Rise and fall of a cultural capital
PLAYWRIGHT Ron Elisha has some pointed barbs for Melbourne's arts sector and believes that Sydney now has the nation's most vibrant theatre scene.
PLAYWRIGHT Ron Elisha has some pointed barbs for Melbourne’s arts sector and believes that Sydney has taken over the mantle as the nation’s most vibrant theatre scene.
The Melbourne-based GP burst into the spotlight with his controversial play In Duty Bound in 1979. Since then, he has written more than 100 plays for the stage, as well as screenplays, novels, short stories, TV scripts and children’s books.
Dr Elisha was in Sydney last week for the premiere of his latest work, The Schelling Point, and was full of praise for the arts scene in the NSW capital.
“Sydney has taken over as the theatre capital of Australia and there is a lot more happening there than in Melbourne,” he told The AJN.
“The bookshops are so much better in Sydney and I think bookshops are always a reflection of a city’s culture.
“In theatre, there are so many more things happening, especially outside the mainstream companies.”
Of The Schelling Point, Dr Elisha added: “I could not get anyone in Melbourne to read the play, let alone stage it. The Melbourne scene has really stagnated, apart from a few independents who are struggling against the current.”
The Schelling Point is a comedy-drama set against the political landscape of the 1960s and draws on leading figures such as President John F Kennedy, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Nobel Prize winner Tom Schelling, actor Peter Sellers and singer Frank Sinatra for the action.
The play looks at what happens when the stakes are so high that the future of the world depends on it.
Dr Elisha said The Schelling Point was written early last year and was featured at a play reading in Sydney, where he was introduced to local director Sarah Goodes.
“The reading went well and Sarah and the cast were very enthused about the play and decided they wanted to stage it,” he explained.
The playwright said the idea for The Schelling Point came about when he heard a radio report about Tom Schelling, a widely respected American strategist whose influence fed directly into the White House.
“The Schelling Point refers to the point at which two parties can reach an agreement without communicating,” he explained.
“He felt that we behave a lot more rationally than we give ourselves credit for.
“When I heard this, I thought it was an extraordinarily romantic notion and decided to read up on him.”
Dr Elisha said the major characters in the book — including Kennedy, Kubrick, Sellers and Sinatra — were not good at relationships.
“If we look at why the world is in such a mess, it is not simply because, for example, the United States and the Soviet Union do not communicate, it’s because males and females don’t communicate and at the end of the day, males don’t communicate with themselves.”
The Schelling Point includes singing, dancing and some production numbers.
“When I wrote the script, I thought we would use Sinatra’s recordings with the cast lip-synching, but once we secured a venue, we had to change the plan to get the cast to sing.”
The prolific writer said he did not differentiate between comedy and drama when he put pen to paper
“Whatever you are writing, you should always do your utmost to inject humour at some level.”
Dr Elisha noted that one of his latest works, Certificate of Life, which is Holocaust-related and “full of humour”, will have its first public reading next month in Melbourne.
The play is set in Germany around Holocaust survivor Clara Reich, who since the end of World War II has
been required to attend the German Consul every year, just before her
birthday, to present them with a Lebensbescheinegung (a certificate of life).
In this way, the German Government satisfies itself that the recipients of its reparation pensions are still alive.
For the reading at the Carlton Courthouse, acclaimed Australian actress Helen Morse will play the role of Clara.
Dr Elisha said that Certificate of Life is a dark, deeply moving exploration of life that is “full of humour”.
“There is humour in everything and to ignore it is to ignore half of life,” he said.
“When you talk to people who went through the Holocaust, they say that even in the camps people were cracking jokes. It’s a part of life and a part of irony; life is filled with irony.
“An audience deserves to be entertained, as long as it is an organic part of what you are writing.”
He said his passion for writing is as strong as ever.
“I still try to write every night, but sometimes I don’t have the stamina that I used to have and can end up falling asleep.
“I have a little time on the weekend and am managing to write more than ever before,” he said.
“When you have a certain amount of experience under your belt, the craft comes together and I think the material I am writing now is better than what I have done before. It is more layered and more complex and more interesting.”
He recalled attending a reading of one of his plays in Melbourne recently and was pleasantly surprised with his own writing.
“I was watching this play and thought, ‘This is a young man’s play. If I was coming to it and saw it, I would think that someone in his 20s wrote it.’ And I was really pleased!”
Dr Elisha said there was scope for greater support in the arts for seasoned writers like himself.
“Overseas there is room for the new writer and a tradition of ongoing support for artists as they get into the mature part of career, so you have some sort of continuity and appreciation of the fact that there is a lot of experience that does not go to waste. But the arts community here is so small that everyone is battling for attention.”
The Schelling Point is currently being staged at The Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo until September 11. Bookings: www.rocksurfers.org.
The play reading of Certificate of Life will be held at the Carlton Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton, on Sunday, September 12 at 2pm. Entry is free but bookings are required: bertha@bgmagency.com.au.
DANNY GOCS
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