Beach

• Eliot’s The Hollow Men (1925), concludes:
  This is the way the world ends
  Not with a bang but a whimper.
• This is the way the world ends
  Not with a bang but a whimper.
• Indeed, Nevil Shute’s classic novel of nuclear annihilation, On the Beach, published in June 1957, used Eliot’s famous lines as an epigraph.

‘Australia’s most important novel’

• Journalist Gideon Haigh calls On the Beach “arguably Australia’s most important novel – important in the sense of confronting a mass international audience with the defining issue of the age”.
• In this last of meeting places
  We grope together
  And avoid speech
  Gathered on this beach of the tumid river.
• This comes to the fore in the following passage, which focuses on a dinner party hosted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes of the Royal Australian Navy.
• The atmosphere is both claustrophobic and delirious:
  For three hours they danced and drank together, sedulously avoiding any serious topic of conversation.
• The reason why the guests at Peter’s party are so keen to avoid serious talk is both simple and depressing.
• This is the way Shute’s novel of nuclear extinction ends: not with a bang but with a whimper.
• Released at the height of the Cold War, On the Beach struck a chord with millions of concerned readers.

Usefully entertaining

• A copy had found its way to the desk of John F. Kennedy, the next president of the United States.
• Shute famously detested the movie, which received decidedly mixed reviews.
• Her husband’s reply is revealing:
  ‘I don’t know […] Some kinds of silliness you just can’t stop,’ he said.
• While the science in the novel was somewhat flawed, Shute’s cautionary tale undoubtedly spoke to the collective zeitgeist.
• Read more:
  Friday essay: if growing US-China rivalry leads to 'the worst war ever', what should Australia do?

Enduring influence

• The influence of Shute’s novel, which was remade in 2000 as a film for Australian television, can be observed in various post-apocalyptic works, including George Miller’s Mad Max franchise and the late Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.
• It seems increasingly likely the world as we know it is coming to an end – if it hasn’t already.
• On The Beach runs at the Sydney Theatre Company 24 July to 12 August 2023, with previews 18–21 July.

• Toronto, On, July 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Halo Top Canada will be “Saying Halo to Summer” and reminding consumers to Feel Good when enjoying their delicious guilt-free frozen treats.
• Brace yourself as they unveil their showstopper of the Feel Good Summer Campaign: a colossal 10-foot balloon shaped like a delectable, salted caramel tub.
• Halo Top is hosting a contest for a weekend getaway at the Elora Mill Hotel & Spa.
• The Halo Top Canada Feel Good Summer Campaign is a celebration of taking time to treat yourself and others, while remaining playful, confident, and positive.

• Located at 845 Whitlock Ave., Unit 906, Zoom Drain of Jacksonville will proudly serve St. Johns, Duval County, The Beaches and other surrounding areas.
• Currently, there are four Zoom Drain franchise locations in Florida, with 48 total nationwide.
• Zoom Drain provides around the clock residential and commercial service centering on drain and sewer cleaning, sewer pipe video inspections, grease trap maintenance and much more.
• "We are thrilled to have Zeke Malz join the Zoom Drain team and bring his expert services to Jacksonville," said Jim Criniti, CEO of Zoom Drain.

• The project of creating Australian ballet is not a new one.
• In 1964, Robert Helpmann claimed his ballet The Display was the first Australian ballet, because it was the first with an Australian score, designer, story and choreographer.
• Since then, Australian ballet has radically transformed the way that it includes First Nations identity in its construction of what it means to be Australian.
• The 1989 founding of Bangarra Dance Theatre was key to this new Australian identity in dance.
• Both works demonstrate an approach to creating an Australian ballet that, as the program suggests, “explores the community of the stage”.

THE HUM

• THE HUM has a powerful First Nations presence including choreographer Riley, composer Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, costume designer Annette Sax and dancer Karra Nam, and engages a conversation not only with white settler Australia but also between contemporary dance and ballet.
• THE HUM shows a community where members are finally facing each other but haven’t yet worked out who they are together – although they know where to begin.

Paragon

• In Paragon, Topp shows us who The Australian Ballet has been in footage, images, dance styles and in the returning dancers who carry the company’s history in their bodies.
• Topp also shows us who we might be into the future in the bodies of the company’s young dancers.
• Much like THE HUM, Paragon is a result of this community, an honouring of ancestors and a revelation of ever-present history.