Re-presenting Italy in Australia through Theatre and Music, 1972-2002

Abstract

This chapter is based on a conversation with Antonio Comin at his home in Norwood, South Australia, on 2 March 2009, edited and annotated by Linda Barwick. Antonio Comin (born Cornuda, Italy, in 1933) migrated with his family to Australia in 1936. A graduate of the University of Sydney and the Università degli Studi di Firenze, he taught at the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) before joining Flinders University in 1970 as foundation Professor of Italian. Until his retirement in 1996, his main teaching and research areas were Italian language, dialectology and traditional culture. Comin’s mission to establish and promote in South Australia the understanding of Italian language and culture was undertaken in large part through various theatrical productions he devised and mounted from 1976–2007, which increasingly incorporated his own writing as well as musical components including Italian traditional song. The Italian Folk Ensemble, a musical group formed as a result of Comin’s activities, has been active in community music performances as well as theatre productions since 1978, and after a hiatus of some years various members including Comin reformed in 2003 under the name “Gruppo La Questua”. Linda Barwick studied under Comin in the Italian Discipline in the 1970s and 1980s, and participated in the Italian Folk Ensemble and some of the theatrical productions mentioned here. After covering background about Comin’s early life and cultural formation in Australia and Italy, the chapter presents Comin’s commentary on the various theatrical productions he conceived and directed. Unless otherwise indicated, the speaker is Comin. Commentary in footnotes is by Barwick, who also compiled the figures and appendices.