UCSD Theater Exchange Spurs Australian Invasion

It began with Peter Finch and Rod Taylor and continues with the likes of Mel Gibson, Judy Davis and director Peter Weir.

Now, the Australian invasion of American culture continues quietly with the visit of John Clark, director of the National Institute for Dramatic Art (NIDA)--the internationally recognized dramatic institute in Sidney.

Clark will direct the San Diego premiere of “Away,” by Australian playwright Michael Gow, as part of a theater exchange with UC San Diego at the Warren Theatre on June 7-11.

Clark credits the international recognition of Australian stars like Gibson and Davis, both of whom graduated from NIDA 10 years ago, to the booming Australian film industry. The parts they play here, though, sometimes vary quite a bit from what they used to play back home.

Fans of “Lethal Weapon,” for instance, may be surprised to see Gibson play the title role in Franco Zeffirelli’s film version of “Hamlet,” scheduled for shooting in 1990. It doesn’t surprise Clark.

He warmly remembers Gibson’s performance as Romeo in a school production of “Romeo and Juliet” opposite Davis, now starring in Tom Stoppard’s “Hapgood” in Los Angeles.

“It was exhilarating. I think he’s hugely underestimated as a comedian and a classical actor,” Clark said. “Mel played in a long-running Australian comedy and in ‘Waiting for Godot.’ I thought he was fantastic in ‘Lethal Weapon,’ although he has been given a certain amount of indifferent material in Hollywood.”

Americans also may not realize how much we have in common with Australian playwrights such as Gow who are rarely produced here. “Away,” which won the 1987 Awgie--the Australian equivalent of the Tony--deals with a young man dying of leukemia and one of his Christmas holidays on an Australian beach during the Vietnam War.

Australian recollections of the Vietnam era are similar to those of Americans, Clark said. Their prime minister, who was fond of saying “All the way with LBJ,” firmly believed that communism in Vietnam would spell disaster for Australia and drafted men to support the American effort. Australia also experienced the protests of the hippie era, and the accusations of Vietnam veterans who feel abandoned and cheated at being the only war veterans booed rather than welcomed after years of painful service.

Common cultural interests between countries cut both ways of course. When the run of “Away” ends, Clark plans to take the script for the Steppenwolf production of “The Grapes of Wrath” at the La Jolla Playhouse and try to talk an Australian theater company into producing it.

“It’s a fabulous show,” he said. “Steinbeck is well-known and the film is well-known. It would be immensely popular in Australia.”

Then he sighed and described yet another problem most Australian and American companies have in common.

“But it is very expensive, and not many Australian companies have the resources to put it on.”

At first, the pairing of Snow White--played by San Diego’s squeaky-clean Eileen Bowman--and Rob Lowe at the March Academy Awards telecast, only made Lowe seem bad vocally. Now as a lawsuit reveals news about a pornographic videotape Lowe reportedly made with a 16-year-old and 22-year-old woman, Lowe’s voice seems the least of his problems.

The mother of the 16-year-old filed the civil suit against the star. Meanwhile, copies of the videotape, allegedly made by the 25-year-old actor in his hotel room during the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta last summer, began to circulate to Atlanta newspapers and television stations last week.

Bowman, who is still playing Snow White in “Beach Blanket Babylon” at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, seems bewildered by what’s happened.

“Everyone keeps asking me what I think about it, but I only knew him for two weeks. He was very nice. He was like a brother to me.”

When Bowman worked with Lowe on the Academy Awards, she had so impressed Lowe’s manager that he asked her to call him about finding work when she finished her “Beach Blanket Babylon” run.

She had been planning to do so when the show ended. But, when the production was extended until September, she decided that she should stick with it and hold off on the call.

“The extension was God’s way of saying you’re not supposed to go anywhere yet,” Bowman said. “With all this stuff going on right now with him (Rob Lowe), I haven’t really followed up because his manager has a lot to think about. It’s sad for him. I’m kind of waiting for everything to blow over.”

But she still plans to call in September. And who knows? Lowe’s manager might be looking for a new client by then. Or Lowe’s notoriety might make him hotter than ever. Columbia, it seems, is after him to do “St. Elmo’s Fire II.”

PROGRAM NOTES: It’s an ill strike that doesn’t blow someone some good. Eight veterans of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut met during the Writers Guild of America strike in 1988 and decided to form the O’Neill Playwrights West. They will present readings of seven plays--free to the public--at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre, 547 4th Ave., June 17 and 24, starting at 11 a.m. each Saturday. . . . Geoff Hoyle’s “The Fool Show,” which played last year at the La Jolla Playhouse, is heading for an off-Broadway theater sometime before Thanksgiving. . . . Elizabeth Soukup is leaving the cast of the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre’s “The Day Room” for the People’s Light and Theatre Company, a repertory company outside Philadelphia. Susanna Thompson will replace her. . . . There’s one week left to order the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s “Boys Night Out,” a subscription series targeted for the gay community. The series commands a $119 price tag (as compared to the usual $99), but the price includes a $10 donation to the San Diego AIDS Project and covers social receptions after each show. Call 544-1457 for more information. . . . In the Good Works Department: Starlight Musical Theatre and KJQY-FM radio will reward the donations of canned goods for San Diego’s homeless and underprivileged with a two-for-one discount when purchasing a ticket to any preview performance this season.