Lords and Larrikins: The actor's role in the making of Australia: The
Condition: SECONDHAND
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This radical new account reveals the central importance of the male performer in Australian public life, showing how the aspiring middle classes turned to actors to teach them public behaviour and political opinion, and how class divided high art and low comedy. While imperial Shakespeare drew in patrons, politicians and critics, vaudeville comedians upheld the right to a working-class Australia. When in 1970 public funding fuelled the rise of a high-art culture, a bevy of buffoons led a new assault to subvert it. Kath Leahy asks questions about why, even today, we still call for control of the public artist.
Author: Kath Leahy
Format: Paperback, 256 pages, 155mm x 237mm
Published: 2009, Currency House Inc, Australia
Genre: Cultural Studies
Description
This radical new account reveals the central importance of the male performer in Australian public life, showing how the aspiring middle classes turned to actors to teach them public behaviour and political opinion, and how class divided high art and low comedy. While imperial Shakespeare drew in patrons, politicians and critics, vaudeville comedians upheld the right to a working-class Australia. When in 1970 public funding fuelled the rise of a high-art culture, a bevy of buffoons led a new assault to subvert it. Kath Leahy asks questions about why, even today, we still call for control of the public artist.
Lords and Larrikins: The actor's role in the making of Australia: The