Kevin Landis One Public New York’s Public Theater in the Era of Oskar Eustis
Bloomsbury Academic, Methuen Drama 2022.
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the land on which The Public and its theaters stand is the original homeland of the Lenape people.
Kevin Landis’ history of One Public, the New York theatres Delacorte in Central Park and The Public, Lafayette Street in the East Village is replete with nostalgia; politics; well-known and not so well known theatrical names – directors, writers and actors; current events and ideology woven into financial and business needs; and an introduction and then immersion into the joy of learning more about a thriving theatrical creation in which ideological demand to produce works about hope and a better world is woven side by side with the practicalities of fund raising, purchasing buildings, and even ticket sales.
Two features will resonate with the Australian reader: the acknowledgement with which this review is introduced, and the role of Shakespeare in bringing theatre to a broad range of people – in the case of Shakespeare in the Park, free. In Australia there is a similar acknowledgement of country and the traditional owners, and Shakespeare is the source of numerous inventive productions throughout the country. These include Shakespeare by the Lake in Canberra and the innovative Bell Shakespeare Company. One of the features of Shakespeare in the Park that Landis describes are racoons that become part of the theatrical events, and a duck nest that remained on stage throughout a season. Kangaroos do appear in the Australian capital, but to my knowledge have not interrupted Shakespeare on the Lake. However, peacocks made an elegant addition to a production of A Midsummers Night Dream at the at the New Fortune Theatre at the University of Western Australia I attended many years ago. Books: Reviews
After the Covid update: Bob McMullan – forthcoming by-election; First Woman Speaker of the House of Representatives – Joan Child; Anniversary of The Apology; Excerpt from Tom Watson Newsletter (former Labour Member UK Parliament, now in the House of Lords) newsletter.
Covid update for Canberra
On the 10th February 401 new Covid cases were reported; 6 people were in hospital. No cases are in ICU or ventilated. There have been no lives lost over this period.
Aston truths
Bob McMullan
I have never seen so much rubbish written about a forthcoming political event as I have seen about the forthcoming Aston by-election.
The basic facts are these: it is a safe Liberal seat made marginal in 2022 by an unpopular sitting member; no government has won a seat form the opposition at a by-election in living memory; the Liberals only have to put up a half-way decent candidate and it is hard to see how the Labor Party will have a chance to win the seat; this doesn’t appear to be prime “teal” territory but an independent is likely to be the only serious threat to the Liberals.
All political history points in this direction. The seat can only be in doubt if the current Liberal Party is actually unelectable in urban Australia.
I understand why the Liberals are trying to portray themselves as the underdogs. What I don’t understand is why otherwise sensible journalists seem to be falling for it.
Aston’s recent electoral history suggests that the 2022 result was an anomaly. The more than 7% swing in Aston was larger than in any of the adjacent seats. The average swing against the Liberals in those seats was 3-4%. This suggests an underperformance by Alan Tudge of more than 3%.
In addition, 2022 was a very bad result tor the Liberals in Victoria, due in no small part to the leadership of Scott Morrison. With Morrison gone the Liberal vote should improve, irrespective of the popularity or otherwise of Peter Dutton.
The history of by-elections such as this is telling. As National Secretary of the ALP at the time, I distinctly remember the Bruce by-election in 1983. The sitting member, Billy Snedden had resigned and he had been considered a popular local member and a respected Speaker of the House. The ALP had quite good candidate and the Liberals had a very poor candidate. So, the local factors were encouraging. And Bob Hawke as Prime Minister was extremely popular at almost record levels at that time. All the signs were positive for Labor, but the Liberals gained a 3.8% swing towards them. This should put the probability rating of the Liberals losing Aston to the Labor Party in perspective.
Anthony Albanese is very popular and the government is doing well both in restoring good governance to the country and in polling support around the country, including in Victoria, but he is not at Bob Hawke levels of public support. Bob Hawke went backwards by 3.8% in Bruce, why does anybody contemplate the possibility of Anthony Albanese doing so much better than Hawke that he will gain a 2.8% swing towards him in Aston?
Whether a “Teal” independent can win is not clear at this stage. It depends on a number of local factors, but there is some history of by-elections to suggest that an Independent could do well, although this has mainly been in seats held by the government of the day like Wentworth in 2018.
If there is a serious possibility that the Labor Party could win Aston it would be a defeat of unprecedented character and would suggest that the current version of the Liberal party is almost unelectable in urban Australia.
Because something has never happened it doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
But it is most unlikely that the Liberals will lose Aston.
Given how badly they did in this previously safe seat in 2022, even a swing against them is unlikely, but if it were to happen it would be devastating for them.
Joan Child was elected to the Melbourne seat of Henty in 1974, becoming the first female Labor member of the House of Representatives, and only the fourth woman ever elected to the House.
On her death at 91, in 2013, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Child was one of Labor’s ‘true believers’ and a powerful voice for the needs and rights of women, especially working women and women doing it tough.
Kevin Rudd commemorates 15th anniversary of national Stolen Generations apology
On this day in 2008, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised on behalf of the nation for past laws, policies and practices that have impacted upon Australia’s First Nations Peoples, particularly members of the Stolen Generations.
Today marks the ninth anniversary of the National Apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and is a significant day in Australia’s history.
It is an important time to reflect on how generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have been affected, and will continue to be affected, by the past policies of the Australian Government and the ongoing impacts of this on the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians.
For more information about the National Apology, visit the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website.
We also encourage you to visit the Reconciliation Australia and Healing Foundation websites for further resources.
“I move:
That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
We reflect on their past mistreatment.
We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.
And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.
We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.
For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.
We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.
A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.
A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.
A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.
A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.
A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.”
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
Published: 13 February 2017- EveryMind
Tom Watson – from his newsletter: “Tom Watson’s newsletter on Substack.” Tom Watson <tomwatsonofficial@substack.com>
My 24 hours with Burt Bacharach
I gatecrashed Burt Bacharach’s private party. Kevin Brennan MP was my accomplice. We’d seen him perform at the Roundhouse and tried to find the aftershow party. I won’t explain how I blagged us through two security rings, but I did.
Then, there we were, in the room. And at the bar, on a tall stool sat the great man with a conga line of admirers waiting to pay their respect.
Six feet away, standing alone with a clipboard, was an elegant woman looking attentive – the manager. I’ve dealt with a lot of music managers. They are high-calibre and tough.
“Excuse me, madam; I am here on behalf of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He has asked me to pass on his best wishes to Mr Bacharach and to extend an open invitation to you both to visit us in Number 10 Downing Street.” The poetic licence worked. We were escorted to the front of the queue and introduced to Burt.
Kevin Brennan was in rapture and immediately asked Burt if he made Cilla Black record ‘Alfie’ 34 times. “Well, you know, Kevin, there’s no point being in the studio unless the recording is perfect.”
“What was it like getting your first number one hit?”
“It was life-changing and I am still proud of it. Never underestimate a song you can whistle.”
The two of us were like naughty schoolchildren, not believing our luck and blagging skills. At the back of the queue was Jamie Cullen’s manager, who had rumbled us and was appalled and impressed in equal measure.
We spent longer than we should have with the great man, but Bacharach mania had overcome us. We hopped in a cab to K-Box and spent two hours at the Soho karaoke bar singing every Burt song we could find in the database. We sang to each other and with each other, laughing, smiling, and high-fiving all night. And we drank Tequila as they do on the West Coast.
The next morning, bleary-eyed, I walked into the cabinet office at 8am to be met by a bemused Private Secretary. “We’ve had a call from someone claiming to be the manager of Burt Bacharach, who is on tour in the UK at the moment minister. She seems to think he is meeting you and the Prime Minister today.”
I was undone. By now, the “open invitation to visit us in number 10 Downing Street” was a vague memory.
I’m avoiding the story about how I fixed it, but I did. Gordon Brown juggled his diary and drank tea from china cups with Burt. We took pictures of him sitting in Churchill’s leather armchair, and he saw the moondust given to the UK by President Nixon on behalf of the USA.
He loved it, and we loved him visiting. I have many memorable stories of working at Number 10, but I think this is the one I treasure most or at least equally treasure, along with my boy playing dinosaurs with the PM and his boy.
At the heart of all of this is a songwriter’s genius. Never underestimate a melody you can whistle. God bless you, Burt, and thank you.
Robin's Room 