The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 15

LIVING-ARTS 15 THE AGE TUESDAY 2 1 JULY 1998 Cent ert ainm ent THEATRE Whemi raeisinni ireSgimed A a Edited by ROBIN USHER ILJJ 'Mt i The president of the VCA's student union, Thomas Baricevic, says he is astounded at Professor Hull's turnaround. A protest meeting is planned for next Monday, which will be addressed by Labor's Federal Opposition Arts spokesman, Hob McMullan. Other protest actions are planned this week and there will be an emergency meeting between stall and union representatives on Thursday. Baricevic says news of the proposal to introduce five fee-paying places, to go before the VCA Council meeting on 30 July, is causing much resentment, because it is seen as the thin edge of the wedge. "It doesn't make sense to go through all this heartache to raise an amount like $35,000 out of a total budget or around $14 million," he says.

The federal funding cuts threaten to lower the college's purchasing power by 25 per cent over the next five years and have been described by Premier and Arts Minister Jeff Kennett as "an artistic disaster But negotialons belween the college and the Federal Government have failed to secure extra funds, even though the Sydney-based institutions NIDA and the Film. Television and Radio School are funded directly through the Arts Department in Canberra. The Kennett Government provided $2.5 million for the VGA's film school in 1996 and last month donated $300,000 to expand the VCA's fund-raising campaign. VGA braces for fees furore The Victorian College of the Arts faces a week of student protests against a move to introduce full fee-paying courses to overcome a funding crisis. The proposed vote by the VCA council follows an inquiry by the Review Consultancy Team into income generation and cost-cutting options, to overcome cuts imposed by the Federal Government.

It has also been proposed that 10 extra staff members be made redundant next year, despite a recent program of voluntary redundancies. The resort to considering fee-paying courses is a surprise, given the long opposition by VCA director. Professor Andrea Hull, lor more than two years, she has supported talent-based entry, saying it is impossible lo ask students to lake out extra loans, given the low employment prospects facing graduates. "If VCA alumni Fred Williams, Cliff Pugh and Arthur Boyd had been required lo pay full fees, it is doubtful they would attended art school," she said in May. before the VCA Council reappointed her for another six years.

Professor Hull says the college is in the black after implementing a 13 per cent cut, but still faces a S2.5 million shortfall. "I am opposed to introducing fees hut if the VCA is to survive we have to look at the hard options." she says. if it' A new play, exposing the treatment of Aboriginal women, has many modern parallels. By SUZANNE BROWN' Pauline Whyman can still recall ho day she was taken from her Ki brothers and sisters and placed with a white foster family in northern New South Wales. She wasn't yet two.

but from that day until she was briefly reunited with her family at 12, she pleaded to go home to Oeliniquin. Now, 29 years on, Whyman is drawing on her painful past, one of the stolen generation, to play her latest role in The Drovers Hoy. Written by Ray Mooney, the play explores a little-known but equally shameful chapter in Australian history in which Territorian settlers kidnapped Aboriginal women, dressed them as boys and used them as stockriders and sex slaves. The kidnapping continued for more than SO years before being stopped in the late 1910s. For Whyman, it is a natural step to revisit her childhood feelings of isolation to play the character of Jackie.

Ijke the "boy" in the play, she, too, was plucked from her tribe and homeland and forced to adapt to another culture. "Jackie was well aware of her people being slaughtered, so there's the pain of that," Whyman says. "She has these awful memories. Her family are gone but she's here with the drover. So, in a way.

it's survival for her to lie there. And that was the same for me; it was survival to be where I was. If I'd tried to take off, who knows what could have happened." Mooney is also no stranger to survival. He began writing when serving time in I'enlridge prison 25 years ago, as a way to seek revenge on hostile prison staff by revealing the atrocities of life inside. Theatre was the only accessible creative and emotional outlet for a prisoner.

Mooney's first plays (The lllue Freckle and F.verynight Every-night, the latter made into a film) were critically well-received pieces of gritty realism. He followed with works including The Truth Game, a play exploring the events surrounding the Walsh Street murders of two policemen, and a novel about an actress Pauline Whyman, who draws on her own painful past as one of the stolen generation to Mooney's involvement, through friend and colleague director Peter Oyston. whom he met while studying theatre direction at the Victorian College of the Arts, was from the drover's point of view, but the collaboration was not produced. He further researched Aboriginal genocide and wrote Muck llahhil. which was produced by Oyston at Playbox in I9HH.

He also continued to rewrite the story of drover's boys and finally. 10 years later, it is being performed. Mooney hopes audiences of The Drover's liny witt gain a heller understanding of how Australia was acquired by Furopeans. Having spent five years educating himself, he is scathing of society's ignorance of black history and even more withering when arguing that politicians are sanitising Australia's history. "No matter how confronting, it's important to acknowledge our roots and history." Mooney says.

"This means exploring the notion of white ARTS PAGE Monday: Calendar Tuesday: Stage Wednesday: Galleries Thursday: Film Friday: Music 8 A 4 Playwright Ray Mooney with appear in The Drover's Boy. inmate's life, entitled A Green I ight. Says Mooney: "One of the reasons I write is I believe in reversing the terrible imbalance in literature, which constantly portrays offenders as morally reprehensible or idiots they are not given full character developments." In prison, Mooney studied social science at the Western Australian Institute of Technology by correspondence. The course analysed WA Aboriginal communities and Mooney researched his fellow prisoners' attitudes to other cultures and races. Aborigines, because of their historic role as police trackers, were considered untrustworthy.

Ten years after his release from prison that Mooney began writing about drover's hoys (the inspiration for Ted Kgan's song and painting and dance). Mooney and two other writers. Jennifer Paynter and Jack Davis, were commissioned by the Australian Flizabethan Trust to write three one-act plays. logical order. I left with my head spinning and thought it would be grand to do a smaller-scale event in Melbourne," Wallace said.

The Melbourne Mahlerfest, which opens with a symposium covering the composer's life and work, is concentrating on Mahler's songs including Das lied von der F.rde, l.ieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and songs from Des Knahen Wnnderhorn. Among the orchestral works will be his first and fourth symphonies in the Melbourne Town Hall and the composer's arrangements for string orchestra of a Schubert and a Beethoven string quartet. More than 500 young musicians aged between 15 and 28 will perform, along with established musicians like Geoffrey Tozer, tenor Anson Austin, conductor Alexander Briger, who is based in Germany, mezzo soprano Alexandra Sherman, who won the 1997 Australian Singing Competition and who is now studying at the Royal College in London, and baritone Michael I.eighton Jones. They will appear with ensembles such as the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Orchestra of the TOMORROW IN THE ARTS PAGES MUSIC A festival of Mahler Picture: PAULINE NEWMAN relevant. She says One Nation politics has brought a voice to whispers thai have always been simmering beneath the surface.

"In a way. it is good that it has brought to the forefront the amount of ignorance that is out there." Why-man says. "It's made people think. Wow, am I really that It's made people look al themselves and see where their own beliefs come from." Mooney says the hypocrisy in 77ie Drover's Hoy of pretending the relationships between the Aboriginal women and the drovers didn't exist, mirrors the way society ignores the desperate plight of Aborigines today. "Morally, we know that Aborigines are still being treated in the same way, but we pretend that's not the case.

We pretend everything's fine and they don't need any extra help. In our hearts we know the truth." Athenaeum 2. Collins Street, citv. 29 Inlv to 16 August: S20SI5. Tel: mm tmm.

Wa 7 ie Musical World of Gustav Mahler, a dramatic portrayal of Mahler's life and music, will be presented at the Town I Iall on 4 August. Tickets for the Mahlerfest, which runs on the first three weekends of August, are nvailahle through MI.C Music Academy on 9274 8136 or through Ticketmaster on 13 6166. THE AGE Power of invention TODAY'S ARTS SEE THIS Advertising goes under the spotlight at Citylights. By contrasting the tools of the trade (symbolic significrs) with the thematic use of Chinese text (indecipherable to most Western viewers). Chris Humphries -provides an irreverent study of the advertising game.

Western Style Pants is illuminated in HEAR THIS Using the conventions of opera to offer a connection for ideas. The 4-Sided City is a hybrid of text, music, image and performing arts exploring "the city as The season, born at The Next Wave Festival, features emerging talents and dynamic works. At Revolver, 229 Chapel Street, Prahron on WATCH THIS Playing God (MA) is David Duchovny's first real lead cinematic role and he utilises it fully as a dercgistercd doctor dragged into crime. A silly thriller, with moments of fun and limpness. MB Atom F.goyan grabbed an Oscar nomination for his 1991 Governor of Victoria Export 111 AGE'S 3 superiority and how the perpetrators of this altitude justified genocide.

"Importantly, the misconceptions of how Australia was acquired are challenged. Hopefully, this exposes the truth and gives meaning lo the fashionable term reconciliation." Mooney and Whyman. who met through Oyston, seem unlikely allies. She, softly spoken, considered, born lo a history of struggle. He, garrulous, articulate, his words punch the air.

Both, though, are passionate and certain. As with many theatre productions. 77e Drovers liny is produced on a shoestring. The actors, theatre technicians and director will divide box office takings, alter outlays. Any losses will he covered by Mooney.

who earns a living by lecturing in writing at IA1 colleges. Whyman says stories such as The Drover's Hoy need to be told. And today's political climate makes debate about the responsibility of Australians lo the past even more ttl such as Mahler the conductor, the genesis of Mahler's titanic Hr.vf Symphony. Art in turn-of-the-century Vienna, Mahler and 20th-century composition, and Mahler and Freud. Hellgart Mahler, the composer's Tasmanian -based grand-niece, launched the festival here last month.

Thank you blood donors Australian Red Cross Blood Service Victoria thanks blood donors for maintaining blood stocks during the critical Easter period. For more information about donating blood, or your nearest blood collection centre, call: 13 14 95 I If yu want yHi want OUR Antiques South inc Mirrors, 11th Open EDWARD 69 Sutherland -L'y-j HIGHLIGHTS lightboxes in a laneway (Centre Place, city) until 20 August. Company in space has always pushed the boundaries of dance; now it pushes the boundaries of boundaries. Performed simultaneously in Melbourne and the USA, Touchware examines our role in a 'virtual' world. Free, at midnight until 24 July in the Portico of the Melbourne Town Hall, city.

Tuesdays at 9pm. Tickets $85, lei: 9521 5985. The curator of The Johnston Collection, Harry Blackburn, will lead a discussion about his favorite works in English Ceramic Treasures (1-2 September, Staffordshire porcelains and bone chinas: 5 October, Staffordshire figures). For information and bookings (essential), tel: 9416 2515. direction of The Sweet Hereafter (M).

Little wonder when we witness this meticulously made, deeply affecting tale of small town tragedy. Stunning. MB Melbourne writerdfrector David Swann finally delivers his first feature, Crackers (M), and it was worth the wait. This loving family comedy is coarse, chaotic and mushy, but its good humor wins out. MB Awirttt By ANNA KING MURDOCH When Gustav Mahler died in 1911 from cancer at 50, before finishing his 10th symphony, his reputation as a composer was not flourishing.

Although he had revolutionised the performance of opera in Vienna with his exacting standards as a conductor, his own music (mainly songs and symphonies) was often savagely criticised, sometimes with open anti-scmitism, for its inventions like bird calls nd its orchestral extravagances. But, as he himself predicted: "My time will come." From the 1950s, when recording technology revealed for the first time to many the huge scale of his symphonies, Mahler's sound became immensely popular. Among his most fervent admirers is Fred Wallace, program director at the MFC Music Academy, who paid $2000 in 1995 to hear every concert in a three-week Mahler festival at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Some of the world's best orchestras and Mahler conductors Rattle. Abbado.

Ilaitink, Muri played Mahler's whole repertoire in chrono Composer Gustav Mahler's Tasmanian descendant Hellgart Mahler, who launched the Melbourne Mahlerfest to be held next month at the Town Hall and MLC Music Academy.Pkture Sebastian costanzo Victorian College of the Arts. Malvern Symphony Orchstra, l.oughlin Chamber Orchestra and New Monash Orchestra. Speakers at the symposium will include Dr Greg Hurworth, Michael I-aston, O'Connell, Felix Werder, David Kram, Noreen Maher and Neil Kelly, discussing topics LATEST SHIPMENT from the of France Architectural Antiques, Desks, Dmmg Furniture July -11th August Dally 10 -B ICKMd Sunday) CLARK ANTIQUES Rd Armadale 3143 TMphone SSOf im You've got the net, now you mm ranovat your tout? Get started with a Timber Protects Renovations course starling 30 July. make a video? You can learn basic video production techniques on 25 July. ptoy fna violin? Beginners' course starts 2B July.

communlcef more effectively with the opposite sex? There's a Talking to Women short course starting 29 July. knew yourself better? You can do a Myers-Briggs personality assessment workshop on 26 July. sm0 the seven sees? Course in coastal navigation and seamanship starts 28 Jury. oVscover the charm and beauty of Old Paris? Be there in a course on 9 August. learn about the history of language? There's a course just lor you on 26 August.

write short stories? Discover how In courses starting 2628 July. get Involved In International trade? Getting Started ImportExport programs start 25 and 28 July-We have many more courses to choose from, starting soon. You too can join the thousands ol people who meet their goals the bait. more. Sunday I tit' Want to gci more from your Sunday? ww ihvaitv cim ail SMRVKB anaueMety Recognising Export Success In Arts and Entertainment Entries close Friday, 7 August 1998 Ths Mtrth It en to Victoria ratnlutlom that art taking irts in tnUrtilnmtnt irodact to tin worM ttsaa.

Thtt yaar the Govomor ot Victoria Eirport Awards havt introduced i new Am tnd Enloruiinriwnl category to recognise the growth in intemitionil activity in these sectors. -The category covers organisations and individuals in the visual arts, performing arts and 4 entertainment sectors, together with companies exporting products and services utilised In the arts and entertainment. II you are laving Victorian product to the world you are eligible) to enter the 1998 Awards The winner ol the category will be entered in the Australian Enport Awards. To attain rear Awirdi Entry Kit. contact the luslness Victoria Helpline 11 22 or Xelt ear we is lie at arww.euilaete.vlc eeiwerthlm You can reach over 690,000 readers at very little cost, with The Age Internet Directory, in the Business section, every Tuesday.

For and enrich their life at CAE. i wmmrn- i details, call Cameron Solnordal on 9604 1817 or Sam Mantzis on 131 489 ext. 1714. AnatraUaa Red Croat Council of Adult Education 256 Flinders Street, Melbourne Email: paelinecfKcatl.cae.eda.aa CAB BUSINESS VICTORIA 3M9mahSM. Cotnowoool 41t4344l the day.

fw.