Barry Humphries and Patrick White Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Barry Humphries and Patrick White - Essay Example He was not only an actor but also a script writer, a film producer, an award winning writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, and a landscape painter. Another noted name in Australian theatre was Patrick Victor Martindale White, also known as Patrick White. White was an author who was considered a major English-language novelist. During his career he published eight plays, twelve novels and two short story collections. "His fiction freely employs shifting narrative vantagepoints and a stream of consciousness technique" (Wikipedia 2007). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1973. Barry Humphries was born on 17 February 1934 in Melbourne, Australia. He is a noted Australian actor and comedian. Humphries nick name was 'Bazza'. Other than acting Barry Humphries also wrote comic strips. His comic strip Barry McKenzie about Australian living in London appeared in the magazine Private Eye. His nick name Bazza gave Australian slang wide distribution, particularly jokes on drinking and its results, much of which was created by Humphries himself. His childhood set the stage for his eventual career of an actor. Barry's father spent little time with him so he spent a lot of his time playing disguise in his backyard. His parent called him Sunny Sam. During his teens he began to go against the constraints of conservative suburban life and became artistic. When he was nine Humphries' mother gave all his books to the Salvation Army. This event led him to becoming a collector of rare books, a reader, a theatre fan and a painter. He dressed in a black cloak and black homburg and invented his first character, "Dr Aaron Azimuth". Barry was educated at Camberwell Grammar School. He was also sent to Melbourne Grammar School where he matriculated with excellent results in Art and English. Later he spent two years studying law, fine arts and philosophy at the University of Melbourne. During this time he became a part of Dada, the deconstructive and absurdist art movement. The Dadaist performances and pranks have become a part of Australian folklore. After leaving university he joined the newly formed Melbourne theatre company. It was now that he created the first version of his most famous character Edna Everage. The old fashioned housewife originally created as a character of Australian suburban narrow-mindedness, evolved over forty years to become a flamboyantly dressed, internationally acclaimed star, Dame Edna Everage. Humphries' other humorous characters include, nephew of Dame Edna, Barry McKenzie which went on to become a legendary comic strip hero. Sir Les Patterson, who has not only contributed to the Australian vernacular but also borrowed from it. An underground film-maker from the 1960's Martin Agrippa, a trade union official Lance Boyle, a failed tycoon Owen Steele and an art salesman Morrie O'Connor. Later, Humphries moved to Sydney and joined Sydney's Philip Street Revue Theatre. He appeared in Australia's first ever production of Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, as Estragon. In the 1960s Humphries settled in London, where he became friends with leading artists from the British comedy scene including Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller, Willie Rushton and the like. While in London he