- ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
- COLLECTIONS IN FOCUS
- Lady Viola Tait Collection
- The Australian Ballet Collection
- Angus Winneke Collection
- John Truscott Collection
- Anne Fraser Collection
- Uniquely Australian
- Contemporary Collecting
Three leading Australian stage designers, Brian Thomson, Trina Parker (posthumously) and Roger Kirk have recently made major personal donations to the Arts Centre’s Performing Arts Collection.
Brian Thomson has been a force in Australian theatre for over 30 years. Early in his career he was labelled enfant terrible, following his outstanding designs for the 1970s shows Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Show. Since then Thomson has become renowned internationally for his approach to large-scale theatrical and public-event productions.
Drawn to the Stage focuses on Thomson’s engagement with the 1991 Gordon/Frost Organisation production of The King and I, which premiered at the Adelaide Festival, then toured nationally, and internationally to Broadway, Minneapolis and London. On display is a working archive that runs from Thomson’s initial inspiration through to finished theatre designs, as testament to the designer’s commitment to this outstandingly well-researched production.
Trina Parker’s extensive personal archive, which was bequeathed to the Collection in 2006 shortly after her untimely death, is almost overwhelming in its scope. The display in Drawn to the Stage re-creates Parker’s home work space and gives an insight into her creative approach.
During her career Parker steered away from commercial theatre, preferring to work ‘more on the edges and the fringe than in the mainstream’. She designed productions for a diverse range of companies such as Circus Oz, MTC, Playbox Theatre and Chamber Made Opera. She was also Artistic Director of Handspan Theatre from 1986 to 1990, and from 1996 up to her death was Head of Design at the VCA School of Drama.
On the eve of the 2006 world premiere performance of Dusty: the Original Pop Diva in the Arts Centre’s State Theatre, costume and set designer par excellénce Roger Kirk generously donated his complete design bible of 130 costume designs for this blockbuster production to the Collection.
The costume design bible for Dusty offers an invaluable insight into Kirk’s complete vision for dressing Dusty in order to reflect her tumultuous career. Kirk’s award-wining flair for designing for musicals can also be seen in material already held by the Collection including costume designs for the Boy from Oz, The Wizard of Oz and Aspects of Love.
