Review: Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country

Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country
Ilbijerri, the Minutes of Evidence Project and La Mama
18 November 2011
La Mama Courthouse Theatre
to 27 November
www.lamama.com.au

Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country lets past voices be heard as Ilbijerri and La Mama continue to tell stories that we need to know and to share.

Telling a story that is so important to many Victorians, and with Liz Jones, Melodie Reynolds, Jack Charles, Greg Fryer, Jim Daly, Peter Finlay, Glenn Shea, Tom Long and Syd Brisbane as the cast, Coranderrk was sold out before it opened – but there's a waiting list and fortune favours those who take a chance.

Until now, I didn't know about Coranderrk. In 1863 near Healesville, the Coranderrk station was established as an 'Aboriginal Reserve'  by the surviving members of displaced Kulin clans. Working with a European lay-preacher, John Green, Coranderrk developed into a self-supporting farm community and welcomed members of other displaced clans. By 1877, the land had become valuable to the surrounding farmers and Board for the Protection of Aborigines dismissed Green as manager.

With conditions deteriorating and the threat of being displaced again, the men and women of Coranderrk began a protest that included letter writing, petitions and deputations to see the Chief Minister in Melbourne. As a result, in 1881 a parliamentary inquiry was established.

Like My Name is Rachel Corrie (from the diary and emails of an American student killed at Gaza) and the recent MIAF Aftermath (from interviews with Iraqi refugees), verbatim theatre explores history and events by using the voices of those who were there. Coranderrk is a verbatim reading of the Minutes of Evidence of the inquiry.

Writers Andrea James and Giordano Nanni started with the 140-page document and present the evidence of 19 (of the 69) witnesses. The story is painful and hopeful, but its heart and power is hearing the lost voices of people like William Barack, Robert Wandon, Ann Fraser Bon and John Green. Sometimes our names are all we leaveThe final reading of the names signed on the original petition is one of the most moving moments of theatre this year.

Less than a re-creation and more than a reading, the characterisations confirm where our sympathies should lie. Given the honesty of the recorded words, there may be more strength is letting the audience make their own decisions. People who do things we find abhorrent believe that they are doing the right thing, and I would like to have seen more of the humanity in the choices if every character.

However, nothing can distract from this story and by letting it be told, Coranderrk and its people are taken out of forgotten history documents and become a living part of all our stories.

Get on the waiting list.

This review originally appeared on AussieTheatre.com

Photo by Steven Rhall

Review: Princess Dramas

Princess Dramas
Red Stitch Actors Thearte

11 June 2011

Red Stitch

to 2 July

www.redstitch.net

According to the director's notes, "Plot, character and any other category we might expect from plays that celebrate the uncontested integrity of a subject based on free will, are long gone."  So, if you like plays without plot, character and any other category we might expect from plays, then get to Red Stitch for Princess Dramas.  But don't you dare scoff if others use their free will to disappear at interval because they crave conflict and drama and story.

German writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004 for her "musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society's clichés and their subjugating power." (Thank you Wikipedia.) Her writing is complex and actively tries to disorient the listener with a seemingly unending barrage. I heard some fascinating observations, but it's such a wall of noise.

Peter Mumford's design and Olga Makeeva's costumes add welcome distraction and humour; when isn't a giant stuffed vagina funny? Andre Bastian's direction understands the work like no watcher ever can and actively injects lightness and absurdity to the idea-heavy text.  It's a hoot to see Red Stitch favourites Dion Mills as Snow White and Andrea Swifte as Sleeping Beauty, and guest actor Melodie Reynolds performance as Jacqui O is memorable and as compelling as this work could ever be.

For all its admirable bits, including a thigh slapping funny ending, I have no idea who this show was speaking to. The first question any writer asks is "who is your audience?". The first feedback most writers get is the same. One of the reasons the MTC is full every night is because they know exactly who they are speaking to (I know it isn't me). I felt like this show wanted me to admire its smartness, rather than being something I'm meant to take into my heart and enjoy.

There are libraries full of astonishingly intelligent books that are never read, film festivals are programmed with super-clever films that are never seen, and there must be thousands of unread uber-smart-ass blogs.  Intelligent doesn't mean engaging or moving or interesting.

The third part of Princess Dramas has some jokes about women coming on their own. I hope they were masturbation jokes, but it was hard to tell. Regardless, I'm going with the theme. Masturbation is no doubt one of the great pleasures in life, but no matter how good it feels and how technically proficient the masturbator is, is it interesting to any one else? This is the kind of show that reminds me why some people don't like theatre and why some shows are called wank.

The review originally appeared on AussieThearte.com