Georgie Black opens the House of Oz in Edinburgh
Lawyer and arts philanthropist Georgie Black wanted to give Australian performers a stage in Britain, so she opened a temporary theatre.
Maybe it was homesickness or just a desire to help Australian performers abroad that led Georgie Black to open a pop-up arts venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
House of Oz took over a church in the festival city last year with a program that included Shakespearean actor John Bell, oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros and children’s comedy duo the Listies. The theatre and festival garden was named best venue last year.
Ms Black, a Sydney-born barrister and philanthropist who has lived in London for 31 years, has invested in the venue and the program at the House of Oz and is preparing to open for a second season from August 4.
“What I wanted to do was represent all of the artforms that you would see at the Fringe, but in an Australian way – I love people who are brilliant at what they do,” Ms Black said in Sydney.
“I had the idea to get a venue in Edinburgh and do a whole house, dedicated to showcasing Australian performing arts.”
Ms Black is one of Australia’s lesser-known but active philanthropists.
She was a patron of last year’s UK/Australia Season of cultural exchange, is the chair of a London-based charity that awards dance bursaries and was executive producer on a documentary film, Knowing the Score, about conductor Simone Young.
House of Oz has transformed the Community Church Edinburgh for the duration of the festival, and Ms Black said artists performing there were subject to the church’s “decorum clause”.
On the program this year are acrobatic troupe Legs on the Wall, trans comedian Anna Piper Scott, Michaela Burger’s cabaret turn in A Migrant’s Son and Jonny Hawkins’ monologue about irrepressible older women, Maureen.
Ms Black is again the major private supporter of House of Oz, which this year has also attracted federal government money through the Cultural Diplomacy Arts Fund. Her aim was to give Australian artists a platform during festival season in Edinburgh, one of the world’s busiest markets for performing arts.
“I wanted people to love Australian culture and to be impressed,” she said.
“I’m doing this because I don’t want Australian culture to be the butt-end of some kind of joke.
“We have so much to offer, and that’s what I want people to see – how wonderful, vibrant, witty, clever and quirkily, quintessentially Australian.”