Eleanor & Mary Alice, by Peta Tait
In 1943 Eleanor Roosevelt made an epic war-time flight across Japanese patrolled sea to Australia and met up with Mary Alice Evatt, the artist and wife of Doc Evatt, Australia’s Minister for External Affairs. The two women met again in Paris in 1948, when Mary Alice was visiting Picasso and Australian artist Moya Dyring and Eleanor was meanwhile chairing the United Nation’s committee developing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This book is the text of the play by Peta Tait based on those two meetings. It is a play about war, human rights and art, and the personal worlds of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Alice Evatt. The play also features the voices of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Doc Evatt.
The play arose from Peta Tait’s fascination with the meetings and the realisation that they have received minimal attention. While Eleanor’s life carried the expectations of her era as a wife and mother, it also encompassed additional ones arising from her husband’s long leadership of the USA and the war, and she was tireless in her public work on behalf of racial and economic inequality. May Alice contributed to the development of modernism in Australia art, and the regional gallery movement, and supported Doc Evatt in his work during the war and at the United Nations. The Evatts believed that the arts could advance the causes of social equity, education and justice. The play depicts how individuals and their friendships can influence political events and cultural development.
The play was produced by the Evatt Foundation and Tashmadada Theatre at the Seymour Centre, Sydney, on 5-8 December 2018, as part of a suite of events organised by the Foundation to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The director was Deborah Leiser-Moore. Sarah McNeill played Eleanor. Petra Kalive played Mary Alice. Addi Sappir played the music. Richard Moore recorded the other voices. It was endorsed by the United Nations Association of Australia, the ACTU and Amnesty International. The play previously premiered at the Heidi Museum of Modern Art in Melbourne in 2014 and was restaged at Perth Centre for Photography in Perth in 2016. The cover features Moya Dyring by Mary Alice Evatt.
About the author
Peta Tait is a Professor of Theatre and Drama at La Trobe University, a widely published author of plays, books and articles, and was elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2013. Other plays written or co-written by Peta include Breath by Breath (2003), Deception River (2008), and Mesmerized (2010).
Tait, Peta (2018), Eleanor & Mary Alice, Currency Press, Strawberry Hills, pbk, viii+45 pp. RRP: $32.80. Our price: $14.99 (minus discount for Evatt members)
ISBN: 9781760622534
