Dimboola (play)

Dimboola is a play by the Australian author Jack Hibberd. It premiered in 1969 at La Mama Theatre under the direction of Graeme Blundell. The whole action of the play supposedly takes place at a real wedding at which the actors represent the families of the bride and groom and the audience are "invited guests". The play is described in the program notes as Rabelaisian and .

The play grew out of a reading in London of Anton Chekhov's 1889 play The Wedding and Bertolt Brecht's farce A Respectable Wedding. The production at La Mama was supported by a grant of $1 250 from the Australia Council for the Arts (the predecessor to the Australia Council).

The second production by the Australian Performing Group at the Pram Factory in 1973 was directed by David Williamson. This performance was filmed.

By 1974 it was thought the play had grossed over $1 million. By 1978 it was estimated it had been seen by over 350,000 people.

More Australians have seen Dimboola than any other stage musical, comedy or straight play, and hundreds of productions have been mounted across the world. It ran in Sydney for two and a half years until the venue, the Whiskey Au Go Go, burned down. In 1979, a film was made directed by John Duigan. In 1988, Pat Garvey adapted the play for a musical which alone has played over 2 000 performances. In 2007, it was produced at the Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, with Max Gillies and directed by Michael Kantor. In March and April 2008 it played at the La Mama Theatre, directed by Robert Chuter.

...
Wikipedia