John Norman — Actor and Visionary

In July of 1969, John Krummell, John Norman and Charles Little stood in the dock of the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, charged, on the information of officers of the Vice Squad, with using obscene language in a public place. They had uttered this obscene language in the course of performances of Mart Crowley’s play, The Boys in the Band, at the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne. The obscene language was, of course, the f-word and the c-word, which appear a number of times in the play. The play’s homosexual content was not an issue in the case, although it may have influenced police and judicial attitudes. When the Magistrate found the charges proved but then dismissed them on the grounds they were ‘trifling,’ the Vice Squad successfully appealed to the Supreme Court. Harry M. Miller, who had brought The Boys in the Band to Australia, pointed out that 72,000 people had seen the play since its opening in June, and not one had complained. “To my certain knowledge no-one complained to members of our staff, the switchboard or the Vice Squad,” he testified.

The case of The Boys in the Band was an important step in the breaking down of Australia’s archaic censorship laws. Australia had always had one of the most rigid censorship regimes in the western world, and authors, publishers and theatre people had long chafed under its strictness, illogicality and unpredictability. Banning films and books coming from overseas was one thing, but the prosecution and conviction of Australian actors was too much for many people to stand. On October 30th, 1969, a demonstration organized by Actors’ Equity was held, with 150 actors and supporters marching from the Playbox Theatre to Parliament House. This case and others like it led to a serious effort by Australian intellectuals to break down the censorship regime. “Court action against The Boys in the Band has demonstrated the inanities of the present censorship laws,” wrote John Tasker (who directed the play) in The Australian. “A decision to ban a play or modify a performance is usually founded on the advice of one or two men, constables who last visited the theatre 15 years ago, or for whom The Sound of Music is the acme of theatrical experience. Perhaps one should feel pleased that the police are now such staunch theatre goers.” (OutRage, June 1997).

In 1990 I spent some time working as a nurse/warden in a locked high security psychiatric hospital in Brisbane Australia. One of my residents was a very dramatic man with long grey hair and beard by the name of John Norman. John resembled a pirate or biblical character in his manner, speech and bearing. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of John Norman’s condition was that he had removed the lower part of his own right leg with a circular saw. He told me the story of how he did this; it happened at the beach in Sydney, he had been thinking about it for some time. He had been hearing voices telling him to do it. On this particular day he had said to the voices that he was waiting for a sign and if it appeared he would remove his leg.

Later that day at the beach he saw an open garage where someone had been cutting timber beams, but had left the circular saw they had been working when they went to lunch. He took this to be a sign. John managed to run the saw far enough out of the garage for him to sit on the ground against a wall. With ‘the sound of angels in his ears’ he dropped the spinning saw on his right leg just below the knee, removing the lower part of his leg completely. He passed out immediately.

He told me, 10 years after he had done it, in the psych ward, that it was the greatest day of his life. I occasionally think of John Norman. He composed poetry and spoke beautifully, with a most charismatic personality. But he was also clearly not in consensual reality. He told me many times he had been an actor of no small achievement. Later in the mid-1990s when I was working on telephones in Sydney I met an actor who had been a student of John Norman’s or who had acted with him. She described him as a difficult genius.

John Norman’s stage work included;

High Rise, Outdoor, Carlton, VIC, 17 November 2001
The Removalists, SGIO Theatre, Brisbane, QLD, 16 July 1975
The Importance of Being Earnest, SGIO Theatre, Brisbane, QLD, 18 June 1975
Coralie Lansdowne Says No, SGIO Theatre, Brisbane, QLD, 21 May 1975
The Taming of the Shrew, SGIO Theatre, Brisbane, QLD, 2 April 1975
Duet For Two Hands, Marian Street Theatre, Killara, NSW, 29 May 1974
Sticks and Bones, Theatre Royal, Hobart, TAS, 23 February 1973
Move Over Mrs Markham, Theatre Royal, Hobart, TAS, 26 January 1973
Move Over Mrs Markham, Launceston, Launceston, TAS, 1973
Sticks and Bones, Launceston, Launceston, TAS, 1973
The Beaux Stratagem, Theatre 62, Hilton, SA, 4 March 1972
Hoddel’s Remarkable Handcart, Parade Theatre (1969–1999), Kensington, NSW, 2 January 1971
The Boys In The Band, Hobart, Hobart, TAS, June 1970
The Boys In The Band, His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth, WA, 7 May 1970
The Boys In The Band, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide, SA, 9 April 1970
The Boys In The Band, Playbox Theatre, Melbourne, VIC, 3 June 1969
The Boys In The Band, The Playhouse, Civic Square, ACT, 29 April 1969
The Boys in the Band, Playbox Theatre (Phillip Street), Sydney, NSW, 2 October 1968
The Recruiting Officer, Union Hall, Adelaide, SA, 7 March 1968
The School for Scandal, Old Tote Theatre, Kensington, NSW, June 1967
The Collection, AMP Theatrette, Sydney, NSW, 1967
Toad Of Toad Hall, Independent Theatre (1939–1977), North Sydney, NSW, 7 November 1964
Ballad for One Gun, ABC Television Studios, Gore Hill, NSW, 17 July 1963

Resources
Article: ‘Band’ words not trivial, judge rules, The Age, 30 September 1969, 2
Article: ‘Boys’ go back to court, The Age, 14 August 1969, 1
Article: Boys in the Band lose appeal, The Age, 24 March 1970, 2
Article: Four ways to say it, but one offends, The Age, 11 July 1969, 3
Article: Judge will hear “Boys” words, The Age, 3 February 1970, 2
Article: Plays won’t come here if we lose, says QC, The Age, 12 July 1969, 2
Article: Review the “Boys” case — Crown, The Age, 19 September 1969, 2
Article: Shakespeare also said it, The Age, 27 February 1970, 3