AustLit
Clive came in yesterday for an emergency op. Severed finger. Nothing to do with COVID.
We asked the usual questions – any symptoms? He had been unwell, he said, but was on the mend. Maybe the flu?
No one thought he had it. But we tested.
And PPEd up for the op. Even though it's a palaver and slows everything down.
Before he went under, Clive joked that he'd bought his own toilet paper and a spare roll for the doctor who saved his finger.
Jane Harrison, 'Cocooning', The Lockdown Monologues, Malthouse Theatre, 3 June 2020.
By mid 2022, after two years of rolling lockdowns across Australia (and particularly in Melbourne and Sydney), AustLit had tracked the postponement or cancellation of some two hundred Australian-written performance works, some new and some classic works, from Michael Veitch's Hell Ship at fortyfivedownstairs (cancelled in both 2020 and 2021) to Theatre Works' production of Owl and the Albatross, cancelled after opening night (June 2022) due to COVID-19 among the cast.
Works in this dataset adhere to AustLit's usual scope: we only record the production history (and therefore the cancellation or postponement of) Australian-written plays or plays with Australian themes or settings.
To see the details of postponement or cancellation, check the 'Production Details' section of a work record.
If you are looking for theatrical works written about the COVID-19 pandemic (rather than works whose production was affected by the pandemic), this information can be found under Writing the Virus.)
To create your own searches using this dataset, begin with the pre-set search fields below:
Example 1: Dear Australia
Commissioned by PlayWriting Australia, produced by over thirty companies across the country, streamed on multiple Facebook pages and YouTube, and ultimately published as a freely downloadable PDF by Australian Plays, Dear Australia is a definitive work of the pandemic.
Fifty dramatic monologues, often filmed inside the actors' homes, the plays speak to isolation, fear, and anger—the actors reflect us, on webcams, in Zoom meetings, seeking alternative means of communication and connection, frightened, tired, overwhelmed, and uncertain.
Dear Australia can be viewed on PlayWriting Australia's YouTube channel.
Example 2: Moogahl Live
Run between 23 March to 15 May 2020 as a pilot program, Moogahl Live was 'a response to unfolding world events and their impact on our cultural arts community.' According to Moogahlin Performing Arts, 'Performances are rough, ready, and interactive, as audiences join the artist in their own homes for a chance to moogahl about!'
The program included performances, workshops, and interactive events.
'Brisbane Festival’s "Boldly Brisbane" vision was more than a response to the challenges of the 2020 pandemic, it was a deliberate intention that will drive the Festival’s progress into the future. It aims to instil the city with a sense of pride, the confidence to make audacious choices and to view global perspectives through a local lens.'
Arts Queensland on the 2020 Brisbane Festival, run under the theme 'Boldly Brisbane', September 2020.
Through newspaper and periodical reports, AustLit is also seeking to record which festivals have been postponed or cancelled, or are fearing an uncertain future as a result of the pandemic.
From the cancellation of Dark Mofo for June 2020 to the postponement of Vivid in Sydney's harsh 2021 lockdown, from regional festivals such as Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival and the Southern Highlands Writers Festival, to online art shows and film festivals, explore the effect of COVID-19 through the links below.
Carriageworks, a multi-arts cultural precinct in Redfern, Sydney, built on the site of the former Eveleigh Rail Complex Yards, had operated as a space for performance and visual contemporary arts since 2003, before its official opening in 2007.
In early May 2020, it announced that it was entering voluntary administration and closing, as a consequence of the irreparable loss of income caused by social distancing and mandated closure of performance spaces during the pandemic.
In July 2020, Carriageworks' creditors voted unopposed for a proposal that would rescue the arts space with the support of philanthropy and the New South Wales government, although some expressed concern about the impact on the smaller arts organisations affected by Carriageworks' collapse.
A significant urban arts space, Carriageworks was the one of the earliest and most visible indications of the consequences of the pandemic on the Australian arts scene.
Explore works about the closure of Carriageworks.
Explore works about the effect of COVID-19 on arts funding more broadly.