Barrie Kosky is an internationally acclaimed director who has been described as the ‘enfant terrible' of Australian theatre. As a student at Melbourne University in the late 1980's he formed his first theatre company called Treason of Images. The company became the university's theatre-in-residence and Kosky continued to direct productions first as a student and then as a professional director. In 1991 he directed his first major opera and also launched his national Jewish theatre company Gilgul (meaning ‘transmigration of souls') with a production of a Yiddish theatre classic called The Dybbuk. This production won him two Victorian Green room awards for best production and direction in 1991 and his work has continued to attract both praise and criticism ever since. In April 2002, he took up the position of co-artistic director at the prestigious Schauspielhaus Theatre in Vienna but still plans to direct productions in Australia.
Renowned for his flamboyant and often controversial approach to staging theatre and opera, Kosky has directed productions with many of the major performing arts organizations in Australia. He has worked with the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC), Victoria State Opera, Opera Australia, Opera Queensland, Bell Shakespeare Company, Belvoir Street Theatre, the Adelaide Festival, the Sydney Mardi Gras, Playbox and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). The work he has done with his company Gilgul reveals his interest in using theatre to articulate the multiplicity of voices and cultural traditions in Australia as well as other parts of the world. As he is now based in Vienna, he is obviously exploring this interest but one wonders whether Kosky may have been slightly prophetic when he said that The Dybbuk should be viewed as part of a trilogy of productions he called ‘The Exile Trilogy.'
Kosky is a relatively recent figure to emerge on the Australian theatre scene and there are few texts available offering any comprehensive analysis or outline of his developing aesthetic views or principles. However, he is often asked to address students and practitioners of theatre and he is not shy about sharing his opinions or his experiences as a director. For example, in 1996 when he spoke to an audience at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art he said:
If you don't believe in the theatre as a sacred space of metaphor, transformation and ritual- rack off. If you don't believe in the theatre as a sacred space where gesture, word, symbol, light, movement and music operate on a totally democratic landscape- then rack off. If you don't believe in the theatre as a sacred space for ideas, complexities and unanswered questions- then rack off…Stop whining about funding…It's about time we put ideas back to the centre of cultural life. Not box-office figures.
In another address to the National Circus Conference at the Powerhouse in 2000 he told his audience:
I'm not interested in the likes and dislikes of the audience. I'm interested in my likes and dislikes…I need an audience, but I need an audience that want to come on my ride, not the other way around. I think a lot of people in this country are led by the notion that the audience is somehow indicative of the work that should be done.
In the same address, he goes on to say that:
…the problem with Australia is that we don't really analyse. The Prime Minister says there is no need to say sorry because he doesn't understand the importance of the symbolic gesture. It is symbol and metaphor that actually drive memory and experience.
It is healthy to wonder why Kosky sees theatre as sacred or if he analyses the symbols and metaphors driving the memory, experiences, likes and dislikes of his audiences, but such questions do not dismiss the fact that his discussions are usually provocative. Whether described as a ruthless self-promoter or a unique artistic voice, his passion for theatre and other forms of live performance is often infectious and his style of directing continues to attract international interest.