Julius Knight, Australian Matinee Idol: Costume Drama as Historical Re-presentation

The Scottish actor Julius Knight, in four major tours for J. C. Williamson's successive managerial organisations from 1897 to 1916, became the best-known and respected actor in costume plays while also contributing to the establishment of contemporary realist drama in Australia. This article considers the cultural functions of romantic costume drama through the study of three of his most popular and significant productions and roles: 'The Prisoner of Zenda', Marcus Superbus in 'The Sign of the Cross', and Napoleon in 'The Royal Divorce'

Undressing and redressing the harlequin: An Australian designer\u27s perspective

In undressing and redressing the Harlequin from an Australian designer’s perspective, the question is why has the Harlequin costume endured for over 500 years and in locations far away from its country of origin? Why do we associate its lozenge pattern with energetic joyous mischief? What are the Harlequin costume codes and how have they been manifested in Australia? The thesis components are divided as follows: The Designer’s Notebook is a pictorial and historical review of the iconic costume, which is made up of a complex patchwork of triangles where colour placements form a diamond pattern called a lozenge. The Harlequin, a stock character from commedia dell’arte, who emerged in Italy and France during the 1500s, wears the lozenge costume. The notebook traces possible connections and reasons for the emergence of both the costume and the Harlequin figure prior to his catalyzation as a character in commedia dell’arte. Having arrived at the manifestation of Harlequin and his lozenge costume, the focus moves to the forms of expression in which he has participated and the mutations which have occurred in the costume. Harlequin High Jinks Down Under is concerned with the manifestation of both the harlequinesque figure and its associated costume codes in circus and the harlequinades in Australia from the 1850s, when a kind of Australian larrikinism began to develop as the national identity. From this unique environment a century later sprang the satirist, Dame Edna Everage and the social and political comic, Joel Salom, associated with Circus OZ. On the international front, these Australian performers have joined comic book characters in keeping the harlequinesque costume codes alive, but something deeper is happening with the Harlequin and his lozenge attire. For instance, some philosophers have come to accept Harlequin as a visual code for the union of multi-nationalities. The Research additionally explores the enduring contribution of the lozenge code not only through the historical tracing of harlequinesque imagery but also through the designing of a 2 square meter art–piece created at an international residency in Vietnam to reflect the energetic universality of the lozenge form. Here Harlequin’s liminality is explored. Finally two new costume designs have been created for the Australian performers, Everage and Salom, to further the design of the harlequinesque into an imagined future

Shopping their wardrobe: Changing costume practices in Australian theatre

Over the past thirty years the primary method of generating theatrical costumes in Brisbane has changed significantly. Traditionally costumes were hand sewn in dedicated workshops from original designs, with a few bought items to supplement these costume ‘makes’. Now designers and costumers have become shoppers, styling costumes from new and second-hand retail fashions, or finding items from existing wardrobe stock. This research examines why the primary method of costume generation in Brisbane theatre has changed, and the impact this is having on the costuming industry. The examination focuses on changes in the Australian labour market and the Australian fashion industry. It uses Queensland Theatre as a case study, along with interviews with industry veterans, to demonstrate the relationship between current costume practice and these factors, concluding that costuming in Brisbane is highly responsive to, and reflective of, these shaping forces. The research forms the beginning of an academic and industry dialogue about a major shift in the theatre industry that needs to be acknowledged. This shift is causing skills to be lost in the industry, and raises issues applicable to costume generation around Australia

Revealing the Ritually Concealed: Custodians, Conservators, and the Concealed Shoe

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Material Religion, on 19 April 2018, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2018.1443892. Under embargo until 19 October 2019.Concealed shoes are footwear purposely concealed within domestic buildings. The motivations behind their concealments are unknown to us, but the prominent theory suggests that shoes were employed as apotropaic (evil-averting) devices. The metonymical connection between shoe and wearer is believed to imbue the shoe with the necessary protective power, and one theory suggests that, to possess this power, shoes must bear the unambiguous imprint of their past wearers, hence why the vast majority of them are old, well-worn or damaged. From the point of discovery (often during restructuring work), the concealed shoe’s biography can follow a variety of courses. Some debate, for example, surrounds their removal. Some finders believe it to be “bad luck” to remove concealed shoes and therefore wish to keep them in situ. Others are donated to museums, where still more debate surrounds their treatment: should they be restored by textile conservationists or left in their original state, their damaged conditions being considered central to the interpretation of the custom? This paper aims to trace the complex biographies of several examples of concealed shoes following discovery, considering how they have been variously perceived and treated by their finders and custodians.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Blackfriars Dance Concert 2017 Playbill

Blackfriars Dance Concert 2017 DIRECTED BY Wendy Oliver CHOREOGRAPHERS Ali Kenner Brodsky Cayley Christoforou Bill Evans Sara Lustig Wendy Oliver (with the dancers) Eva Marie Pacheco Kathleen Nasti COSTUME COORDINATOR Maxine Wheelock LIGHTING DESIGNER Daniel Caplin Angell DANCERS Kirsten Coffey, Stephanie Cameron, Daniela Diaz, Deirdre McMahon, Samantha Oakley, Katherine Pineo, Jamie Podracky, Gabriella Ricciardone, Maya Young. Gillian Klein, Maria Fonts, Natalie Phelps, Abbey Raser, Alanna Daley, Devon Guanci, Emma Lederer, Kaitlin McGovern, Lela Biggus, Emma Flanagan, Meg Frazier, Anna Sabo, Claudia Seguin, Ali Kenner Brodsky, Caroline Mallon Angell Blackfriars Theatre November 17, 7:30PM November 18, 2PMhttps://digitalcommons.providence.edu/bdc_2017_pubs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, October 31, 1977

Volume 69, Issue 41https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/6262/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, October 28, 1988

Volume 91, Issue 43https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7769/thumbnail.jp

Chapter 5. The Tamarkan Players Present : Tamarkan Convalescent Camp

Tamarkan, Thailand, became a convalescent camp for the POWs who had worked on the Burma side of the railway. It was here that Aussie showman Norman Carter inspired a team of designers and stage technicians to mount a series of popular musical revues that were noteworthy for their elaborate sets, props, and costumes.https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/thdabooks/1007/thumbnail.jp