The Play: The Black Woman of Gippsland by Andrea James
The Company: The Melbourne Theatre Company
The Theatre: The Southbank Theatre
Until 31 May
Stars: 5
I walked into The Black Woman of Gippsland completely blind and walked out astonished.
Wow.
Standing ovation, wow. Thoughts provoked and senses heightened. For a seventy-five minute play it packs a lot of punch. But can I tell you in a cohesive way what it's about? Yes. No. Not really.
It was seventy-five minutes of captivating theatre.
There are three stories interwoven in this play, with are all inter-related, stories based on playright Andrea James' own family stories and country.
The first is set in the 1840's where a white woman allegedly washed up on a beach in Gippsland and was taken in by the local mobs.
The second is a modern-day drama. Jacinta (Chenoa Deemal) is attempting to complete a dissertation for her PhD. She's living in a caravan at the back of her Auntie Rochelle's place (Ursula Yovich) She has a youthfully exuberant cousin, Kyle (Zach Blampied) to contend with. After some big word, Jacinta goes 'missing', taking herself off to a hotel to get some space and look objectively at the supporting evidence for her paper. The family are on tenterhooks since the death of Jacinta's mother.
Which leads to the third string of the play, which is Auntie Rochelle's interactions with the police as she tried to put in a missing person's report for Jacinta. Jacinta's mother died in Police custody. No more needs to be said.
What gives this play extra clout is that it's based on real events and set on Andrea’s grandmother’s country. This is hard, horrible and heart-breaking history.
Weaving the stories together is story told in dance. Brent Watkins dancing and choreography is incredible. Startling and moving, it helps to weave the threads of the story together.
Andrea James both wrote and directed the play. I'm sure she'd going to be up for a Green Room Award. This is stunning stuff.
I've been very light on with this review in the hope that people will search out this performance and see it for themselves. The Black Woman of Gippsland is a poetic, emotionally rich and clever embracing of First Nations stories that have long been silenced.
No comments:
Post a Comment