Popular Theatre Troupe

The Popular Theatre Troupe was an agit-prop ensemble formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1974 as part of a radical movement against Premier Joh Bjelke Petersen's conservative Queensland's government of the day. The troup toured Australia with a total of 25 original shows between 1974 and 1983. The key players in the ensemble organised ten large community events and were behind many community arts projects.

The Popular Theatre Troupe had its genesis in the meetings Richard Fotheringham called during 1973 to discuss options for the planned 'fringe theatre' for Queensland's first 'Festival of the Arts' directed by Lesley Gotto. Inspirations and influences included Oh! What a Lovely War and The Legend of King O'Malley. A leader of alternative theatre in Britain, Albert Hunt, was brought out by the University of Queensland's English Department to mentor the group. Their first production was Star Trick, a satire lampooning the Star Trek television series focussing on the absurdity of local Queensland politics interspersed with ironically sung old popular songs.

Geoffrey Milne in Theatre Australia (un)limited: Australian theatre since the 1950s suggests precursors to the Popular Theatre Troupe's type of political theatre included Peter Oysten at Victoria College of the Arts, the San Francisco Mime Troupe and run-of-the-mill communist theatre featured at worker's clubs.

The White Man's Mission (1975) by Richard Fotheringham and Albert Hunt stands out as one of the troupe's strongest scripts. It is reproduced in full in one of the few published texts on Brisbane's political theatre, "Challenging the centre" (1995) edited by Steve Capelin, where it takes up 36 pages about Australian racism, slavery and exploitation. It was invited to the Adelaide Festival in 1976.

Although funded by the Community Arts and Theatre Boards of the Australia Council, the Popular Theatre Troupe received no financial assistance from the Queensland Government. Quite the contrary, as a radical extra-parliamentary opposition, the Popular Theatre Troupe's activities were monitored closely by the Special Branch of the Queensland Police and two of their shows were banned.

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