Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 17:18:44 +1000
From: g.beattie-AT-uws.edu.au
Subject: Re: Closing ceremony puppets


>>
>>On this topic, for those in Australia: What's all the fuss about the
>>inflatable kangaroos? Play to your strengths, I say, or you could end up
>>with "Izzie" in Atlanta.
>>
>
>
>To understand the fuss, you have to appreciate that every single major
>event we have here, including Commonwealth Games, World Expo, etc, has used
>the (*&^*&^%)*& kangaroo as its emblem, to the point where it's become a
>running joke.  So for those of us who were looking forward to something
>which had been bruited as being "new and definitely not kitsch" - the
>blowup kangacycles came as something of a disappointment!!
>

Could I support and add to comments from Janet, the negativity has also
come about beacause of the HYPE about what a very special event this "hand
over" was going to be, designed by what was said to be some of Australias
top young theatre designer and  practitioners. It did have a large amount
of press for quite a few months before the Olympics about how new and
original it was going to be. Isadora Duncan Aboriginal Dance impersinations
around a camp fire, emaciated dancing cockatoos and as someone said at a
function last night : blow up kangaroos  doing strange things on/to the
backs of young boys? The sad thing is that because they took themselves so
seriously it did not even work as parody. If Dame Edna  had emerged and
taken it totally over the top,  playing with these images and drawing out
the humour and energy it could have been completly different. I also
believe that The Kangaroo as an image is not dead, it just has to be used
differently.

One thing that has resulted from the presenation is that lots of people, in
Sydney at least, are talking about it.

Gordon Beattie
http://www.nepean.uws.edu.au/theatre/theatreoz.html




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