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ABC News
25-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Former Tasmanian governor Sir Guy Green dies aged 87 after long legal and public career
Flags at Government House are flying at half mast in honour of the former governor of Tasmania, Sir Guy Green, who has died aged 87. He is being remembered as an exceptional statesman as well as a person with a great sense of humour and love for his community. Sir Guy, who also became chief justice of the Supreme Court in his 30s, was born in Launceston in 1937 and attended the Launceston Church Grammar School. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania in 1960. The current governor, Barbara Baker AC, said in a statement that Sir Guy would be remembered "for his exceptional service to our Tasmanian community across many fields, from the law to education, science and the arts". "His dedication, knowledge and intellectual commitment to the many roles he undertook during his distinguished career were matched only by his passion for Tasmania and its place in the world.' The Supreme Court of Tasmania also issued a statement, noting "with deep sadness that Sir Guy Stephen Montague Green AC KBE CVO has passed away … Tasmania is much the poorer for his passing". Premier Jeremy Rockliff acknowledged Sir Guy's career and paid his respects to the Green family. "As governor, Sir Guy will be remembered for his devotion to the people of Tasmania that was above and beyond his duties." "Sir Guy's life reminds us that true leadership is measured by purpose and service. Tasmania is richer for his contributions, and he will be remembered with deep respect and gratitude." Sir Guy is survived by his wife, Lady Rosslyn Green. He was father of Jill, Ruth, David (dec) and Chris. After a period of private legal practice in Launceston, Sir Guy served as a magistrate from 1971 until he was appointment as Tasmania's chief justice in 1973. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1982 and he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1994 as well as being appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order during Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Tasmania in 2000. Sir Guy served as governor of Tasmania for eight years — from 1995 to 2003 — where he was the first Tasmanian-born person to hold the role. During his time as governor, he also served as administrator of the Commonwealth of Australia on several occasions. Sir Guy was actively involved in a number of community organisations, including serving as chancellor of the University of Tasmania from 1985 to 1995. He also served as chairman of trustees of the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery (TMAG), chairman of the board of the Ten Days on the Island festival, chancellor of the Australian Priory of the Order of St John of Jerusalem and chairman of the Churchill Memorial Trust. Former TMAG employee Peter West said it was "like opening the floodgates" thinking about all the memories he had of Sir Guy, from when he was chairman of Trustees. "While he wasn't a slap-stick comedian, he was one of the funniest men I've ever met," Mr West said. "His humour was just so engaging, his intellect was amazing." Mr West said Sir Guy was part of the team, along with director Bill Bleathman, in 2014 that enabled a significant redevelopment of the museum and art gallery site. "Bill and Sir Guy were two great men who worked really closely together and whose passion for the museum enabled the $30 million redevelopment to happen." Dr Tony Press, an adjunct professor at the University of Tasmania, and chair of the Tasmanian Antarctic Gateway Advisory Committee says Sir Guy will be greatly missed by Tasmania's Antarctic community. "I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sir Guy Green. Among his many achievements, Sir Guy was a champion for Antarctica, and a strong advocate for Tasmania's place in Antarctic affairs," Dr Press said. "He put a great deal of intellectual effort [forward] when he was governor of Tasmania, and afterwards as Tasmania's Antarctic 'ambassador', into Antarctic policy, law and advocacy." A private funeral for Sir Guy Green will be held.
The Guardian
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Is this a cheese grater I see before me? This is Shakespeare as you've never seen it before
It opens with two flashlights, standing on a tabletop, nervously awaiting the arrival of a cheese grater. Or rather: the ghost of a grater, with a thirst for vengeance – and a slender glass-bottle son who may or may not get the job done. This is Hamlet, as you've never seen it. Instead of a stage, a table. Instead of players, humble household and supermarket items: a canister of flea powder standing in for the murderous usurper King Claudius; a pepper grinder for Queen Gertrude. Instead of the usual three to four hours, just one. Instead of Shakespeare's poetic prose, a single performer delivers a narrative re-enactment. 'To be or not to be' – one of drama's most vaunted soliloquies – boils down to: 'Hamlet comes along and he's thinking about death – again.' This pared-back Hamlet is one of 36 tabletop versions of Shakespeare's plays performed by UK theatre mavericks Forced Entertainment, who will bring the series to Australia for the first time this month in Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare. A full set will be staged across eight days at the Adelaide festival, and an abridged set over three days at Tasmania's Ten Days on the Island festival. (You can even watch them for free on their website.) Table Top Shakespeare has proved immensely – if not universally – popular, touring Europe and the US to acclaim over the decade since it premiered. 'Occasionally you get somebody who's unhappy that we've stripped the Shakespearean language out of the pieces,' says Forced Entertainment's artistic director, Tim Etchells. 'But there's plenty of productions of the full plays. It just wasn't what we were interested in doing.' Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Forced Entertainment, an ensemble of six that turned 40 last year, has built a reputation for experimental and often absurdist durational work, building marathon productions from improvisations rather than using existing texts. In the 24-hour performance Quizoola!, one performer improvises answers to an apparently never-ending stream of questions asked by another, while audience members are free to come and go. In the six-hour improvisation And on the Thousandth Night, eight performers jostle with each other to tell a story that never ends. They were never going to do 'straight Shakespeare', says Etchells. 'There was a subversive impulse there – to take these high-culture texts that are so revered and to play them as this kind of lo-fi puppetry on the tabletop,' he adds. 'And I think it also chimed with our interest in the way that spoken language conjures images, makes things happen.' It's true: under the spell of the performer's narration – and careful hands – even a grubby, half-empty bottle of linseed oil seems haunted by some dreadful dilemma; over the course of each show's duration (45 to 75 minutes) you find yourself inexorably absorbed into the drama. Watching the plays reveals something about Shakespeare's craft, too. 'It's like taking the car engine apart and putting all the pieces on the driveway; it makes you see the mechanism a little bit more clearly,' says Etchells. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion 'The comedies are really interesting because they often work on pairings – so on the tabletop, they're very beautiful; they have this endless symmetry. But something like Cymbeline is a bit of a mess on the tabletop, because it's an inelegant structure.' Each of the performers, assigned six Shakespeare plays apiece, took different approaches to 'casting' their productions: Cathy Naden used objects from her late mother's house, while Richard Lowdon used items from his cellar – including a grimy jar, a tin of paint stripper and a crusty old faucet handle – to conjure a dank aesthetic for his Macbeth. Some choices are delightfully tongue in cheek: Iago is played by a pack of cigarettes; he will kill you. All of the performances are unscripted, giving each the quality of a pal telling you the plot of their favourite film at the pub. Some performers are chatty; others adopt a more dramatic, campfire delivery. It's this 'theatre in the everyday' that continues to excite Etchells a decade into the series. 'This magical transformation of space and time is not the sole province of the big stage with the fancy lighting rig,' he says. 'You can do it right here on the tabletop with a few everyday objects. It's a human capacity for transforming and narrating.' Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare runs 8-16 March as part of Adelaide festival, and 21-23 March as part of Ten Days on the Island, Tasmania.
