Staging past and present simultaneously: Andrew Bovell's Holy Day (The Red Sea)

Andrew Bovell's play, Holy Day (The Red Sea), takes part in Australia's 'history wars,' the ongoing argument concerning the proper relationship between the country's past and its present, particularly regarding the dispossession of the Aborigines and other injustices. While...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pulford, Donald
Format: Book Chapter
Published: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.wvttrier.de/
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/27431
Description
Summary:Andrew Bovell's play, Holy Day (The Red Sea), takes part in Australia's 'history wars,' the ongoing argument concerning the proper relationship between the country's past and its present, particularly regarding the dispossession of the Aborigines and other injustices. While conservatives insist that history is past and we are better served by contemplating the future, others assert that properly moving forward involves a careful consideration of what needs to occur to remedy the injuries of our past. Part of the latter group's case is that the past is ever with us, that then cannot be conveniently annexed from now. Holy Day (The Red Sea) demonstrates this by weaving the present into its depiction of the past. How it does so is the business of this paper.