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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my purpose here to introduce the non-Australian reader to the youngest mature English-language drama of the present century; to discuss the nature and extent of the derivations from other national dramas; and to illuminate some of the preoccupations and idiosyncrasies which have given it both individuality and distinction. This study is primarily an analysis of the texts of representatitve plays. Though the organization is roughly chronological, it is not a full reference work, nor a comprehensive history of Australian drama and theatre. In the introductory part of each chapter, the plays are placed within the context of the historical and theatrical development of Australia, and some of the less important playwrights active at the same time are also mentioned. But each chapter primarily deals with the contribution of the playwrights whose names introduce it. In the play analyses, structure, style and thematic features are stressed rather than qualities of characterization and language. This is partly because of the emphasis of other available studies, partly a reflection of my own interests. Performance histories of the major plays are also briefly indicated. opening chapter deals with the nineteenth century background and the historical, literary and theatrical factors which have had major bearing on the development of Australian contemporary drama. Research for this study has progressed for over a decade and has made necessary several lengthy visits to my homeland. I must thank the University of Hawaii for awarding intramural grants for two of these. Sections of Chapters 5, 7, 8, and 10 have appeared in somewhat different form in three articles: The United States in Recent Australian Educational Theatre Journal 25 (1973); Stage Convention in the Plays of Patrick White, Modern Drama 19 (1976); and Mateship and Individualism in Modern Australian Theatre Journal 34 (1982). It is impossible to list here all the people who have in some way contributed to this study over the years. However, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Robert Schneideman of Northwestern University who as my doctoral advisor first suggested that I systematically study Australian drama; Dr. Margaret Williams, Dr. Philip Parsons and Marlis Thiersch of the · School of Drama, University of New South Wales, and Katharine Brisbane, General Editor at Currency Press, for hospitality at various times I was in Sydney and for generously sharing with me their insights into Australian drama; my friends Bruce Myles, Associate Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company. and his wife Helen for similar warmth and generosity in Melbourne; and my senior colleague Bernard F. Dukore at the Department of Drama and Theatre, University of Hawaii at Hanoa, for general encouragement and for advice about manuscript submission. Honolulu, 1984
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