ON STAGE opens at the National Library of Australia

The National Library will celebrate the performing arts in a major new exhibition that opens to the public on 4 March.

On Stage celebrates Australia’s love of the performing arts. The exhibition features cultural treasures, vibrant characters and milestone moments from Australia’s performing arts history from the 1790s on to today and is a poignant reminder of the critical role the performing arts industry has played in Australia’s cultural life.

Featuring more than 180 objects, this free exhibition brings together highlights from the National Library’s vast performing arts collections.

On Stage: Spotlight on Performing Arts: Friday 4 March to Sunday 7 August 2022.

Exhibition highlights

• The earliest surviving document printed in Australia, a Theatre playbill from 1796.
• Photograph taken by Daniel Boud of Ange Sullivan, Head of Lighting at the Sydney Opera House,
• preparing a ghost light in the Sydney Opera House during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• A portrait of Sir Robert Helpmann as Oberon in an Old Vic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• An image of Rose Quong with an ensemble of actors including Laurence Olivier.
• A Kristian Fredrikson costume design for a 1975 production of The Revenger’s Tragedy.
• An image of the audience at the 2007 Falls Music and Arts Festival, Lorne, Victoria.
• A poster for the 2009 Hilltop Hoods: Still Standing Tour.
• A Cole Bros Circus poster from 1945 featuring ‘The Great Con Colleano’.
• A poster for the 1958 production of Ray Lawler’s Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

Quotes attributable to Director-General of the National Library of Australia Dr Marie-Louise Ayres FAHA:

Our performing artists and storytellers are our escape, and having been starved of live performance over the past couple of years, turning this spotlight on the performing arts is a way of acknowledging the enjoyment that it brings to our lives.

You may not think of the National Library when you reminisce about the band poster you had on your bedroom wall as a teenager, but the objects and moments captured in our performing arts collections are immense.

Quotes attributable to Exhibition curator and Library curator of Rare Books and Music, Dr Susannah Helman

The Library’s performing arts collections show how much Australians love live performance. As a big fan of live performance of all kinds, I thought I knew the history of Australia’s performing arts, but our collections have opened my eyes to the cultural lives Australians of the past could have known.

The Library’s performing arts collections are overwhelming in scope and only a selection can be displayed. In the exhibition, I’ve tried to represent key moments, productions and performers in our history, to give context to today’s performing arts scene.

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For more information click HERE