Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors
Anne Pender explores the lives and creative work of seven extraordinary performers who have brought joy and hilarity to generations of Australians through their memorable characters on stage and television, and in their potent satire, musical comedy, revue, drama, stand-up acts and one-person shows. Carol Raye, Barry Humphries, Noeline Brown, Max Gillies, John Clarke, Tony Sheldon and Denise Scott pioneered home-grown humour, transformed the image of Australia, intervened in political life, and brought Australian comedy to the world. They created iconic figures, including Mavis Bramston, Dame Edna Everage, Clarke and Dawe, Bernadette in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and mesmerising impersonations of prime ministers. In Seven Big Australians, Pender interprets the lives of these significant comic actors, offering vivid biographical portraits of their childhood and family of origin, their struggles to enter the entertainment industry and the art they created over many decades. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted with each actor over many years, Pender documents their experiences of the hardships of breaking into the industry and the challenges of staying there, the gruelling nature of daily life as a performer, the demands of working in multiple forms, the realities of script writing under pressure and the exhilaration of performing. These actors are significant cultural figures whose lives are awe-inspiring, momentous and magical.
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Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors
Anne Pender explores the lives and creative work of seven extraordinary performers who have brought joy and hilarity to generations of Australians through their memorable characters on stage and television, and in their potent satire, musical comedy, revue, drama, stand-up acts and one-person shows. Carol Raye, Barry Humphries, Noeline Brown, Max Gillies, John Clarke, Tony Sheldon and Denise Scott pioneered home-grown humour, transformed the image of Australia, intervened in political life, and brought Australian comedy to the world. They created iconic figures, including Mavis Bramston, Dame Edna Everage, Clarke and Dawe, Bernadette in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and mesmerising impersonations of prime ministers. In Seven Big Australians, Pender interprets the lives of these significant comic actors, offering vivid biographical portraits of their childhood and family of origin, their struggles to enter the entertainment industry and the art they created over many decades. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted with each actor over many years, Pender documents their experiences of the hardships of breaking into the industry and the challenges of staying there, the gruelling nature of daily life as a performer, the demands of working in multiple forms, the realities of script writing under pressure and the exhilaration of performing. These actors are significant cultural figures whose lives are awe-inspiring, momentous and magical.
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Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors

Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors

by Anne Pender
Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors

Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors

by Anne Pender

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$29.95 
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Overview

Anne Pender explores the lives and creative work of seven extraordinary performers who have brought joy and hilarity to generations of Australians through their memorable characters on stage and television, and in their potent satire, musical comedy, revue, drama, stand-up acts and one-person shows. Carol Raye, Barry Humphries, Noeline Brown, Max Gillies, John Clarke, Tony Sheldon and Denise Scott pioneered home-grown humour, transformed the image of Australia, intervened in political life, and brought Australian comedy to the world. They created iconic figures, including Mavis Bramston, Dame Edna Everage, Clarke and Dawe, Bernadette in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and mesmerising impersonations of prime ministers. In Seven Big Australians, Pender interprets the lives of these significant comic actors, offering vivid biographical portraits of their childhood and family of origin, their struggles to enter the entertainment industry and the art they created over many decades. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted with each actor over many years, Pender documents their experiences of the hardships of breaking into the industry and the challenges of staying there, the gruelling nature of daily life as a performer, the demands of working in multiple forms, the realities of script writing under pressure and the exhilaration of performing. These actors are significant cultural figures whose lives are awe-inspiring, momentous and magical.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781925835212
Publisher: Monash University Publishing
Publication date: 04/01/2019
Series: Biography
Edition description: None
Pages: 296
Product dimensions: 6.02(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Anne Pender is Professor of English and Theatre Studies at the University of New England and author of From a Distant Shore: Australian Writers in Britain 1820–2012 (with Bruce Bennett), One Man Show: The Stages of Barry Humphries, and Christina Stead: Satirist.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 Living on Champagne Carol Raye 1

Chapter 2 'A Bit of Psychic Nudity?' Barry Humphries 38

Chapter 3 'I'm Not Afraid of the Audience' Noeline Brown 72

Chapter 4 Marvellous Max Max Gillies 101

Chapter 5 Bat On John Clarke 154

Chapter 6 Do You Believe in Angels? Tony Sheldon 192

Chapter 7 Comedy is Not Pretty Denise Scott 238

References 273

Acknowledgements 276

About the Author 277

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