In 1948 she worked backstage operating the music cues for The Match Girls and in 1949 was a prompter on The Lion on the Square Her first stage appearances were primarily as a dancer in Pot of Message 1949 and Press the Point 1950. (Marie eventually took over choreography from Peter Francis ). Subsequent NT shows in which she was involved as an actor, director, dancer or choreographer include The Emperor's New Clothes 1951, The Candy Store 1952, United Notions 1953, Reedy River 1953, Under the Coolibah Tree 1956, Nekrassov 1957, TV or Not TV 1957, Johnny Noble 1957, Fission Chips 1959, The Night of the Ding Dong 1959, Hold the Line 1960, Sandhog 1962, The Wall 1963, The Marriage 1963, You've Never Had It So Good 1965, The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window 1966, Mother Courage 1966, On Stage Vietnam 1967, America Hurrah! 1968, Exposure 70 1970, The Death of Bessie Smith 1971, It's Time To Boil Billy 1972, What's New 1973, Chollobonga 1975, The Freedom of the City 1975, Yobbo Nowt 1981, First Class Women 1982, Waiting for the Parade 1984, Tales From Hollywood 1986, The Death of Phillip Robertson 1988, The Life of Galileo 1989, The Hired Man 1991, Portrait of an Artist 1994, Lots More Funny Business 1999, Life Is A Funny Business 2000, and Stop Laughing, This Is Serious 2002. In 2002 Marie directed a concert version of Reedy River for the National Folk Festival. She also staged regular public events to commemorate Eureka, and in 2015 performed in a May Day celebration of Sydney NT's history.
For much of the 1970s Marie was NT President and its Vice-President for much of the 1990s. She held various other committee positions including Workshop Co-ordinator, and was NT National Secretary from 1953 until 1967 when she vacated the position in favour of Shirley McDonald. She ran movement and acting classes, adjudicated workshops, marched regularly on May Day, and was a core participant in Street Theatre activities, performing at factory gates and inside workplaces. In 1979 she travelled overseas to study with Stella Adler in the USA and to visit the Moscow Art Theatre. Marie was made a NT Life Member in 1969 and appointed AOM for service to the community in 1986.
As a member of the CPA she was regularly reported on by ASIO who noted in 1954 that her photo was on the May Day files. In 1970 the agency observed that NT was no longer as active as before nor CPA controlled; in 1988 Marie formally resigned from the Party after 40 years' membership. She had attended CPA branches at Rose Bay (a fellow member was Gilbert Stead, Christina's brother), Bondi, Edgecliff and Earlwood, and in 1969 had joined the CPA Theatrical Branch. For much of her working life Marie was employed as secretary to Herbert Bovyll Chandler, a Communist who ran the Newsletter Printery and who had an extensive ASIO file. She also worked for the Metal Workers' Union.
Marie was born in Sydney on 28 June 1928; her maternal grandfather, a plumber at Morts Dock, was involved in the 1890s shearers strike, and an uncle was a member of a left-wing book club. Marie attended Darlinghurst Public School 1939-41, and with Loretta Boutmy studied toe, ballet, tap and theatrical dancing at the Kath Hambry Dance School at Taylor Square. She spent one year at Canterbury Domestic Science School but often truanted, going into the city to shop or see movies with her “stage mother”.
In 1951 she married John Armstrong.
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