Victorian College of the Arts - Research Publications

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Author: Collett, Emily × Type: Journal Article ×

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    Australia on display: Tracing an Australian identity through the evolving costume design for The Australian Ballet’s production The Display
    Collett, E ; Alsop, R (Intellect, 2007-06-01)
    Abstract The topic of costume for performance as a marker of national identity is in its infancy within the context of theatre studies. As the means by which an audience relates to character and narrative, costume is central to our understanding of identity. Here, we consider costume for performance, specifically for dance, in Australia as an indicator of the developing national identity, using the 1964, 1983 and 2012 Australian Ballet productions of The Display as a case study. The original 1964 costumes were credited to expatriate artist Sidney Nolan, the 1983 version was designed by Sydney fashion designer Adele Weiss and the 2012 remount utilized photographs, written documentation and memories to recreate the original 1964 costumes. By examining the three sets of costumes, we aim to demonstrate how a study of the costumed body offers insights into Australia’s evolving national character.
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    Exhibition Reviews
    Jump, S ; Downer-Mellini, S ; Collett, E ; Brayshaw, E ; Carriger, ML ; Hamilton, C ; Ferrero-Regis, T (Intellect, 2018-06-01)
    Abstract Caspar Neher: An Exhibition of Set and Costume Designs, Abbott and Holder, London, 23 March–22 April 2017 Costumi da Star, Villa Pignatelli Museum, Naples, Italy, 6 June–10 July 2017 World Stage Design 2017: Professional and Emerging Costume Design Exhibition Entries, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, 1–9 July 2017 Million Dollar Mermaid: Annette Kellerman, Museum of Arts and Applied Sciences, Sydney, Australia, 10 August 2016–21 January 2018 11th Annual Emmy Costume Exhibition, FIDM, Los Angeles, CA, 22 August–7 October 2017 Chagall: Fantasies for the Stage, LACMA, Resnick Pavilion, Los Angeles, CA, 31 July 2017–7 January 2018 The Costume Designer: Edith Head and Hollywood, Bendigo Art Gallery, Bendigo, 29 September 2017–29 January 2018
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    Editorial: Pausing for thought
    Osmond, S ; Collett, E (Intellect, 2021-06-01)
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    Theatre Costume, Celebrity Persona, and the Archive
    COLLETT, E (Deakin University, 2019)
    This essay considers the archived costume in relation to the concept of the celebrity performer’s persona. It takes as its case study the Shakespearean costume of Indigenous actress Deborah Mailman, housed in the Australian Performing Arts Collection. It considers what the materiality of the theatre costume might reveal and conceal about a performer’s personas. It asks to what extent artefacts in an archive might both create a new persona or freezeframe a particular construct of a performer. Central to the essay are questions of agency in relation to the memorialisation of a still living actress and the problematisation of persona in terms of the archived object. Can a costume generate its own persona in relation to the actress? And what are the power dynamics involved in persona construction when an archived costume presents a charged narrative which is very different to the actress’s current construction of her persona?
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    Pirate or Pioneer?
    Collett, E (United States Institute for Theatre Technology, 2018-06-04)
    Taking centre stage at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 6, 1954, the young American dancer Beth Dean performed the role of the Boy Initiate at the premiere of her ballet 'Corroboree', dancing for the young English Queen Elizabeth II for whom the gala performance had been arranged. Dean's body was costumed in a brown wool leotard and leggings, and her hands, feet (worn bare), neck and face were painted dark brown to appear as an Australian Aboriginal boy who was about to face the trial of initiation into manhood. The ballet was an instant success and toured extensively across Australia, thrilling white audiences as the closing number in a mixed bill of classical and contemporary ballet. In this article the author asks if Beth Dean, dancing in blackface in 'Corroboree', promoted Indigenous Aboriginal dance as an important art form to white audiences or plundered the riches of a sacred culture for personal benefit.