The drama festivals, the adaptations of myth, the relevance of Aristotelian criteria, and the political and cultural background of each play are described fully, and the nature of tragedy and comedy, plot construction, stagecraft, theme, character, imagery and individual odes and speeches are analyzed in depth. The author's experience teaching these plays to gifted high school students makes this volume particularly useful. Screens Tuesday nights 8:30pm on ABC1 and on iview.Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Oedipus plays, Euripides' Medea and Bacchae, and Aristophanes' Birds and Lysistrata are discussed in this lively and scholarly volume. Produced with the assistance of Film Victoria
Our books deserve more than polite agreement.ĭeveloped and produced in association with the ABC Books That Made Us wants to be reductive, to simplify us into an easy multiculturalism that could be comfortably agreed upon at a middle-class inner-city book group. Carey gets the icon treatment but how much more interesting would it be to look at his other works, such as Theft – A Love Story or My Life As A Fake, which examine the place of artists in Australia? Tsiolkas is all about The Slap, skipping his debut Loaded, a raw look at sexuality and culture, and his most recent novels. How much more useful would it have been to vox-pop a range of trans people for their responses, to see if the book rang true for them or brought their situation to a broader audience?Īnd it is often just the singular book that ‘made us’. It’s an interesting conversation about writing outside of your knowledge and how Silvey approached it respectfully, but instead we cut away to Karvan’s tearful reaction to the novel. We also get to see Craig Silvey talk about his controversial novel Honeybee with some of the trans people and drag performers he consulted with while writing the book. Similarly, critics like Geordie Williamson and Rick Morton suggest a depth of discussion that could be had about Australian identity through its books but which is largely missing in this series. Pioneering publisher Hilary McPhee (who published Tim Winton and a slew of others when no-one knew their names) is a joyful flash and may appear again. It feels like she is keener to show her literary credentials than listen.Īnd there are interesting voices to be heard.
As an interviewer she is clumsy, interrupting Western Sydney writer Michael Mohammed Ahmed to talk about a friend of hers who also went to school with ‘Lebs’ or talk about her experience of the book. Karvan is the relatable telegenic star – complete with slow pans of her reading on a gum tree log – when this show needed a host who could let the works and authors shine through. Her observation that True History of the Kelly Gang was ‘apparently’ based on Kelly’s Jerilideree Letter offers only a shallow take of Peter Carey’s wildly inventive but solidly researched novel. We also get Karvan’s slightly breathless responses to works and readings of key texts. Read: Book review: 7 1/2, Christos Tsiolkas
Did the directors not trust that the audience would be interested in what Tsiolkas (one of our greatest contemporary writers with a nuanced approach to identity) had to say?
#Abc greek season 1 series
Doubtless this series of fast cuts between interviewer and interviewee was intended to liven up the discussion, but as this is only the briefest of encounters, you want more of Tsiolkas talking about his work. Her interview with author Christos Tsiolkas is intercut with shots of Karvan nodding or, notably, as the author talks about his Greek heritage, sipping what could be ouzo. It aims for a wide audience who may be unfamiliar with many books but want to add a few important novels to their reading lists.Ĭelebrity host Claudia Karvan takes up too much screen time. This problematic exploration of Australian identity through our published works is made for the book curious, not literature lovers.
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