25/1/04 The Sydney Croquet Theatre Scene

Went to Sydney and saw seven shows in four days and wanted to share with you some observations.

Sydney theatre scene is very preoccupied with the plight of the working class and how they get unjustly treated - particularly in Katherine Thomson's "Harbour" and Alana Valentine's "Run Rabbit Run" - both of which were enjoyable nights out. Obviously the working class are thematically chic at present. But there's also a slight suggestion of upper middle class guilt leaking through here, don't you think?

I was left wondering how any working class theatre lovers/waterfront workers/rugby league stalwarts etc. could in fact aff0rd $7o tickets at a snazzy new, wharf-side theatre? It also seemed dishonest and somewhat rude to put on a play about how tough life is for people without jobs when you need a bloody good one to get in to see the play in the first place.

Joe Average's ticket is priced out of the water. I saw this in England recently where soccer fans pay a heavy proportion of their income to follow their team every season. To see quality soccer.

And then there was the recent World Cup where rugby union - like most high profile professional sports - was being wrenched from the scruffy majority that so passionately love it so that North Shore trendies can sip champagne in their corporate boxes cheering on players they've never heard of. All from behind protective windows.

Joe Average retires home to watch it all on telly but then finds he needs to subscribe to those people sitting in the boxes for a cable. (Ironically, corporations get the biggest bagging in contemporary theatre. And Joe Average would hoot with joy if he could actually pay the corporations enough to get a ticket to see an anti-corporate play.)

I have had similar problems with Bell Shakespeare in the past. I ask John most sincerely - if he's bringing Shakespeare to the masses then why do BS box office prices exclude them? I know he doesn't have to pay rights! (I know - I know - you have to pay for quality at times. Make sacrifices. That's reality. I surely couldn't expect to pay peanuts to see the wonderful Ian McKellen in the Currong?)

There was quality in and around the Sydney Festival. And I was greedy. I wanted to be festive and bacchanalian and see it all. But in short, and to be quite blunt - as much as I enjoyed and celebrated the stuff I saw this week including the boundary-breaking, cross-artsy Chunky Move stuff (which was also well and truly over fifty experimental bucks) - The Sydney Festival can only be truly appraised as a festival for a privileged audience. Thus cementing theatre as elitist entertainment in Joe Average's eyes.

Back to the wharf, mate. No plays for you to see here.

This is all like croquet to me. I asked to join a club once but was told I couldn't really afford it. And I needed to dress smarter.

That was a shame as I'm creative with a mallet.