Stage on Page

Ensemble Theatre – Celebrating 50 Years: A Great Stage Of Life by John Burfitt. $32.50
In the beginning, there was a man who had a dream. He saw what Australian theatre of the 1950s was offering, and he was certain that this post-war young nation could do it much better.
That man was Hayes Gordon, the founding father of the Ensemble Theatre. In 1958 a group of eager young actors set out to explore new styles of performance. In 2008, Sydney’s Ensemble Theatre celebrated its theatrical Golden Jubilee.
This 100-page coffee table book simply but brilliantly documents the history of one of this country’s iconic theatre companies; a wonderful memento of Australia’s longest, continuously running professional theatre company.
The book catalogues every major production; a truly incredible programming mix of classics, musicals and new Australian works.
A fascinating selection of over 70 stylish photographs capture the heart and soul of this theatrical powerhouse - the “little company who could” – and did! Paul Dellit

Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art by Anna Bemrose
U.Q.P. Hardback. RRP $49.95.
Ballet dancer, mime artist, make-up artist, musicals performer, choreographer, actor on stage and screen, director of ballets, plays and operas, co-artistic director of the Australian Ballet, and director of the 1970 Adelaide Festival of Arts – Sir Robert Helpmann was an arts phenomenon.
To celebrate the 2009 centenary of his birth, Anna Bemrose has written Robert Helpmann: A Servant of Art, a magnificently illustrated account of one of our greatest performers.
Maina Gielgud AO, former artistic director of the Australian Ballet, believes ‘we shall never see another “Bobby Helpmann” ... a legend!’
According to Gielgud’s foreword, the Australian Ballet and the Royal Ballet are indebted to Helpmann and numerous well-known choreographers, such as Graeme Murphy, have been influenced by Helpmann’s stagecraft and sense of the theatre.
The author conducted personal interviews with Helpmann’s professional collaborators such as Peter Sculthorpe, Richard Bonynge, Richard Wherrett, John Waters, Michael Pate and Dame Ninette de Valois.
Generously illustrated with many personal and professional images, this beautiful book develops a career profile of Sir Robert Helpmann, assessing the nature and value of his contribution to the performing arts. Paul Dellit

Black River, Bright Star by Hazel Phillips
Zeus Publications. B5 Paperback. $33.95.
Performer Hazel Phillips still qualifies as one of Australia's true Golden Girls from a time when television personalities had talent, charisma and star power. Her autobiography, Black River, Bright Star, traces the early days of Australian television and captures the colourful and dramatic story of an amazing woman with a passionate zest for life.
Hazel Phillips OAM has appeared on television since its inception – in shows including the original Beauty and the Beast and The Mavis Bramston Show. Her show, Girl Talk, was the first midday show on television and ran daily for four years making her the most popular female in the country, winning her a Gold Logie Award.
Hazel has done TV, films, theatre, cabaret and radio. She has written, starred and appeared in three musicals of her own, as well as thirty other musicals, plays and several movies. Hazel tells of the time she appeared on Graham Kennedy's show and made a complete fool of herself. 'Gra Gra' was so upset they never spoke again. And the time she went swimming with James Mason off Dunk Island and the Hollywood legend nearly drowned.
Packed with over 100 photographs, this book is must have for anyone remotely interested in the early days of Australian TV. Paul Dellit

New Australian Script Releases
Two new Australian plays, premiered in Sydney during September and October 2008, have recently been released as part of Currrency’s Current Theatre season. Damien Millar’s The Modern International Dead was produced a three-hander by Griffin Theatre Company, but the multiple roles might well be spread across a larger cast in this play drawn from interviews with Australia’s international relief workers. John Doyle’s first play, the satirical The Pig Iron People is a seven-hander set in suburban Liberal Street the following the election of the first Howard Government. Bitingly entertaining, Doyle creates an engaging look at intergenerational politics, and the ‘politics of parking.’ Neil Litchfield