Australian writer to debut new play<\/p>\n
By Deborah Cameron<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): With the New Zealand ambassador as the leading
\nman, the Australian ambassador's wife as the leading lady and a
\nstring of embassy officials and amateur actors making up a
\nscratch cast, the only thing that's certain about the Jakarta
\nperformance of Alex Buzo's latest play, is that it will be a lot
\nof fun.<\/p>\n
Buzo, an Australian playwright and writer, in residence at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, is staging, directing and giving
\nwardrobe advice to a cast that has had to juggle rehearsal times
\nand cast meetings round replying to faxes from head office and
\ntrailing after visiting VIP's.<\/p>\n
Next Tuesday, when the curtain goes up at the Australian
\nEmbassy Theaterette, it will be the first time that many of them
\nhave trod the boards.<\/p>\n
For Buzo, taking a breather over a cool glass of water at the
\nembassy snack bar, it has been a matter of shedding an uptight
\nSydney demeanor and getting into "Jakarta mode". Don't fret, he
\ntells himself.<\/p>\n
Buzo's play is called Pacific Union and is set in 1945, at the
\nUnited Nations conference on International Organization in San
\nFrancisco. The key character in his play is H.V. (Doc) Evatt, the
\nthen Australian Minister for External Affairs and Attorney
\nGeneral, who was a representative at the conference and came to
\nbe a dominant figure at its debates.<\/p>\n
"Evatt emerged as the champion of the smaller nations in this,
\nhis finest hour," Buzo writes in the author's notes on the play.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, which did not declare its independence until later
\nthat year, was not represented at the San Francisco conference.
\nHowever, Buzo believes that the outcome of the meeting sowed the
\nseeds for the Non-Aligned Movement in which Indonesia has since
\nbeen a principal player.<\/p>\n
Buzo, whose past plays have dealt with the themes of young
\nsocieties in such places as Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and New
\nZealand, grapples in Pacific Union with the tensions of the
\ninfant United Nations.<\/p>\n
In 1987 Buzo wrote Makassar Reef, a play set in Ujungpandang,
\nwhich was the first Australian play to be set in Indonesia. And,
\nwith a brief passage written in bahasa Indonesia, was the first
\ntime that the Indonesian language was heard on the Australian
\nstage.<\/p>\n
Buzo has had a lifelong interest in Indonesia since, as a boy,
\nhe read an atlas and became fascinated by the archipelago.<\/p>\n
He quickly agreed to become the writer in residence at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia after an approach by the Australian
\nCouncil and the Australia-Indonesia Institute, and has been in
\nJakarta for about six weeks.<\/p>\n
At the university he has lectured students in the faculty of
\nAustralian Studies, where one of his plays, Coralie Lansdowne
\nSays No has been on the syllabus for two years.<\/p>\n
But one of the big highlights of his visit is the staging of
\nPacific Union, which, even with its scratch cast of enthusiastic
\namateurs, is something of a world premier, as the play is not set
\nto open in Australia until later this year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australian-writer-to-debut-new-play-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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