The unbearable whiteness of being

Recent conversations about mainstage theatre’s lack of cultural diversity have been highlighted by the latest round of 2017 season launches.
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Hero image for the MTC’s 2017 production Vivid White, a new play by Eddie Perfect.

September and October are season-launch time in Australia, when the country’s largest theatre companies release details of their subscription programs for the following year. While Brisbane’s La Boite and Western Australia’s Black Swan are still to launch their 2017 programs, we already have a strong indication of what mainstage Australian theatre will look like next year – and despite significant advances in some states, it’s still predominantly white, both onstage and behind the scenes.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts