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Films, music, plays, books, newspapers and magazines played a huge role in creating a shared cultural experience. Brisbane’s small size accentuated this. Smaller, non-commercial venues began to develop and the palette got richer. On campus the SDA, and later the New Left Club raised money with weekly films in lecture theatres. The Schonell Theatre (which closed in 2006) took on part of that role for films from its opening in 1970.
Seeing ‘the latest’ film, at least in so far as European and ‘art’ cinema was concerned, often meant going to a specific cinema, for example ‘The Crystal’ on Lutwyche Road, Windsor, a northern suburb of Brisbane. So predictable was this that The Crystal was the scene of a Commonwealth Police raid in an unsuccessful attempt to catch some radicals on whom Crimes Act warrants were drawn. (They escaped through a toilet window).
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Opening of Schonell Theatre, 22 September 1970 by the Governor-General |
Theatre program: World premier of "Bakxoi" [Bacchoi] October 1970 |
‘Dramsoc’ student theatre had always been prominent at UQ. UQ's Avalon Theatre had been the venue for new and experimental theatre, and continued to share that role with the Schonell.
From the sixties Scoop revues, Architects’ revues and various politically themed revues (such as "On Stage Vietnam" at the Rialto), proliferated. One revue, "I hear what you say", was a rebuff to the UQ administration under Zelman Cowan. Another, "Life wasn't meant to be easy", satirised Malcolm Fraser’s government. 15
FOCO was a combined effort of the ‘cultural revolutionaries’ and the ‘straight politicos’ in the labour movement venue of Trades Hall. On Sunday evenings FOCO attracted hundreds to music, films, dancing, meetings and lectures. |
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Talking - a free form democracy
Divergence
