FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W278218315> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W278218315 startingPage "237" @default.
• W278218315 abstract "Glenn D'Cruz, ed., Class Act: Melbourne Workers Theatre 1987-2007 (Melbourne: The Vulgar Press, 2007) Class Act has been put together with care and concern for recording a particular history of the Melbourne Workers Theatre (MWT) over the last twenty years, through essays and interviews by theorists and artists who have been involved during this period. Following the lineage of MWT, the editor collects the multiple viewpoints of political theatre to consider 'What and how is political theatre now?' MWT was initiated when its founding members - Andrew Bovell, Irene Vela, Russell Walsh, John Romeril, Linda Sproul, Patricia Cornelius, Steve Payne, Michael White and Wayne Parker - set up in a pre-fab shed in the Jolimont Train Maintenance Depot where they interviewed, collected stories and held workshops. Initially named The Gravediggers - from 'the gravediggers of Capital' in Marx's The Communist Manifesto - the group made new theatre, to be produced in twelve weeks, for working-class people to dramatise the struggle for better working conditions. Surrounded by the dynamism of the shunting yards, steeped in Melbourne's history, the MWT based themselves on the principles of an open structure, collaborative with specified functions, encouraging debate and dissent, anti-sexist and anti-racist, and in solidarity. It was a vibrant, exciting project where the relationship between artist and unionist, mutually concerned with working-class issues, created stories for the workers, bringing them into contact with theatre (39). Initially performing in red sweaters in front of a large banner, like 1930s agit-prop theatre (31), the MWT was the first professional theatre company in Australia to align itself to the labour movement. The MWT aimed to be informed by the workers themselves, consulting with the Combined Unions Shop Committee which was responsible for monitoring work conditions, calling meetings, communicating with management and imposing sanctions. These Union members advised, supported, criticised the shows of the MWT, held at lunchtimes with open rehearsals on Fridays, as personal and political allies in a time when railyard workers were being laid off (30). Working on sites like Darling Harbour in Sydney, the tennis centre, or a boat, made actors like Michael White feel 'like any other worker', a sense of allegiance galvanising the mission of MWT members. It resisted the subsequent process that reifies the site of commerce rather than recalling the memory of those who laboured there. Actors would gather material from conversations with workers, reporting to the writers who would make scenes from them, which would then be performed to the workers. Hungry to express their views about the world, the artists found they were less important to the Union than the Union was to them. With the worksite as material and the workers as authence with whom they sought to identify, the MWT could only maintain its legitimacy through the Union's existence. As the privatising onslaught continued, the workers were more concerned with protecting their few remaining rights. While the MWT gave artists the opportunity to take risks and explore ideas with 'like minds' in the search for truth and collective contribution, their condition was connected to the mutual precarity of a shifting workplace, where arts funding was insecure and often hostile. It was no surprise then that the first show was titled State of Defence, which portrayed three perspectives on being a trade unionist: neophyte, pragmatist, and aged activist (25). The question was not whether to do political work, but how. Awakening to the Anglo-Celtic hegemony under the Whitlam Government meant that stories of immigrant experience from immigrant eyes needed to be told as part of the greater narrative. Black Cargo and No Fear addressed mobilised action and union organisation around a Turkish community who had gone on a hunger strike against Ford, whose managers were sacking workers who could not perform to their demands. …" @default.
• W278218315 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W278218315 creator A5057861457 @default.
• W278218315 date "2008-10-01" @default.
• W278218315 modified "2023-09-26" @default.
• W278218315 title "Class Act: Melbourne Workers Theatre 1987-2007" @default.
• W278218315 hasPublicationYear "2008" @default.
• W278218315 type Work @default.
• W278218315 sameAs 278218315 @default.
• W278218315 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W278218315 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W278218315 hasAuthorship W278218315A5057861457 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C13417543 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C153349607 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C2110046 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C2778896172 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C2780641677 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C29595303 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C52119013 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C523419034 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C540679656 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C94625758 @default.
• W278218315 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C13417543 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C142362112 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C144024400 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C153349607 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C17744445 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C199539241 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C2110046 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C2778896172 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C2780641677 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C29595303 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C52119013 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C523419034 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C540679656 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C94625758 @default.
• W278218315 hasConceptScore W278218315C95457728 @default.
• W278218315 hasIssue "53" @default.
• W278218315 hasLocation W2782183151 @default.
• W278218315 hasOpenAccess W278218315 @default.
• W278218315 hasPrimaryLocation W2782183151 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W1164326140 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W1190589392 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W1532652530 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2097887511 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2124820970 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W224084312 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2323995306 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2329683984 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2335473786 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W234806853 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W235946626 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2528882271 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2530044403 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W279124900 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2805316731 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2998950928 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W3021251518 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W895177797 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2183306372 @default.
• W278218315 hasRelatedWork W2185507451 @default.
• W278218315 isParatext "false" @default.
• W278218315 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W278218315 magId "278218315" @default.
• W278218315 workType "article" @default.