Joh for PM Educational Pack

EDUCATIONAL PACKÂ

JUTE Theatre Company is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.

There's no business like Joh business!

SYNOPSIS There’s no business like Joh business!

Joh for PM launches this August at JUTE Theatre to take Queenslanders on a musical romp through the life of ex-Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the Queensland icon who set state politics alight.

The musical comedy satirises the bizarre events that occurred in Australian politics during the Bjelke-Petersen reign. Set at a fundraiser for Joh in 1987, audiences will want to sing along to original tunes such as Pumpkin Scone Diplomacy, Feeding the Chooks and the most catchy political song ever, Joh for PM. Bjelke-Petersen was Queensland’s longest serving, longest-lived, most quotable Premier.

He was one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of 20th century Australia. Award-winning playwright Stephen Carleton (The Narcissist, The Turquoise Elephant, Bastard Territory) and Broadway composer Paul Hodge (Clinton: The Musical) have taken inspiration from these historic events to create one of the best musicals to come out of Queensland.

This toe-tapping, hilarious cautionary tale will resonate with Queenslanders who lived through the Joh era, as well as those who are yet to learn about this colourful time in our State’s history.

Join us for a laugh, a joke and a bloody good time.

GENRE Musical, Comedy, New Australian Work, Politics, History, Iconism

RATING PG - Parental Guidance Recommended for Persons Under 15 Years

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BRINGING 'JOH FOR PM' TO LIFE!

A conversation with the brains-trust, award winning Writer, Stephen Carleton and Off-Broadway Composer, Paul Hodge.

STEPHEN: JUTE Artistic Director and CEO, Suellen Maunder, had been kicking around the idea of creating a musical based on the political career of Joh Bjelke-Petersen for many years. I think we might have been having corridor conversations about getting around to working on ‘that’ musical for close to a decade!

When Ian Lawson and Playlab came on board with commissioning money in 2015, Suellen asked me to start writing, and the hypothetical suddenly became real. I felt immediately burdened by the responsibility of telling the story of this towering, polarising figure in Queensland political history. Which version of the story to tell? So many people have trenchant views about the man, and have been deeply affected by his 20 year reign as premier. How do you possibly canvass that spectrum of views in a 90 minute show? I read as widely as I could: there was a half meter high pile of biographies and notes stacked beside my bed. Add to that the anecdotal accounts from friends and colleagues – there’s no one in or from Queensland who was alive during Joh’s tenure who doesn’t have a strong opinion about the man. Where to start??

We had an eye on Joh’s legacy, of course, and the relevance of his story to a national audience. With that in mind, his doomed attempt to run for the highest office in the land seemed an apt framing device. It has all the elements of Greek tragedy at its core: a political king who has built himself up from nothing reigns over a golden period in state economic history; and yet his regime is an increasingly corrupt and despotic one, and only he – he tells us – is blind to the rottenness that resides at its core. Like Oedipus, Joh seems to be the only figure who doesn’t realise how doomed his fate really is.

When Paul Hodge came on board as composer in 2016, he brought a surgical precision to working out the piece’s dramaturgical structure. Rather than asking ‘what version of Joh’s life do we tell?’, he asked questions like - well Paul can tell you himself what his own thoughts and insights were!

PAUL: I think for me the main questions were ‘what is the relevance of Joh’s story to the world today?’ and ‘what was Joh’s underlying desire/what makes him tick?’ Obviously with a story that spans many decades, as Stephen said, it’s not possible to show everything and you are always going to be selective in what you are portraying. So our version is only one version of the Joh story. Also, this is obviously a comedic take on Joh’s story so our focus was on finding the humour, both textually and musically. One of the pleasures for me was portraying this large span of time musically. The music of the show moves forward with the time period, so we get some late 60s protest music, 70s disco and some gloriously trashy 80s music. It has been so much fun bringing the brilliant characters that Stephen has created to musical life!

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BRINGING 'JOH FOR PM' TO LIFE!

A conversation with the brains-trust, award winning writer, Stephen Carleton and Off-Broadway Composer, Paul Hodge.

STEPHEN: Looking back, it feels a little like this collaboration was preordained. I was born the year Joh became Premier of Queensland; Paul was born the year he was kicked out of office. Paul did a great job of reminding us of what people born after Joh’s tenure remember or don’t know about the man. We’ve worked hard balancing the expectations of those who knew and felt strongly about Joh and his legacy on the one side; and the mission to inform younger generations of that legacy without preaching or instructing.

This is ultimately one version of a story. We hope it’s one that entertains and lives up to the weight of expectation.

Thank you, Kris Stewart for arranging this creative marriage, and for bringing your own formidable knowledge and experience to the project, and for assembling such an amazing team of artists to work on it.

Thanks Suellen, all at JUTE, and Ian and the team from Playlab for instigating this ambitious project.

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JOH - ABOUT THE MAN Sir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen 13 January 1911 – 23 April 2005 Joh was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, during which time the state enjoyed considerable economic development. His uncompromising conservatism (including his role in the downfall of the Whitlam federal government), his political longevity, and his leadership of a government that, in its later years, was revealed to be institutionally corrupt, made him one of the best-known and most controversial political figures of 20th century Australia.

Bjelke-Petersen's Country (later National) Party controlled Queensland despite consistently receiving the smallest number of votes out of the state's leading three parties, achieving the result through a notorious system of electoral malapportionment that resulted in rural votes having a greater value than those cast in city electorates. The effect earned Bjelke-Petersen the nickname of "the Hillbilly Dictator". Yet he was a highly popular figure among conservative voters and over the course of his 19 years as premier he tripled the number of people who voted for his party and doubled the party's percentage vote, reducing his Liberal coalition partners to a mere six seats in the 1983 election. In 1985 Bjelke-Petersen launched a campaign to move into federal politics to become prime minister, though the campaign was eventually aborted.

Bjelke-Petersen was a divisive premier and earned himself a reputation as a "law and order" politician with his repeated use of police force against street demonstrators and strongarm tactics with trade unions, leading to frequent descriptions of Queensland under his leadership as a police state. From 1987 his administration came under the scrutiny of a royal commission into police corruption and its links with state government ministers. Bjelke-Petersen was unable to recover from the series of damaging findings and after initially resisting a party vote that replaced him as leader, resigned from politics on 1 December 1987. Two of his state ministers, as well as the police commissioner Bjelke-Petersen had appointed and later knighted, were jailed for corruption offences and in 1991 Bjelke-Petersen, too, was tried for perjury over his evidence to the royal commission; the jury failed to reach a verdict and Bjelke-Petersen was deemed too old to face a second trial.

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JOH - THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN 'Joh for Canberra' The Joh for Canberra campaign, initially known as the "Joh for PM" campaign, was an attempt by Queensland National Party premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to win the office of Prime Minister of Australia. The campaign was announced in January 1987 and drew substantial support from Queensland businessmen and some conservative politicians. The campaign succeeded in causing a split in the federal Coalition. It did not attract widespread support and collapsed in June 1987. The Australian Labor Party under Bob Hawke went on to win by an increased majority in the 1987 federal election, gaining its highest-ever number of seats. Bjelke-Petersen came under increasing scrutiny as the Fitzgerald Inquiry gained traction, and was forced out of politics altogether in December 1987. Bjelke-Petersen made his intention to run for prime minister explicit on 1 January 1987, generating a flurry of media activity.

Many commentators have written about Joh Bjelke-Petersen and the "Joh for Canberra" campaign in scathing terms. Much has been made of the sense of grandeur and self-delusion that seemed to pervade Bjelke-Petersen's attempt to run for federal office, and the role that Bjelke-Petersen's personality played in shaping the campaign. At the time of the campaign, Bjelke-Petersen was 75 and was eager to make a permanent mark on Australian politics before his retirement from public life. Prominent journalist Paul Kelly concurs that hubris was an important factor in Bjelke-Petersen's campaign. He quotes Bjelke-Petersen as saying "even if [the Nationals] don't win more seats than the Liberals I'll be prime minister", a statement that appears to confirm Bjelke-Petersen's self-delusion and ignorance of political realities. The widespread popularity that BjelkePetersen enjoyed in Queensland could not be transposed to the political atmosphere of federal politics.

While many historians have been damning about Joh Bjelke-Petersen and his legacy, they have also acknowledged the appeal he held in his home state. Bjelke-Petersen's popularity essentially rested on a belief in Queensland exceptionalism. As premier, Bjelke-Petersen cultivated his identification with the "ordinary, decent Queenslander and traded on small business and rural fears of rapid social change".

Queensland premiers have often gained support by emphasising "rural agrarianism and mobilisation of the 'common people' against a vilifed elite," a tactic that Bjelke-Petersen mastered in his nineteen years as premier.

In Queensland, Bjelke-Petersen had successfully built a coalition of religious conservatives, rural voters and business interests that could be relied upon for support. However, during the "Joh for Canberra" push, Joh found that his appeal did not extend nationwide and that the dynamics of Queensland politics did not apply to the nation as a whole.Â

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BOOK, MUSIC & LYRICS

Stephen Carleton (Book and Lyrics) Stephen Carleton is a Brisbane-based writer. He is the winner of the 2016 Matilda Award for Best New Australian Work for Bastard Territory, the 2015 Griffin Award for The Turquoise Elephant, and the 2004/5 Patrick White Playwrights’ Award for Constance Drinkwater and the Final Days of Somerset. That play also won the New York New Dramatists’ Award, and was shortlisted for an AWGIE, and the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. It has been produced by Queensland Theatre Company, Griffin Stablemates, Darwin Theatre Company and JUTE Theatre Company in Cairns. Stephen's play The Narcissist had extended seasons for La Boite Theatre Company in 2007 and for Sydney Theatre Company in 2008, and has been published and reprinted by Playlab Press. It was also shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award (Drama Category) in 2008. Stephen is Co-Artistic Director of Knock-em-Down Theatre, a company that produces live shows in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and has written and produced plays that have been toured in the Across the Top initiative with KeDT in conjunction with JUTE Theatre Company since 2004. He is a Senior Lecturer working within the Drama Major at The University of Queensland, where he teaches courses in playwriting and dramaturgy, Australian drama, and theatre history.

Paul Hodge (Music Lyrics) Paul Hodge is a writer-composer from Brisbane, Australia. His recent work, Clinton The Musical, was performed Off-Broadway, in London and Edinburgh and had its Australian premiere in 2016 at Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia. Clinton received a New York Times Critics’ Pick, nominations for Best New Musical from the Off-Broadway Alliance and Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won Best New Off-Broadway Cast Album in the Broadway World Awards. Paul received the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Young and Emerging Artist Fellowship, The Dame Joan Sutherland Fund Award and Arts Queensland Individuals Grant to complete a mentorship with Alain Boublil, writer of Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. His other large scale work, Terra Australis, was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award 2012-13. In 2016, he completed a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Queensland, where he received a University Medal for his Bachelor of Music. He received the Dalley Scarlett Memorial Scholarship to undertake a Masters in Music Theatre Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Awards include the Margaret Nickson Prize and 4MBS Musica Viva Chamber Music Prize.

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DIRECTOR

Kris Stewart Artistic Director of Brisbane Powerhouse, Kris Stewart has a wealth of experience across a variety of events and art forms both nationally and internationally. Most recently Kris was Director of Tasmania’s largest winter cultural event Festival of Voices. Kris was the founding director of the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the inaugural Artistic Director of The Sydney Fringe and Director of New Musicals Australia. At Brisbane Powerhouse, Kris heads a number of key events, including the Australian Performing Arts Market, Queensland Cabaret Festival, the Brisbane Comedy Festival, Wonderland, IRL Digital Festival, MELT Queer Culture Festival and the World Theatre Festival.

Colin Lane as Joh

Colin Lane as Joh & Barbara Lowing as Flo

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Colin Lane as Joh

FEATURING CAST

Colin Lane Role: Joh Bjelke Petersen

Colin Lane as Joh

As the 'Lano' from Lano & Woodley, Colin Lane was one half of Australia's favourite comedy duo. They won comedy's Oscar, the Perrier Award, and their series, The Adventures of Lano & Woodley played in more than 30 countries. In 2006 they said Goodbye with a tour that played to 125,000 people in 34 towns.

Since the farewell tour, Colin has toured to cabaret and comedy festivals around Australia, and has become a regular on a wide variety of Aussie TV shows, including Spicks and Specks, Ready Steady Cook and The Circle. In 2016, Colin reunited with Frank Woodley as part of the 30th Birthday Bash for the MICF. He has worked with both Red Stitch under director Nadia Tass, and The Production Company, in Curtains. He’s also teamed up with his friend of 25 years, opera singer David Hobson, for In Tails. They sing, dance and even tell some jokes in a unique and hilarious experiment that entertains and beguiles in a whole new way.

Chloe Dallimore Roles: Nikki Van den Hoogenbranden Joh’s sister, Neta Beryl the Pilot + cameo characters Chloe is probably best known for her portrayal of Ulla, the Swedish blonde bombshell in The Producers, the New Mel Brooks Musical which won her five awards, including the 2005 Helpmann Award. Chloe most recently starred as Morticia Addams in the musical The Addams Family, for which she was nominated for a Helpmann Award. She then made a return to The Production Company as Tessie Tura in Gypsy, followed by Neil Rutherford’s Beyond Desire at the Hayes Theatre Company. Melbourne-born Chloe trained in classical ballet from an early age. After completing her formal schooling, she traveled to London to accept the Cameron Mackintosh Scholarship to study Theatre Dance performance at London Studio Centre. Upon graduation she won the Dame Anna Neagle award for most outstanding achievement. Chloe returned to Australia as an original cast member of Crazy For You, and her ensuing musical theatre credits include Chicago -The Musical, Sweet Charity, Annie, Wizard Of Oz, Shout!, and Oliver!.

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FEATURING CAST

Barbara Lowing Role: Flo Bjelke Petersen + cameo characters

Barbara has performed with the Queensland Theatre Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company, The Hole in the Wall Theatre Company, The State Theatre Company of South Australia, Griffin Theatre Company, St John’s Cathedral, Restaged Histories Project, La Boite, The Empire Theatre, The Queensland Arts Council, Dead Puppet Society, Shake and Stir Theatre Company, Ellen Balloo Productions, and The Performers Independent Theatre Company and has been affiliated with the Sydney Theatre Company. Barbara performed in Cairns last year with Shake and Stir’s critically acclaimed production of Tequila Mockingbird.

Barbara won the Gold Matilda Award in 2013 for her body of work. Barbara was also awarded Outstanding Contribution by a Female Actress in The Groundling Awards for her body of work in 2013.

Kurt Phelan Roles: Young Joh Bjelke-Petersen + Allan Callaghan - Press Secretary Kurt Phelan made a name for himself as Australia's newest leading man starring as Johnny Castle in the National tour of Dirty Dancing -The Classic Story Onstage. Originally from Townsville, North Queensland, Kurt has been performing for as long as he can remember. A NIDA graduate, he has a long list of credits including, the opening and closing of the Sydney 2000 Olympics with Elle McPherson and Tap Dogs, Singin in the Rain, Saturday Night Fever, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Tender Napalm (Brisbane Festival) for which he received a Matilda Award nomination for Best actor. Most recently Kurt appeared in American Idiot (Shake & Stir). He also toured America as lead vocalist for Disney Worldwide and has been a guest artist in such TV shows as Plonk (ABC), Dancing with the Stars (9 Network), The Footy Show (7 Network) and Toasted TV (10 Network). Kurt is also an established writer and choreographer.

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FEATURING CAST

Simone Burvill-Holmes Role: Geoff + RNA President + Frank Nicklin Simon graduated from NIDA in 1979. Over his 38 year career, he has performed in over 35 plays and musicals with major theatre companies including Queensland Theatre Company, South Australian Theatre Company, Darwin Theatre Co, Twelfth Night Theatre Co, The Australian Opera, Lyric Opera and the Gordon Frost Organisation. He has toured to Hong Kong, Thailand & New Zealand, as well as every state and territory in Australia playing roles such as Buzz Adams in South Pacific and Philip in Noises Off. His film and TV credits include Don’t Tell, Daybreakers, Swimming Upstream, Paperback Hero, Fat Cow Motel and Medivac. Most recently Simon played the Queen of Hearts in Rapid Fire International’s Alice in Wonderland at The Powerhouse in Brisbane and subsequent Queensland tour and he is thrilled to work with JUTE Theatre on this hilarious new musical Joh for PM.

Stephen Hirst Roles: Russ Hinge + Peter Beattie + Electoral Officer Stephen Hirst is based in Brisbane but harks from the Central Coast in NSW. Musical Theatre credits include Cinderella’s Prince in Into the Woods and Sir Galahad in Spamalot (Harvest Raine Theatre Company), Hunter Bell in Title of Show (Golden Apple Productions), Uncle in Boy and Girl 3 (Oscar Theatre Company) and Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret (Top Hat Productions). Theatre credits include Matthew Mitchell in Slammed (Crosstown Artists), Jerry Daniels in Chasing the Whale (Soapbox Theatre Company), Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Mad Cow Theatre Company) and Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Voyager Productions).

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FEATURING CAST

James Dobinson Role: Glen Dryspell + Conductor James is a New York-based, Australian-born Music Director, Conductor and Orchestrator. New York credits include; The View UpStairs (Music Supervisor/Orchestrations), Clinton (MD/Arrangements), Gods & Kings (Music Supervisor), Fancy Nancy (MD), 'Til Divorce Do Us Part (Keyboards), Mann...and Wife in Concert (MD). National tour credits include; Guys And Dolls 2015 tour (Orchestrations). Australian credits include; Joh For PM! (Music Supervisor/Orchestrations), Moonshadow (Associate Conductor , Original Company), Dumped (MD, Original Company), Carols In The City (Orchestrations, Assistant MD - 2011-2013 TV Broadcasts), Often I Find That I Am Naked (MD/Arrangements - original company) and many more. Regional Credits include; Mann...And Wife (MD, original company), Shrek, Hairspray, Spring Awakening, White Christmas. Cast recording include; Clinton and Fancy Nancy.

CREATIVE TEAM Director: Kris Stewart Book & Lyrics: Stephen Carleton Music & Lyrics: Paul Hodge Designer: Anthony Spinaze Lighting Designer: Jason Glenwright Music Supervisor & Orchestrator: James Dobinson Choreographer: Dan Venz

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PRODUCERS

JUTE Theatre Company JUTE’s vision to enrich the world through theatre is put into practice every day as we flame the fires of creativity in regional theatre-makers, providing unfettered opportunities for the development and production of inspired new works that radiate the social space and ignite the imagination of the region. We forge long-lasting artistic and strategic relationships that connect us to each other and the world at large. Always exciting, always vibrant, this is JUTE!

Brisbane Powerhouse Brisbane Powerhouse is Queensland’s home for contemporary culture, a magnificent power station of the 1920s reborn as an arts centre on the Brisbane River. Open to discovery. Open to new adventures, uncovering new passion. Open to new ways of thinking, doing, acting, creating. There isn’t only one way, or the best way, there are many roads to a destination. We say remain open to all of them. Because when you’re open, great things happen. You’re more interesting; more empathetic; more understanding; more considered; more spontaneous; wiser; smarter; less judgmental. When you’re open you’re free to see, do and be more. When you’re open, life is more giving. Life is more fun. Be open to it. Open your mind. Open your heart. Open up. At Brisbane Powerhouse we say yes to staying and being always open.

IN ASSOCATION WITH Queensland Music Festival Transforming lives and communities through music. Queensland Music Festival (QMF) is a state-wide celebration of musical excellence with an international reputation and an unparalleled geographic reach. We collaborate with the best of local, national and international talent to bring a broad tapestry of music to Queenslanders from all walks of life, in Brisbane and in regional and remote centres from the Torres Strait to the Gold Coast. QMF has redefined the traditional festival model to engage deeply with communities over time, igniting artistic potential and leaving a lasting legacy. In collaboration with councils and communities, QMF inspires participation in music-making and performances that reflect local culture and tell local stories.

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