Companion To Theatre In Australia

After ten years of research the Companion is now available. With 200 contributors, 704 pages and nearly 100 illustrations this reference work is essential to the library of every person with an interest in theatre

Companion to Theatre in Australia is the brainchild of Philip Parsons, co-founder of Currency Press. In 1986 Currency Press received a proposal from the Australian Bicenntennial Authority for a bicentennial history of entertainment in Australia

Faced with the realisation that vast areas of such history had never been researched, Dr Parsons counter-proposed a three-volume encyclopaedia of performance; and an illustrated history for the general reader. This latter, Entertaining Australia was published in 1991. Companion to Theatre in Australia is the second volume. Two further volumes - covering music and dance, and film, radio and television - are in preparation. The contents list was built from strict criteria to ensure a uniformity of quality and a breadth of information

Major entries ranging in length from 1,000 to 7,000 words examine the history of every aspect of performance, management and stagecraft; entries varying in length cover regional histories, major theatre companies, theatre buildings (many lost today), art forms and industrial matters. Entries on individuals, from 300 to 1,200 words, offer much rare material on lost stars of the past, together with variety artists, entrepreneurs, designers, theatre architects and critics. Contemporary practitioners put forward for selection were required to have entered the profession before 1976

The book has, besides its 1,300 alphabetical entries, 50 pages of index to direct the reader to names not listed as individual entries; and to the wealth of information available in cross references. In the text cross-references are printed in small caps for easy access; and entries are introduced with a summary of basic facts for speedy reference