AustLit

Examines the relationship between 'Mo' (the stage character which made Roy Rene famous) and the dominant codes of masculinity, class, ethnicity and cultural legitimacy which shaped him.

'This article seeks to ask whether the comedy Black & Tran, which ewas framed and marketed as a comedy that would raise issues about racism and representation, failed to intervene in the very debates that it proposed to address. These debates concerning issues of culture, belonging and identity are crucial both within the Australian context and more broadly at a time of such serious global instability. While the intentions of the performers/creators were to challenge the status quo and broaden the parameters of discussion, I believe that the use of particular comic strategies ... all worked to dilute the political power of Black & Tran and resulted in an evening of slapstick entertainment rather than one of biting satire.' (112)

This article 'reflects on issues raised by Life after George as an intervention in the public debate on education and as an instance of the way theatre continues to function as a critical site' (162). It argues that the performance of the play on the stages of five state theatres and numerous regional centres constitues a 'significant contribution to public intellectual discourse on a matter of importance to culture and society', and that the play 'examines the crisis in education and the future of knowledge and learning from a feminist perspective that offers a significant and so far underplayed dimension to the debate' (163).