstaged: Australian Women Playwrights in the Limelight at Last

Michelle Arrow 

For four decades they wrote a prolific range of material that addressed the social and political concerns of their time. They are the forgotten generation of Australian women dramatists—women who wrote drama that was performed on the nation’s stages and broadcast across the airwaves from the late 1920s to the late 1960s. Arrow incorporates personal narratives into a broader social and cultural history, investigating the perceptions that have led to much of this work being ignored. Upstaged overturns accepted ideas of much of the scriptwriting of the period, showing that the output is more substantial and significant than previously recognised. Published in conjunction with Pluto Press Australia.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

The Space Between: The Art of Puppetry and Visual Theatre in Australia

Peter J. Wilson & Geoffrey Milne

A history of puppetry and image-related theatre in Australia. Based on extensive research, the book also offers a personal view from one of our most experienced and imaginative puppeteers. Includes practical information on how puppeteers go about their work. The only book of its kind to aid secondary school teachers on the subject.

$10 Special - offer ends 18 July 2008. Click here to order.

2008 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
Congratulation to Debra Oswald on winning the Play Award at the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards for Stories in the Dark. The play explores the power of storytelling, mingling the magic and earthy wisdom of folk tales with the hard-edged story of violence, conflict and the struggle to survive. For more info, click here.
Further nominees for the Play Award were Alana Valentine for Parramatta Girls, Wesley Enoch for The Story of the Miracles at Cookie's Table and Nicki Bloom for Tender (to be published by Currency later this year). For the complete list of winners, visit www.smh.com.au

2007 Patrick White Playwright’s Award
Angus Cerini and Timothy Daly were announced as joint winners of the 2007 Sydney Theatre Company and The Sydney Morning Herald Patrick White Playwrights’ Award for their plays Wretch and The Man in the Attic.
The two winning playwrights’ share the $20,000 prize, the richest Australian award for an un-produced script. Congratulations!

2008 AWGIE Awards nominations
The Australian Writers’ Guild has announced the nominees for the 2008 AWGIE Awards, to be presented in Melbourne on 15 August.
The nominations in the category Stage are: The Call by Patricia Cornelius, Beyond the Neck by Tom Holloway, The Seed by Kate Mulvany and 2,000 Feet Away by Anthony Weigh. Debra Oswald’s play Stories in the Dark is nominated in the category Theatre for Young Audiences and Noëlle Janaczewska’s This Territory is nominated in the category Community and Youth Theatre. Noëlle is also in the running for the award for best Radio Adaptation for Madagascar Lily, along with Katherine Thomson, who is nominated for her adaptation of Fragments of Hong Kong. Brendan Cowell is up for best Television Series for the episode The Cemetery Gates from the series Love My Way and Greg Haddrick is in the running for best Telemovie Original for The Informant.

Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Sauna Productions and inc. studios present Ball Game: Four brilliant one-act comedies by Alan Ball. From 25 June to 19 July it’s ‘game on’ for the superficial, the neurotic, the egocentric and the tainted. Battle with the sexes, climb the corporate ladder and hold onto your seats…

To go in the draw for one of two double passes to the performance of Ball Game on Wednesday 25 June at 8pm, send an email to karin@currency.com.au with ‘Ball Game’ in the subject line. Only winners will be notified.
Darlinghurst Theatre also offers all Currency subscribers great discounts on tickets: $20 to all Tuesday performances and $25 to all other performances.