The Blind Giant Is Dancing | AustLit: Discover Australian Stories

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y The Blind Giant Is Dancing single work drama - Three acts

Author:agent Stephen Sewell

Issue Details: First known date: 1983... 1983 The Blind Giant Is Dancing

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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Brutality in the workplace, rage in the streets, seething in the home. The vulnerability of political parties when they’ve forgotten why they’re there. The intellectual torpor of modern Australia. How power corrupts.

'Stephen Sewell’s play is an angry and tender depiction of an idealist who becomes so embroiled in a party power struggle that he loses sight of what’s at stake. When it premiered in 1983, The Blind Giant is Dancing felt like a sharp slap in the face. And in an age of ICAC, Union credit cards, speculative housing bubbles, a pulverised working class, vapid leadership… it’s definitely time for another look at this Australian classic.

'Artistic Director Eamon Flack begins his tenure with a company of twelve of the country’s great actors and one of the country’s great plays.'

Source: Belvoir 2016 production summary.

Notes

Dedication: To my friends, Anna Russell, Dan O'Neill and Marian Wilkinson. In memory of Salvador Allende, killed by fascist forces while defending the Moneda Palace with his comrades, 11 September 1973
Epigraph: 'In these dark and bitter moments, where treachery claims to impose itself, you must know that sooner or later, and very soon, large avenues will open again for men worthy of building a new society. Long Live Chile! / Long Live the People! / Long Live the Workers!' - President Allende, 11 September 1973
Author's note: This is the text of The Blind Giant is Dancing as presented on the first day of rehearsal. It does not include any subsequent revisions by the author.

Production Details

First produced by the Lighthouse Co., the Playhouse, Adelaide, 15 October 1983. Revived August 1995, Sydney.

Performed at Belvoir St Theatre, Upstairs Theatre, Surry Hills: 13 February - 20 March 2016.

Director: Eamon Flack.

Cast: Ivan Donato, Russell Kiefel, Geoff Morrell, Dan Spielman, and Yael Stone.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Publisher: Currency Press

Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 1983 .

Extent: 82p.
ISBN: 0868190918

Series: Current Theatre Series Currency Press (publisher), 1983- series - publisher Abstract 'Current Theatre Series consists of Australian plays published with the program inserted and sold during theatre seasons. The aim of the series is to promote and encourage new dramatic writing and make it accessible to theatregoers and the public. The text is presented at the first day of rehearsal and does not contain changes which the author may choose to make after the play has commenced its present season - these will be incorporated into any new edition published by Currency.' Currency Press.
1983 .

Extent: 105 leavesp.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

First draft - incomplete.

Holdings

Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library

Local Id: H1570
1983 .

Extent: 145 leavesp.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

2nd draft. Some mss. emendations.

Holdings

Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library

Local Id: H1570A
1983 .

Extent: Leaves 82-145p.
Description: photocopy of author's draft.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

Third draft. Act 3 only.

Holdings

Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library

Local Id: H1570B
1983 .

Extent: 140 leavesp.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

Acts 1 and 2

Holdings

Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library

Local Id: h1570C
1983 .

Extent: Leaves 141-248p.
(Manuscript) assertion

Note/s:

Act 3 only as typed by theatre.

Holdings

Held at: University of Queensland University of Queensland Library Fryer Library

Local Id: H1570D
Publisher: Currency Press

Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 1985 .

Extent: 135p.
Edition info: Rev. ed.
ISBN: 0868191280

Series: Currency Plays Currency Press (publisher), series - publisher
Publisher: Currency Press ; State Theatre Company of South Australia

Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press ; State Theatre Company of South Australia , 1997 .

Extent: viii, 121p.p.
Edition info: Rev. ed.
ISBN: 0868194921

Series: Currency Plays Currency Press (publisher), series - publisher
Publisher: Currency Press

Strawberry Hills, Inner Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Currency Press , 2016 .

4856773644057976207.jpg
This image has been sourced from online.

Extent: 108p.
Limited edition info: Revised edition
Description: illus. (b & w)

Note/s:

Published 1 February 2016

ISBN: 9781925005752

Series: Current Theatre Series Currency Press (publisher), 1983- series - publisher Abstract 'Current Theatre Series consists of Australian plays published with the program inserted and sold during theatre seasons. The aim of the series is to promote and encourage new dramatic writing and make it accessible to theatregoers and the public. The text is presented at the first day of rehearsal and does not contain changes which the author may choose to make after the play has commenced its present season - these will be incorporated into any new edition published by Currency.' Currency Press.

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Other Formats

Also sound recording.

Find library holdings on Trove

Tale of Moral Corruption a House of Cards for Stage Jason Blake , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 19 February 2016; (p. 18)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Sucked into Political Machinery John McCallum , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Australian , 19 February 2016; (p. 16)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

A Man of Qualities Ian Craven , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 23-24 February 2013; (p. 4-5)

Stephen Sewell and the State of the Nation Denise Varney , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Radical Visions 1968-2008 : The Impact of the Sixties on Australian Drama 2011; (p. 239-266)

Once More into the Fray for Fearless Sewell Stephen Bevis , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 30 September 2006; (p. 12-13)

A Dramatic Call for Courage Brian Hoad , 1983 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 22 November vol. 103 no. 5392 1983; (p. 82)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Untitled R. Archer , 1984 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Left Review , no. 90 1984; (p. 41-43)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Untitled David Britton , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 22 April 1985;
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Untitled Peter Fitzpatrick , 1985 single work review
— Appears in: Australasian Drama Studies , April vol. 3 no. 2 1985; (p. 145-148)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Let This Be a Warning Yet Again Brian Hoad , 1995 single work review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 29 August vol. 116 no. 5985 1995; (p. 87)
— Review of The Blind Giant Is Dancing Stephen Sewell , 1983 single work drama

Re-Reading Stephen Sewell's Traitors : Ideology and Gender in 'the Australian Play' G. K. H. Ley , 2005 single work criticism
— Appears in: Modern Drama , Spring vol. 48 no. 1 2005; (p. 108-117)

It's Curtains for Armfield Peter Craven , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 1 April 2006; (p. 19)

Once More into the Fray for Fearless Sewell Stephen Bevis , 2006 single work column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 30 September 2006; (p. 12-13)

Views of the Harbour : The Empty City in Contemporary Australian Drama Peter Fitzpatrick , 1992 single work criticism
— Appears in: Populous Places : Australian Cities and Towns 1992; (p. 48-57)

Stephen Sewell and the State of the Nation Denise Varney , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Radical Visions 1968-2008 : The Impact of the Sixties on Australian Drama 2011; (p. 239-266)

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