High anxiety continues offstage at Queensland Theatre and Queensland Ballet
It’s high drama at Queensland Theatre and Queensland Ballet, so is it time for some soul-searching at both companies?
There is now more drama offstage at Queensland Theatre than there is onstage.
In fact, there is nothing onstage at all after the cancellation of the entire season of POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive, by Selina Fillinger.
The three-time Tony Award-nominated play is centred on a fictitious President of the United States’ (POTUS) foul-mouthed faux pas in front of the media and foreign dignitaries.
It was a highly anticipated Australian premiere but was canned on the eve of opening night last Thursday. The official story was that illness among the cast led to that cancellation. It’s my understanding that is not entirely accurate.
Apparently one of the actors was injured in an accident on set. This happens. She was given all the appropriate medical help and advice but had to withdraw from the production. That was compounded by the resignation of another actor for private reasons.
Lee Lewis resigned as artistic director of Queensland Theatre (QT) in February but returned to direct this play, which was already part of QT’s 2024 program.
During her tenure, Lewis faced a few rocky times despite leading the company out of Covid-19. She was the target of an orchestrated campaign by some people who were unhappy with her tenure and resented non-Queensland-based talent being used in productions. Whether or not these were valid criticisms is not the point here.
Senior figures in the theatre world have suggested that POTUS should have gone on with replacement actors, but the QT board decided this was untenable.
The actors were all paid for the entire cancelled season, as per their contracts, and with no box-office takings that would equate to a significant financial loss for Queensland Theatre.
This all happened in the same week that Queensland Ballet parted company with artistic director Leanne Benjamin. As with Queensland Theatre, it’s unclear exactly what is really behind her departure. Let us hope it isn’t because she caught a taxi every now and again as suggested by a recent media article.
It has been suggested that in both instances the companies’ boards should be held accountable for events that have rocked the arts world.
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With the state government being the major stakeholder in both companies, it might be time for Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch to ask some tough questions of both boards.
There will have to be some serious soul-searching by the board and management of Queensland Theatre and the same goes for Queensland Ballet, where the rumour is that the cupboard is bare.
Not having enough money to realise the new artistic director’s vision is not a good enough excuse to cut a new artistic director and the board could have worked harder to shape a better outcome. There always seemed to be enough money to realise former artistic director Li Cunxin’s ambitious vision, after all, and Benjamin was obviously trying to continue that momentum.
Public goodwill towards both companies is considerable, but that only goes so far. Let’s hope we soon get some honest reflection and some strong statements from both companies on a way forward.