Putting heart into the arts
Christmas bash supports arts and entertainment community. Plus: Tegan's back!
I’m a big fan of the Actors’ and Entertainers’ Benevolent Fund, so it was a thrill for me to be invited to its annual Christmas party, held today (Friday, 10 November) at the Lyrebird Restaurant at QPAC.
President Michael Balk and other volunteer office holders of the charity joined patron Tim Fairfax and QPAC boss John Kotzas — who picked up the bill for the lunch — to celebrate retired and senior members of the arts and entertainment community.
The ABF’s mission is to assist performing arts professionals who are experiencing hardships. As Balk pointed out, that mission has become more urgent with the current nationwide housing crisis.
For me, it was an opportunity to reacquaint myself with many people I knew from my 25+ years as an arts writer and theatre critic, and to meet a new generation of actors and entertainers who are determined to make a difference.
If you want to support the fund, keep an eye out for the bucket brigades at the end of many performances, or click here.
TEGAN’S RETURN
Meanwhile, in the UK, the BBC has released a film that answers one of the burning questions about a famous fictional Brisburbian.
Two people are sat in room that seems, for once, quite small. Familiar objects are stacked upon each other in a seemingly random way.
“In this vault of memories,” says a man in a panama hat with a stick of celery pinned to his jacket, “an ordinary life is one of the most shining things of all.”
It’s the Doctor. Yes, the Doctor. The fifth one to be exact, as played by Peter Davison in one episode of Tales of the Tardis, a series of short films made to celebrate the 60th anniversary of British science-fiction phenomenon Doctor Who.
He is talking to former companion Tegan Jovanka, played by our very own Janet Fielding.
The ordinary life in question involves Tegan’s return to Brisbane after parting ways with the Time Lord in the mid-1980s.
“I found myself on the bank of the Thames with a load of dead Daleks,” she says. “Long story, but in the end, I got myself back to Brisbane. And it took a while. I think I was in shock.
“I thought, ‘What can I do with my life … what can I do that would make the Doctor proud.’ So, I started campaigning for the environment.”
I won’t speculate here as to which local figures Tegan may have found herself mixed up with at that time, but it makes for an entertaining thought exercise.
Clips from Tales of the Tardis are available in various places online.