limelightmagazine.com.au: The beginnings of Australian drama were as impromptu as the political arrangements around it. No bold statements of new artistic purpose are observable, as in Ireland’s Abbey Theatre or France’s Théâtre Libre, no declarations of unique history or language. Rather, Australian drama was calved from the profit-making monster of British imperial theatre in the shadow of which local dramatists had to live and work for the next 60 years.
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This article is an excerpt from Julian Meyrick's book, Australia in 50 Plays. In this book, Meryrick discusses Australia's dramatic history and its sense of nationhood through 50 landmark plays since Federation. Meyrick says, Australian drama "was calved from the profit-making monster of British imperial theatre in the shadow of which local dramatists had to live and work for the next 60 years." This is in opposition to other theatres in other countries, for example, Ireland’s Abbey Theatre or France’s Théâtre Libre, where there, theatre was founded upon a sense of artistic purpose of declaration of unique history and language. I found this very interesting because while the latter is not usually the case, to be able to say that all commercial theatreworks in one nation was founded upon a previous imperial, exploitative precedent is a significant observation. This is just one book and one person's observations, but knowing this and being more mindful of the origin of a nation's work is more impetus for change going forward.
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