Bad taste

expat · 07-10-2008, 13:12

A PLAYWRIGHT who has sent up events surrounding the Beaconsfield mine tragedy has changed the play's name following outrage from the family and friends of the man killed in the disaster.
Dan Ilic originally named his play, to debut at the Melbourne Fringe Festival tomorrow night, Beaconsfield: A Musical in A-Flat Minor, but today changed it to Beaconsfield: The Musical.
Ilic said he had changed the play's name "out of respect" for the family of miner Larry Knight who died in the 2006 Beaconsfield rockfall.
"I had no idea they'd be so offended by it," he said.
Mr Knight had a wife, Jackie, and three young children.
Jackie's father Phil Stevenson said he was incensed by the title.
Mr Knight's workmates Brant Webb and Todd Russell were rescued after 14 days trapped underground.
Mr Russell said he was "disgusted" by the play and its original title and urged people not to go.
The collapse and dramatic rescue of Mr Webb and Mr Russell captured attention across Australia and around the world, with hundreds of media reporting from the scene.
Ilic said his play was on the miners' side and poked fun only at the media.
"About two years ago I was watching the media response to this, it was a complete circus, absolute mayhem," he said.
"I was appalled at The Footy Show going live from there ... every show was going live from there.
"Talking about treating people with respect, I don't think the media has a leg to stand on pointing the finger at me."
Fringe Festival general manager Esther Anatolitis said she felt no pressure to cancel the play.
She said the festival was open access and individual artists put their own shows on with their own money.
She said had taken a "creative risk" with his play and its original title.
"As with every other show, we're excited to see the kinds of creative risks taken in this one," Ms Anatolitis said.
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) called the play "a distasteful exploitation of a tragedy".
Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett said the musical was a base publicity stunt, while Opposition Leader Will Hodgman said the concept was crass and insensitive.
The play also devotes a song, Carleton Cardiac, to journalist Richard Carleton's fatal heart attack at the mine scene.
"The only death we haven't treated respectfully is Richard Carleton's," Ilic told Fairfax newspapers yesterday.
But today he had changed his mind.
"We have treated his death with respect," he told AAP.
"What we're doing is poking fun at the way the media treated his death."
The play has a cast of five and is narrated by former SBS voice-over man Robbie McGregor.