THE DRAWER BOY - Mockingbird Theatre Company - Belco Arts Centre

 

Chris Baldock (Angus) - Callum Doherty (Miles) - Richard Manning (Morgan) in "The Drawer Boy"

Written by Michael Healey – Directed by Zac Bridgeman

Stage Managed by: Rhiley Winnett – Set Design and projections by Chris Baldock.

Lighting design by Rhiley Winnett & Zac Bridgman

Sound design by Rhiley Winnett, Zac Bridgman and Chris Baldock.

Performed by Chris Baldock, Callum Doherty, Richard Manning.

Belco Arts Centre, August 21 – 30^th, 2025.

Performance on August 26^th reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

Since it moved into the Belconnen Arts Centre as the ‘Theatre in Residence’, Mockingbird Theatre Company has established an enviable reputation for the choice of its plays and the excellence of its productions.

Despite the conscientious direction of Zac Bridgman, there are aspects of this production that don’t always reflect this reputation, although the play itself provides a welcome opportunity to experience an early work by Canadian actor and playwright, Michael Healey, which has achieved significant success in Canada, and which offers challenging roles for three actors.

The Draw Boy was inspired by a previous project, in which a group of actors in Ontario, Canada, interviewed farmers and their families to produce a theatrical work.

Richard Manning (Morgan) - Chris Baldock (Angus) in "The Drawer Boy"

Expanding this idea, Healy, focussed his play on just two farmers, Morgan and his brain- damaged friend Angus, whose lives are upturned when an enthusiastic young actor, Miles, visits the pair with the request that he stay with them for a period to learn about life on a farm, as research for a play he is planning.

In the process Miles learns that pair’s long friendship has been maintained by a fiction invented by Morgan and exposed though his persistent enquiries.

Chris Baldock as Angus in "The Drawer Boy"

Playing Angus, suffering confusion and memory loss as a result of a car accident, Chris Baldock gives a masterly, meticulously observed depiction of the plight of someone struggling with a damaged brain that can cope with complex mathematical problems, even count stars, but can’t retain the most recent information or memories.

 

Callum Doherty as Miles in "The Drawer Boy"

Callum Doherty offers an interesting, idiosyncratic performance which portrays the impulsive young actor, Miles, as someone who, after insinuating himself into his hosts lives, sprawls on the kitchen table from which they eat their meals, loiters to listen-in on their private conversations, but erudite enough to sense the secret he would ultimately reveal to upend their lifelong friendship. The impact of Doherty’s portrayal however is lessened by the broadness of his Canadian accent combined with a tendency to speak his lines too quickly, making it often difficult to decipher what he is saying.

Richard Manning as Morgan in "The Drawer Boy"

 

Richard Manning as the taciturn, Morgan, the Drawer Boy who gave up a promising architectural career to care for a farm and the needs of his struggling friend, is totally believable in a performance devoid of actorly flourishes and fascinating in its authenticity, that anchors the production.

Budget restrictions, not so obvious in previous Mockingbird Theatre productions, but particularly noticeable in the detailing of Chris Baldock’s set design, were overcome to some extent by clever design solutions by Bridgman, Baldock and Rhiley Winnett.

The sounds of farm animals and weather, augmented with evocative music selections embedded in the sound design effectively conjured up a farmyard ambience, although the projected farmyard buildings, which undulated whenever the actors moved past them, were distracting.


                                                         Photos by Zac Bridgman



   
        This review also appears in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au

 

THE DRAWER BOY

 

Written by Michael Healey

Directed by Zac Bridgman

A Mockingbird Theatre Company production

Belconnen Arts Centre to 30 August

 

Reviewed by Len Power 26 August 2025

 

The power of storytelling is at the heart of Michael Healey’s 1999 award-winning Canadian play.

About two ageing farmers and the young city actor who comes to stay with them while he does research for a new theatre work, this life-affirming play is surprising and ultimately deeply touching. Ignorant of all aspects of farmwork, the young man struggles to be part of the farmers’ lives. Overhearing a story told by one of the middle-aged farmers, Morgan, to calm the other brain-damaged man, Angus, the young actor, Miles, uses the story in his research material, unwittingly impacting on the fragility of the farmers’ existence together.

All three actors in this production give finely nuanced performances. As the young actor from the city, Callum Doherty impresses with his portrayal of a young man out of his depth but trying hard to fit in. His flamboyance as an actor as well as his awkwardness and eagerness to please are carefully balanced in his thoughtful and emotional performance.

Callum Doherty (Miles)

As the farmer, Morgan, Richard Manning gives a strong, realistic performance as a man of few words who has struggled through years of life on the land. His telling of the calming story at the centre of the play is one of the high points of this production. Manning’s finely tuned performance of it is outstanding.

Richard Manning (Morgan)

Chris Baldock gives a superb performance as the brain-damaged farmer, Angus. He achieves a child-like quality in the grown man that is both appealing and tragic. There is a depth to his performance, both verbally and non-verbally, that shows a true understanding of the conflicting emotions of this man.

Chris Baldock (Angus)

The detailed setting for the play, designed by Chris Baldock, gives a vivid impression of the wide-open space surrounding this farm while the interior décor reflects the practical lives of two bachelors sharing.

Zac Bridgman, the director, keeps the emotional heart of this play at the right level throughout. How the art of storytelling has the power to change lives is at the centre of this emotionally charged play. It’s a rewarding and memorable experience.

 

Photos by Zac Bridgman

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

The Drawer Boy

 

 The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey.  Mockingbird Theatre Company at Belconnen Arts Centre (Belco Arts), Canberra, August 21-30, 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
August 23

CAST: (in order of appearance)
Angus – Chris Baldock; Miles – Callum Doherty; Morgan – Richard Manning

PRODUCTION TEAM:
Director – Zac Bridgman
Stage Manager – Rhiley Winnett
Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Zac Bridgman
Sound Design – Rhiley Winnett, Zac Bridgman and Chris Baldock
Set Design – Chris Baldock
Set Realisation – Chris Baldock, Richard Manning, cast and crew
Projections – Chris Baldock
Projection, Sound & Lighting Operation – Rhiley Winnett
Costumes – Cast
Props – Chris Baldock, Richard Manning, cast and crew


The Drawer Boy – meaning the boy who drew – is the perfect choice for the ironically named Mockingbird Company, for this play is essentially full of irony.  AI says Irony occurs when events or words are the opposite of what is expected, creating a sense of surprise, humor, or deeper meaning in literature, rhetoric, and everyday situations. 

We can trust AI on this occasion, because Mockingbird’s production creates all those things, out of everyday situations, from the opposite of what we expect, through surprise and humour to an ending with a deeper meaning – even with a bit of rhetoric thrown in by an over-enthusiastic university educated budding playwright/actor, Miles, researching what a farmer’s life is really all about.

But the tricky part of performing this script, for the director and the actors, is that the characters at first – and even for the whole first hour-long Act One – are almost cartoonish caricatures.  It reminded me of the nearest Australian material to compare with this Canadian work, Dad and Dave from Snake Gully, from an earlier time in history, (the radio show aired from 1937 to 1953), beginning before the World War II which turns out to be the most important part of The Drawer Boy in Act Two.

Directing and acting all the silences between those often tacitern ironic words or surprising outbursts is how the play works.  Zac Bridgman and all three actors got it all right last night.  That’s much better than just alright!

Since I was born in 1941, the year that Angus and Morgan enlisted in Canada and found themselves in France, though I was close to being hit by a V-bomb in 1944, I was lucky not to be hit by shrapnel like Angus.  

On the other hand, now in my mid-eighties with a typically embarrassing erratic short-term memory and no memory for names of people or places, I appreciated Chris Baldock’s awful, and therefore thoroughly successful performance of the damaged Angus.

Like Angus I found the naivety and rapidity of Miles’ speech a bit hard to take (even though I was guilty in my 20’s of over-the-top drama), which means that Callum Doherty started well and ended even better when his understanding of the old men’s lives reached a genuine level of empathy.  Surely now he is ready to write his play about farmers – just like Michael Healey himself!

And then Richard Manning’s Morgan held the play together – just as Morgan’s loving, respectful and determined caring for his friend, from boyhood, through times of war and hope of marriage together with the tall and the taller English girls, could hold the mentally disabled Angus together.  

I can’t praise 65 year-old Richard too much, since I was his drama teacher in his Year Twelve.

But I can say how much I enjoyed the cows mooing and chooks chuckling, and the clever way Angus’s architectural drawing was reflected in the backdrops.  Their farm became the landscape of practical life and memories, with the right style in the accompanying music, that I am sure Michael Healey would love.

I had, amazingly, never heard of this 1999 play.  But perhaps Canadians have not heard of Dad and Dave from Snake Gully.  I suggest an excellent follow-up read is at https://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=The%20Drawer%20Boy

So let’s not take Mockingbird literally.  Go see The Drawer Boy.

 

 

 

HAYDN'S MIRACLE

 

Mikaela Oberg, flute

Australian Haydn Ensemble

Skye McIntosh, violin

Matthew Greco, violin

Karina Schmitz, viola

Daniel Yeadon, cello

Mikaela Oberg, flute

Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest 21 August

 

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

 

With their playing of a thoughtfully selected program of works by Haydn, Schubert and Purcell, the Australian Haydn Ensemble showed once again that they are one of Australia’s leading period instrument groups.

The quartet of two violins, viola and cello began with Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76 No. 6 in E flat major Fantasia. In four movements, their performance of Haydn’s inventiveness and playfulness impressed throughout. The quiet, dreamlike Adagio second movement, the Fantasia, was beautifully played, allowing your imagination to float along with the music. The finale was wonderfully unpredictable. Just when you thought you knew where it was going, it constantly surprised you.

The second work played was Schubert’s String Quartet Op. 29 in A minor D. 804 Rosamunde. The melodies and emotions in this work were achingly beautiful and superbly played and the edginess under the surface gave the work an extra dimension.

After interval, the quartet began with Purcell’s Fantasia in four parts No. 8 in D minor Z. 739. This calming, reflective work was well played, clearly showing the beauty and atmosphere in Purcell’s music.

The final work of the program was Haydn’s Symphony No.96 in D major Miracle in the arrangement by Johann Salomon. The Miracle refers to a Phantom of the Opera type incident where a chandelier crashed down in the theatre while this symphony was being played, miraculously missing audience members. The chandelier incident is true, but it happened four years after this No. 96 symphony premiered when another of Haydn’s symphonies, No. 102, was being played. Somehow the story stuck to the No. 96 and it has been known as the Miracle symphony ever since.

Flautist, Mikaela Oberg, joined the quartet and, together, they gave a brilliant performance, bringing out all the energy and joy of this charming work. The graceful Andante second movement was particularly well played with the flute soaring above the other instruments and the finale was joyous and exciting.

You could tell from the performers’ expressions that they clearly enjoyed playing these works and they were rewarded with thunderous applause at the end of the concert.

 

Photo by Helen White

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

 

THE DRAWER BOY

 

The Drawer Boy by Michael Healey.

Directed by Zac Bridgman. Stage Manager; Rhiley Winnett. Lighting design: Rhiley Winnett and Zac Bridgman. Sound design: Rhiley Winnett, Zac Bridgman and Chris baldock. Set design: Chris Baldock. Set realization: Chris Baldock, Richard Manning and cast and crew. Projections: Chris Baldock. Projection, Sound and Lighting Opration: Rhiley Winnett. Costumes:  cast, Props Chris Baldock, Richard Manning, cast and crew. Publicity: Chris Baldock. Mockingbird Theatre Company. The Theatre Belconnen Arts Centre. Bookings: www.mockingbirdtheatrics.com

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Scenes from Michael Healey’s play The Drawer Boy keep recurring in my mind. Such is the beauty and the power of Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of the award winning Canadian play. Healey’s play centres on two bachelor farmers, Angus (Chris Baldock) and Morgan (Richard Manning), who run a dairy and chicken farm in a rural county of Canada. One day, young aspiring playwright, Miles (Callum Doherty) arrives with a request to stay with them at the farm so that he can learn about rural life on a farm as research for his play that is about to go into rehearsal.

Chris Baldock (Angus) and Callum Doherty (Miles) in The Drawer Boy

Healey’s ingenious dramatic device of introducing a perfect stranger into the routine life of the two men is the catalyst for a confrontation with past memories, secrets and lies that threaten to tear the farmers’ friendship apart. Miles’s probing of the causes of Angus’s wartime brain injury that has affected his memory threatens to fracture the security of Morgan’s protective account of the circumstances and reveal a very different truth. 

Richard Manning (Morgan) in The Drawer Boy

In the intimate setting of Mockingbird’s studio theatre, Healey’s play, under the sensitive direction of Zac Bridgman, offers a poignant commentary on compassion. Is deception  preferable to the revelation of painful memory? Are the bonds that hold a friendship together more important than the truths that can tear it apart?  Can the cathartic power of awareness heal guilt’s pain?  Is the exposure of a lie the ultimate consequence of a concealed reality? As the plot unfolds and Angus’s memory wanes and waxes in an extraordinary working of the human brain the audience is caught in a Socratic debate on the virtue of honesty. I sat transfixed by a performance that was real, engaging, touching and compelling.

Chris Baldock (Angus) in The Drawer Boy

Director Bridgman’s cast of three give outstanding performances. Baldock offers a masterclass in acting with his riveting portrayal of the simple Angus, bewildered in his confusion, disorientated in his haze of forgetfulness and yet in phenomenal command of numbers and arithmetic. He charts with total confusion an emotional rollercoaster journey from whimpering confusion to animated excitement to insistent rage.  The Drawer Boy is worth the price of a ticket alone just to see Baldock’s performance of Healey’s character.

Callum Doherty (Miles) in The Drawer Boy

As Angus’s lifelong mate and protector with a painful secret, Manning is the ideal foil, straight, stoic and down to earth. He bears the weight of responsibility with the gravitas of a caring and concerned mate and Manning’s natural performance is thoroughly convincing.

Miles is Healey’s influencer. It is he who disrupts the ordered state of affairs and unwittingly sets in motion the ensuing turmoil of events and revelations. As Miles, Doherty  exudes enthusiastic naivety and perplexed gullibility with all the impulse of erratic youthfulness. At times his speedy delivery of dialogue though true to character lost the words in impetuous eagerness.

Richard Manning and Chris Baldock in The Drawer Boy

In spite of limited resources, Mockingbird’s production team has created an excellent set, lighting and costume design and creation. The use of projection for farmyard setting, the sounds of cows mooing and hens clucking and such soundtracks of country and western and an arrangement of The House of the Rising Sun lend the production authenticity and atmosphere. All in all Mockingbird Theatre Company’s production of The Drawer Boy is not to be missed and will remain with you in your memory and your heart long after you have left the theatre.

  

TAKACS QUARTET with ANGIE MILLIKEN - Llewellyn Hall, Canberra.

 

Angie Milliken and the Takacs Quartet

Presented by Musica Viva Australia -Artistic Director: Paul Kildea

Concert on 16^th August 2025 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

In his program notes, Musica Viva Australia's Artistic Director, Paul Kildea, explains how he hit upon the idea of commissioning Brisbane born composer, Cathy Milliken to work with the Takacs Quartet to create a work inspired by the Bertolt Brecht poem Sonnet of an Emigrant to celebrate Musica Viva’s 80^th year. The idea resonated with him because so many of the artists presented by Musica Viva since its establishment have experienced displacement.

For Cathy Milliken, a distinguished composer as well as a Brecht scholar, based in Berlin and living in an apartment overlooking the Berliner Ensemble Theatre established by Brecht and his wife, Helen Weigel, the commission provided the opportunity, not only to work with the Takacs Quartet, but also to compose a work to showcase the talents of her sister, actress, Angie Milliken.  

The subject of displacement was also a familiar one to each of the members of The Takacs Quartet, itself celebrating its 50^th year of performances.  

THE TAKACS QUARTET
Edward Dusinberre - Harumi Rhodes - Andras Fejer - Richard O'Neill

The Takacs Quartet consists of Edward Dusinberre and Harumi Rhodes (violins),   Richard O’Neill (viola), and Andras Fejer (cello), and although only cellist Fejer is an original member, the four play with such dazzling synchronicity and attention to detail that the opportunity to hear them premiere an original contemporary work by an Australian composer provided an unforgettable celebration of  Musica Viva’s Eightieth year.

This fact was highlighted by Cathy Milliken when she introduced her work emphasising that it was also 80 years since the first Jewish immigrants came to Australia, and that the eight Brecht poems she had chosen for her composition expressed their sense of displacement on leaving their country and finding a new home.

In stark contrast to the joyful Haydn String Quartet that preceded it, Milliken’s Sonnet of an Emigrant contrasted harsh, unsettling scraping sounds against the quiet beauty of Angie Milliken’s perfectly placed speaking voice as she spoke Brecht’s poems, mostly in English, but also in German, intricately embedded in discordance and unusual percussive sounds.

If occasionally the strings overwhelmed the words, this was hardly surprising in a live performance of a work that demanded extraordinary synchronisation from the narrator and the instrumentalists. Indeed, it added to the emotional intensity inherent in the composition and left the audience in no doubt that it had been present at the unveiling of a major new work.

Book-ending the feature work, were exhilarating renditions of two more familiar compositions which allowed the quartet full rein to demonstrate why it is considered one of the world’s great string quartets.

THE TAKACS QUARTET
Edward Dusinberre (Violin) - Richard O'Neill (Viola) - Harumi Rhodes (Violin) - Andras Fejer (cello)

For the Hayden String Quartet in G Minor which opened the program, the four musicians immediately established that they were so on top of the technicalities of the piece, that their attention would be focused on exploring the nuances.

The confident interplay between the four as they each achieved special moments is one of the pleasures of experiencing them live. Violinist, Edward Dusinberre leads with a dignified charm and an air of calm control, while cellist Andreas Fejer, the senior member of the quartet, smiles to himself whenever he, or a colleague, produces a particularly beautiful note or phrase.

Violinist, Harumi Rhodes and violist Richard O’Neill were even more animated. Both perch on the edges of their chairs. To signal the others they lean forward intently, make constant eye contact, and smile approval.

O’Neil goes even further, often jumping into the air during a particularly exciting passage, or gazing intently at the audience when deep in concentration.

All of this was particularly evident in the bravura rendition of the Beethoven String Quartet in C major (Razumovsky) which ended the program, during which the four musicians took the composer at his word with his Allegro molto instruction for the final movement, threw caution to the wind, clearly delighting each other, and their adoring audience, with a virtuosic, breakneck-speed race to the end.

No way they were going to get away after that, so the quartet generously calmed their over-excited audience with a drop-dead gorgeous rendition of the second movement from Ravel’s String Quartet.

Those who stayed for the relaxed and informative “Meet the Artists” talk learned that the ABC will be recording Milliken’s Sonnet for an Emigrant for later release.

                                                      Photos by Cameron Jamieson

      This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au

 

Obituary - David Stratton

David Stratton was a major figure in the Australian film industry. Photo courtesy news.com.au

By Tony Magee

Australian film critic David Stratton, who died August 14 aged 85, will be fondly remembered starring alongside Margaret Pomeranz on The Movie Show on SBS and At the Movies on the ABC.

Tributes have flowed including from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said “With dry humour and sharp insight David Stratton shared his love of film with our country.

“All of us who tuned into At The Movies respected him for his deep knowledge and for the gentle and generous way he passed it on”.

Director George Miller said “His immense contribution included screening films at the Sydney Film Festival from Asia, Europe, the Eastern Bloc, India and Japan, influencing the directors who were breaking through in the 1970s.

“If Stratton had not screened the first short film that I made with producer Byron Kennedy in 1971 - Violence in the Cinema, Part 1 - it would not have been distributed by Greater Union and we would not have made Mad Max. That was directly attributable to David standing up for the film”.

A spokesperson for his family said, “David’s passion for film, commitment to Australian cinema and generous spirit touched countless lives.

“He was adored as a husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather and admired friend. David’s family would like to express their heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support from friends, colleagues and the public recently and across his lifetime.”

Stratton also chronicled the history of Australian film in his books The Last New Wave, The Avocado Plantation and, in 2024, Australia at the Movies. His memoir I Peed on Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film, was published by Penguin Books in 2008.

A “ten-pound Pom”, Stratton was born in Wiltshire in the UK in 1939, and moved to Australia in 1963 under the Assisted Passage Migration Scheme introduced by the Chifley government in 1945.

In 1965, he took over as director of the Sydney Film Festival, a position he would hold for the next 18 years. He championed foreign-language films, rallying against the censorship that was rife at the time.

A spokesperson for the festival said “We would not exist without David’s remarkable passion and devotion.

“We praise his successful fight against censorship of films in Australia, the establishment of the Travelling Film Festival, support for emerging filmmakers from Australia and around the world, and fostering of a brave and adventurous cinema culture in Australian audiences”.

He later gained greater fame for reviewing films on SBS and the ABC with Margaret Pomeranz, the two becoming one of Australian television’s most famous duos.

Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton were co-hosts for 28 years — first of “The Movie Show” on SBS
and then “At the Movies” on ABC. (Photo supplied / ABC TV)

“When we met I was a cinema enthusiast, not a walking encyclopedia of film like David.” said Pomeranz. 

“When he first came into SBS and I tried to talk to him, he brushed me off unceremoniously. I imagine a few people have had that experience with him but over the years he became much more welcoming of people approaching him – especially young film enthusiasts, many of whom he mentored and promoted. He was unstintingly generous in that way.

“So I became the producer of his movie introductions, to Movie of the Week and his beloved Cinema Classics. I had to create new lead-ins to these, and David and I decided to use Nino Rota’s music. I had such fun with the introduction to the Classics, with images of Polanski’s Knife in the Water, Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and from Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin. Of course David had to approve everything, and we formed a good working relationship.

“Our first film discussion, or vague disagreement, was about the Australian film The Empty Beach, directed by Chris Thomson, based on a novel by Peter Corris. I was dismissive but, as I listened to David’s support for the film, I realised that my reaction had been too facile. It was the beginning of Strats’ education of my film appreciation.

“It’s extraordinary that, over all the time we worked together, we never had a falling out.”

David Stratton experienced significant vision loss in his later years due to giant cell arteritis. The condition caused him to lose sight in one eye and severely limited his vision in the other. This impacted his ability to review films, leading him to retire from reviewing in 2023, though he continued to be involved in other film-related activities. 

Singin’ in the Rain starring Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor was his all time favourite film.

“It’s probably the best of the MGM musicals in an era when the musical film was one of the most innovative forms of cinema,” he told digital editor Craig Platt. “It’s funny, it’s clever. The songs and dances are great, and it also has a fascinating story.”