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y separately published work icon The Club single work   drama   - Two acts.
Issue Details: First known date: 1976... 1976 The Club
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Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Club David Williamson , ( dir. Bruce Beresford ) Adelaide : South Australian Film Corporation , 1980 Z384017 1980 single work film/TV Volatile relationships affect the success of an Australian Rules football club when the coach, a former star player, tries to stop big business taking over the management and training of his team. His aggressive resistance leads to his loss of control of the club.
Source: National Film & Sound Archive

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.
Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.

Notes

  • Produced as The Players in the United States.

Production Details

  • First performed a the Russell Street Theatre in Melbourne on 24 May 1977.

    Director: Rodney Fisher.


    In 2018, 25A presented an all-female, three-actor version of the play at Belvoir's Downstairs Theatre, 7-22 December 2018.

    Director: Tessa Leong.

    Cast: Jude Henshall, Louisa Mignone, and Ellen Steele.


    In 2019, the State Theatre Company of South Australia presented the above version (all-female, three-actor), produced by isthisyours? and Insite Arts. Space Theatre, 5-20 April 2019.

    Director: Tessa Leong.

    Designer: Renate Henschke.

    Composer and Sound Designer: Catherine Oates.

    Cast including Louisa Mignone and Ellen Steele.

Contents

* Contents derived from the Sydney, New South Wales,:Currency Press , 1978 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
The Greatest Game of All, Lou Richards , single work column (p. vii-viii)
Winners and Losers, Ian Turner , single work column (p. x-xi)
The Play in the Theatre, Rodney Fisher , single work criticism biography (p. 74-76)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      1976 .
      Extent: [1], 66 leavesp.
      (Manuscript) assertion
      Note/s:
      • (Leaf 26 missing ; additional leaf inserted between 63 and 64).
      • Typescript (photocopy).
      • Copies of reviews and programmes included.
      Series: The Hanger Collection of Australian Playscripts series - publisher

      A collection in the Fryer Library at The University of Queensland of manuscript film and play scripts.

      Holdings

      Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library
      Local Id: H1853
Notes:
Some reprints have title as The Club (Players).

Other Formats

  • Also braille, sound recording

Works about this Work

Australia and China at 50 : The New Wave Theatre and the Drama of Cultural Exchange Anne Pender , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , vol. 46 no. 4 2022; (p. 482-495)

'2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening up of relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China. When he became prime minister in 1972, Gough Whitlam sent the first ambassador to China (Dr Stephen Fitzgerald), and in his term of office established support for artists’ exchanges from the Australia Council. The Australian Ballet visited China in 1980, the first major ballet company to tour since the Cultural Revolution. The touring of China by Australian theatre, opera and dance companies has flourished since then, particularly over the last decade, and Australian spoken-word drama has featured in the relationship between the two countries since 1983. Since the 1980s, the work of the New Wave dramatists has captured the interest of Chinese audiences over a sustained period beyond the years of the New Wave itself. The theatre has, in some respects, provided a respite from the rigours of realpolitik and most importantly a means of genuine interaction between ordinary Australians and Chinese citizens who make up the audiences. This article documents the take-up of the New Wave drama in China, and the legacy of the relationships created in this formative period of Australian theatre in its international context.' (Publication abstract)

Three Women Storm a Male Bastion to Revel in Ocker Posturing and Gender Satire Murray Bramwell , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 11 April 2019; (p. 14)

— Review of The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama

'First performed in 1977, The Club ranks among the best of David Williamson’s extensive dramatic repertoire. Set in an unnamed AFL football club, its brisk farce and pungent satire captures the niggle, backbiting and shameless hyp­ocrisy of male boardroom culture.' (Introduction) 

AFLW Inspires All-female Version of David Williamson's Classic Football Stage Play The Club Matthew Smith , 2019 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , April 2019;
Breaking the Rules Kylie Maslen , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: The Adelaide Review , April no. 470 2019; (p. 28)

'The Club - the renowned David Williamson play that has for many come to act as shorthand for masculiinity in 1970s Australia - may seem an unlikely choice for an all-woman theatre company, but that is in many ways what drew isthisyours? director Tessa Leong to the script.'

See How They Run : Sports Governance in Australia Gideon Haigh , 2016 single work essay
— Appears in: Griffith Review , July no. 53 2016; (p. 11-25)

In David Williamson's 1977 play The Club, the action takes place in a single room, through which traipse combinations of club president, committeeman, general manager, coach, captain and star recruit, conniving and conspiring. Big money and commercial pragmatism threaten to uproot personal loyalties and ancient ways. ‘I want to turn all those photographs around so they don’t have to look down on this shameful scene,’ says one character, who, it turns out, protests too much.' (Introduction)

At the Final Siren, It's Still a Winner Bryce Hallett , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 1 September 2003; (p. 20)

— Review of The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama
Dark Side Saves Dated Classic John McCallum , 2003 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 1 September 2003; (p. 8)

— Review of The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama
The Club: Certain of Success H. G. Kippax , 1977 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9 December 1977; (p. 10) A Leader of His Craft : Theatre Reviews by H. G. Kippax 2004; (p. 210-211)

— Review of The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama
Still Kicking Goals John Bailey , 2013 single work review
— Appears in: The Age , 26 April 2013; (p. 3)

— Review of The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama
[Review] The Removalists J. Healey , 1981 single work review
— Appears in: Theatre Australia , vol. 5 no. 12 1981; (p. 19)

— Review of The Removalists David Williamson , 1971 single work drama ; The Club David Williamson , 1976 single work drama
My Traitor's Heart David Williamson , 2003 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 27 September 2003; (p. 1,6) The Sydney Morning Herald , 27-28 September 2003; (p. 72)
Williamson reflects on his forty years of supporting the Collingwood Football Club and his decision to change his support to the Sydney Swans. Williamson also comments on his visit to the Collingwood Football Club in the week preceeding the 2003 grand final and the welcome he received from club president, Eddie McGuire.
Party Like It's 1971 Rosemary Sorensen , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 25-26 August 2007; (p. 16-17)
Rosemary Sorensen discusses David Williamson's 1970s plays The Club and Don's Party in the light of revival productions in 2007.
Changing Rules of the Ball Game Philip O'Brien , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 20 October 2007; (p. 19)
Introduction Katharine Brisbane , 1993 single work criticism
— Appears in: Collected Plays : Volume II 1993; (p. vii-xiv)
Theatre Company in Liquidation but the Shows go On Karl Quinn , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 8 January 2013; (p. 3)
Last amended 21 Oct 2022 12:44:31
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