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A. A. Phillips introduces his review of six new Australian dramas by saying: 'The quality of these plays, and others in the present burgeoning, is perhaps not the most important consideration. It matters much more that they are here and that they are satisfying audiences. Culturally in the widest sense of the word, the theatre's first importance is not as a potent vehicle of art, but as the place where a crosssection of the community has a common, and preferably a significant, experience. But so long as our theatre presented almost entirely imported material it forfeited half its power to develop our social coherence. Moreover, it fed our tendency to drowse into acceptance of a client-state mentality. It therefore matters a good deal that a sizeable slice of our common entertainment is now being presented by our own entertainers concerned with our own forms of living and igniting an eagerness of response. If their plays are also good art or penetrating social comment, so very much the better; but that is not their primary social function.' (Meanjin 32.2 (June 1973):189)
Notes
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Review essay.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
- The Third Secretary : A Play 1972 single work drama
- A Stretch of the Imagination 1971 single work drama
- The Removalists 1971 single work drama
- Four Australian Plays 1973 selected work drama
- The Chapel Perilous, Or, The Perilous Adventures of Sally Banner 1972 single work musical theatre
- The Lucky Streak : A Play 1966 single work drama