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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Set in the Australian goldfields of the 1860s -- a world of travelling freak shows, grave robbing, convicts, angels of retribution and Chinese opera -- Fortune tells the story of Chang the 'Tartar Monster'. Eleven years old, 7 feet tall and alone in the world, Chang is enslaved to the cruel Reinhardt, who sells his appearance, at fourpence a time, for souvenir snapshots. Into his life comes Kathleen, Irish, newly free, determined and a passionate survivor. Finally treated as a human being, Chang begins to turn the tables. Showing how readily society's oppressed embrace the role of oppressor. Through richly wrought prose and controlled flights into non-naturalistic realms, Bell probes the complexities of racial prejudice and cultural difference, whilst unsentimentally scrutinising the universal surge for survival (2 acts, 2 men, 3 women).
(Source: Book Depository)
Notes
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Introduced by John McCallum and David Goodman.
Affiliation Notes
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Writing Disability in Australia:
Type of disability Gigantism. Type of character Primary. Point of view First person.
Production Details
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First performed at NIDA in Sydney in 1990 and at the Stables Theatre, Sydney, 30 April 1993. Also produced in Hawaii.
Contents
-
Intercultural Salad,
single work
review
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama ; (p. 7-8) -
A Market for Otherness,
single work
review
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama ; (p. 9-11)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Plays Offer "Asian-Pacific Interface"
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 11 no. 1 1997; (p. 63-64,65)
— Review of Heretic : Based on the Life of Derek Freeman 1996 single work drama ; Fortune 1995 single work drama ; Pacific Union : The Story of the San Francisco Forty-Fivers 1995 single work drama -
Actors Battle to Show Point
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 17 May 1996; (p. 13)
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama -
Untitled
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 29 1996; (p. 210-216)
— Review of The Gap 1995 single work drama ; Fortune 1995 single work drama -
Misery Spawns a Big Play of Good Fortune
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 8 May 1996; (p. 18) -
A Market for Otherness
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Fortune 1995; (p. 9-11)
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama
-
At Sixes and Sevens
1993
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 1 June vol. 115 no. 5872 1993; (p. 90)
— Review of Dead Heart 1994 single work drama ; Fortune 1995 single work drama ; Relative Merits 1993 single work drama -
Untitled
1996
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , October no. 29 1996; (p. 210-216)
— Review of The Gap 1995 single work drama ; Fortune 1995 single work drama -
Plays Offer "Asian-Pacific Interface"
1997
single work
review
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 11 no. 1 1997; (p. 63-64,65)
— Review of Heretic : Based on the Life of Derek Freeman 1996 single work drama ; Fortune 1995 single work drama ; Pacific Union : The Story of the San Francisco Forty-Fivers 1995 single work drama -
Intercultural Salad
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Fortune 1995; (p. 7-8)
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama -
A Market for Otherness
1995
single work
review
— Appears in: Fortune 1995; (p. 9-11)
— Review of Fortune 1995 single work drama -
Bell Rings Cultural Changes
1993
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Australian , 23 April 1993; (p. 9) -
Bella Donna : Hilary Bell in Profile
1994
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: Dialogue , December no. 21 1994; (p. 8-9) -
Misery Spawns a Big Play of Good Fortune
1996
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 8 May 1996; (p. 18)
- New South Wales,
- 1860s