van Badham
{{short description|Australian writer and social commentator (born 1974)}}
{{Use Australian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Van Badham
| image = Van Badham at Bust the Budget Melbourne march.jpg
| alt = Van Badham raising one arm at a Melbourne protest
| caption = Van Badham at a 2014 march in Melbourne
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1974}}
| birth_place = Sydney, Australia
| death_date =
| death_place =
| other_names =
| occupation = Writer, social commentator
| known_for =
}}
Vanessa Badham (born 1974) is an Australian writer and activist. A playwright and novelist, she writes dramas and comedies. She is a regular columnist for the Guardian Australia website.
Early life and education
Vanessa Badham was born in Sydney in 1974.{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/ThatVanBadham/videos/281060542552615 |title=Van Badham: (author/organisation) Facebook page |website=Facebook |date=2018-12-01 |access-date=2018-12-01}} Her parents worked in the New South Wales gaming and track industry, with her father eventually working as a manager in the registered club industry.Badham, Van (8 August 2013). [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/08/tobacco-industry-australia "Would a bigger tax on cigarettes have saved my father's life?"]. The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
She studied creative writing and performance at the University of Wollongong,{{cite news |url=http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1767759/creative-arts-a-degree-that-will-get-you-a-job/|title=Creative arts a degree that will get you a job|author=Thompson|first=Angela|date=2013-09-11|newspaper=Illawarra Mercury|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218144247/https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1767759/creative-arts-a-degree-that-will-get-you-a-job/|archive-date=2017-02-18}} graduating with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Creative Arts (Honours) degrees.{{cite web|url=http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW202664.html |title=Arts graduates recognised as women of influence – News & Media @ UOW |website=Media.uow.edu.au |date=2015-09-24 |access-date=2017-03-09}} At university, Badham won the Philip Larkin Poetry Prize in 1997, and the Des Davis Drama Prize and Comedy Prize in 2000.{{cite web|url=http://www.uow.edu.au/alumni/alumnistories/creativearts/UOW220049.html |title=Van Badham – Alumni @ UOW |website=Uow.edu.au |date=2016-08-19 |access-date=2017-03-09}} In 2001, she went on an exchange with the University of Sheffield in the UK to study English literature.{{cite web|last=Huntsdale |first=Justin |url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/08/18/4295563.htm |title=How student activism has helped shape the good life – ABC Illawarra NSW – Australian Broadcasting Corporation |website=Abc.net.au |date=2015-08-24 |access-date=2017-03-09}}
At the University of Wollongong she was drawn into involvement in student politics and left-wing activism, and she was elected editor of the Student Representative Council newspaper, Tertangala. She worked with the Student Union as Media Officer and Women's Officer, and sat on the Academic Senate and University Internationalisation Committee.{{cite web|url=http://media.uow.edu.au/releases/UOW135724.html |title=UOW student publication the Tertangala celebrates 50 years – News & Media @ UOW |website=Media.uow.edu.au |date=2012-10-26 |access-date=2017-03-09}} While a student, she was associated with anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist causes; more recently, she describes her politics as democratic socialist.{{cite news|author=William Verity |url=http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1428317/the-truth-is-out-there-in-van-badhams-productions/ |title=The truth is out there in Van Badham's productions |newspaper=Illawarra Mercury |date=2013-04-14 |access-date=2017-03-09|url-access =subscription }}{{cite web | last=Badham | first=Van | title=A Facebook war in Rose Bay has destroyed my anarchist idealism | website= The Guardian | date=28 November 2019 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/28/a-facebook-war-in-rose-bay-has-destroyed-my-anarchist-idealism?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other | access-date=27 July 2024}}
In 2013, she completed a Master of Arts degree with first class honours in Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.{{cn|date=July 2024}}
Career
=Stage =
In 1999 Badham won the Naked Theatre Company's first "Write Now!" play competition and with it a production of her winning play, The Wilderness of Mirrors, at the Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf studio. About secret service infiltration of an activist organisation, the play brought her to public attention and she began to stage more work across Australia.{{cite web|author=Rowan Cahill |url=http://workers.labor.net.au/111/d_review_theatre.html |title=Workers Online : Review : 2001 – Issue 111 : Political Theatre |website=Workers.labor.net.au |access-date=2017-03-09}}
In 2001, she relocated to the United Kingdom.{{cn|date=July 2024}} Her work was discovered by the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, who staged a collaborative production of Kitchen with Nabokov Theatre in 2001. A play about marriage as a metaphor for capitalism, it then toured to the 2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe,{{cite web|url=http://www.nabokov-online.com/productions/kitchen-van-badham/ |title=Kitchen by Van Badham | 2001 – 2002 – nabokov |website=Nabokov-online.com |date=1997-05-02 |access-date=2017-03-09}} Her 2003 play Camarilla was a critical success at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, cementing Badham's international reputation as a proponent of radical political theatre.{{cite web |url=http://www.nabokov-online.com/productions/camarilla-by-van-badham/ |title=Camarilla by Van Badham | 2003 – nabokov |website=Nabokov-online.com |access-date=2017-03-09}}
Badham was appointed literary manager of London's Finborough Theatre in 2009 and worked there until relocating to Melbourne to become an artistic associate at the Malthouse Theatre from 2011 to 2013.{{cite web|url=https://australianplays.org/van-badham-named-malthouse-associate-artist |title=Van Badham named Malthouse Associate Artist |website=AustralianPlays.org |date=2011-07-26 |access-date=2017-03-09}}Robert Reid Making the improbable inevitable: A history of the Malthouse Theatre. Reid, Robert. Australasian Drama Studies; Melbourne, Vic. (April 2012) 170–184.
In Australia, her plays have had mainstage seasons at Griffin Theatre,{{cite web|url=https://blogs.crikey.com.au/curtaincall/2013/06/07/review-the-bull-the-moon-and-the-coronet-of-stars-griffin-theatre-sydney/ |title=REVIEW: The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars |website=crikey.com.au |date=2013-07-06}} Malthouse Theatre,{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/70447108|title = The Bloody Chamber Trailer|date = 16 July 2013}} The Sydney Theatre Company,{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/07/banging-denmark-review-spiky-feminist-romcom-crackles-with-joy/ |title=Review: Spiky Feminist Romcom Crackles With Joy |website=The Guardian |date=2019-07-08}} and Black Swan State Theatre Company.{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-stage-show/george-orwell-animal-farm-van-badham-dylan-van-den-berg-milk/12613282/ |title=Animal Farm in the age of Trump |website=abc.net.au |date=2020-01-09}}
The world premiere of The Questions, a musical co-written by Badham with Richard Wise, was staged by the State Theatre Company of South Australia, in July/August 2024, directed by Mitchell Butel.{{cite web | title=The Questions | website=State Theatre Company | date=26 July 2024 | url=https://statetheatrecompany.com.au/shows/the-questions/ | access-date=27 July 2024}} It opened to excellent reviews.{{cite web | first= Rachael |last= Mead | title=Theatre review: The Questions | website=InReview | date=31 July 2024 | url=https://inreview.com.au/inreview/theatre/2024/07/31/theatre-review-the-questions/ | access-date=2 August 2024}}{{cite web | last=Forester | first=Gordon | title=The Questions (State Theatre Company South Australia) | website=Limelight | date=31 July 2024 | url=https://limelight-arts.com.au/reviews/the-questions-state-theatre-company-south-australia/ | access-date=2 August 2024}}{{cite web | last=Harris | first=Samela|author-link=Samela Harris | title=The Questions | website=The Barefoot Review | date=30 July 2024 | url=https://www.thebarefootreview.com.au/menu/theatre/119-2014-adelaide-reviews/2698-the-questions.html | access-date=2 August 2024}}{{cite web | last=Sanders | first=Anita | title=Theatre review: The Questions, State Theatre SA | website=ArtsHub Australia | date=1 August 2024 | url=https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/theatre-review-the-questions-state-theatre-sa-2739351/ | access-date=2 August 2024}}
= Other writing =
In 2009 it was announced that Badham had been signed for a three-book deal by Pan Macmillan Australia.{{cite web |url=https://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW059598.html |title=PhD student lands amazing book deal – News & Media @ UOW |website=Media.uow.edu.au |date=2009-05-21 |access-date=2017-03-09}} Her first book, Burnt Snow, was released in September 2010. In November 2021 she released her debut non-fiction book with Australian independent publisher Hardie Grant Books, Qanon and On.{{Cite book |last=Badham|first=Van|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1285976834|title=Qanon and on : a short and shocking history of internet conspiracy cults|date=2022|isbn=978-1-74379-787-7|location=Melbourne|oclc=1285976834}}
Media career
In 2013 Badham began publishing political commentary and arts criticism for the Guardian Australia website.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/van-badham |title=Van Badham |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2014-11-18 |access-date=2017-03-09}}
Her commentary has also appeared in publications The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Irish Times, Der Freitag, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Women's Agenda, Australian Cosmopolitan, and Daily Life. As a commentator, she has been a guest of The Drum on ABC Television, Politics HQ on Sky News Australia, Radio National, Sunrise and The Project and in appeared many times as a panellist on the ABC's Q&A programme.{{cite web|author=Renai LeMay |url=http://delimiter.com.au/2014/04/29/abc-actively-censors-nbn-issue-qa/ |title=ABC actively censors NBN issue on Q&A |publisher=Delimiter |date=2014-04-29 |access-date=2017-03-09}}
She has also been a featured speaker at the Wheeler Centre, Festival of Dangerous Ideas, All About Women festival, Melbourne Writers Festival and Australian Council of Trade Unions National Congress.{{cn|date=July 2024}}
Other activities
{{as of|2021}} Badham is also an ambassador for the National Secular Lobby.{{Cite web|title=Our Ambassadors – Van Badham|url=https://www.nsl.org.au/about/our-ambassadors/van-badham/|website=National Secular Lobby|access-date=26 July 2021}}
Recognition and awards
In 1999 Badham won the Naked Theatre Company's first "Write Now!" play competition for her play, The Wilderness of Mirrors.
Other awards for her theatre work include the 2005 Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Black Hands / Dead Section,{{cite web|url=http://media.uow.edu.au/news/2005/1013a/ |title=UOW News -Van's Black Hands receive prestigious liter |website=Media.uow.edu.au |date=2005-10-13 |access-date=2017-03-09}} the 2014 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award for Muff,{{cite web|last=Hayward |first=Tory |url=http://atthefestival.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/the-2014-nsw-premiers-literary-awards-winning-novel-explores-multicultural-identity/ |title=The 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Awards | |website=Atthefestival.wordpress.com |date=2014-05-21 |access-date=2017-03-09}}{{cite web|url=http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW172799.html |title=UOW graduate wins 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Award – News & Media @ UOW |website=Media.uow.edu.au |access-date=2017-03-09}} and the 2014 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards for The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars.{{cite web|url=http://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2014/09/23/31345/wa-premiers-book-awards-2014-winners-announced/ |title=WA Premier's Book Awards 2014 winners announced | Books+Publishing |website=Booksandpublishing.com.au |date=2014-09-23 |access-date=2017-03-09}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/contributor/6587 Van Badham] on AusStage
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20210226063041/https://australianplays.org/playwright/ASC-388 Van Badham] on Australian Plays
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Category:Australian women dramatists and playwrights
Category:University of Wollongong alumni
Category:20th-century Australian dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century Australian dramatists and playwrights
Category:Australian feminist writers