[Review of] Capelin, S. (ed). Challenging the Centre: Two Decades of Political Theatre

The Queensland-based Popular Theatre Troupe (1974-83) and Street Arts Community Theatre Company (founded in 1983 and still operational) each played central roles in the history of Australian community theatre; today, arguably, the final chapters of that history are being written. In documenting these companies' work, Challenging The Centre chronicles a period whose impact on Australian community arts policy and practice was profound. And in tracing practitioners' responses to a generalized shift from notions of cultural disadvantage to those of cultural difference, the book charts the transition from a (loosely-organized and state-driven) community arts movement, to a current programme, also state-driven, of community cultural development. Throughout, it keeps alive tensions generated in community arts discourse by the competing demands of 'the aesthetic' and 'the functional'. As well as detailed accounts of the projects undertaken by these pioneering companies, full scripts of seven original works are included. Two other short-lived Queensland companies - Teatro Unidad y Liberacion and Order By Numbers - are documented briefly.