SHELLSHOCKED ADELAIDE FRINGE 2025

 

 

Shellshocked  by Philip Stokes

Presented by Holden Street Theatres with Richard Jordan Productions,

412 in association with Harrogate Theatre, LBT & Pleasance The Arch UK • Australian Premiere Feb 18 - March 23 2025

 Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

As the audience enter The Arch at the Holden Street Theatres, a recording of Richard lll’s opening monologue could give a clue to the events about to unfold  in Philip Stokes’s premiere production of his intriguing play Shellshocked. In Shakespeare’s play Richard reflects on his own peacetime inadequacies and his determination to |play the villain.  Director Richard Jordan sets the scene for a play of intrigue, danger and murder. That is if the deliberate choice of Richard lll’s dastardly plot is a clue  to what may unfold.

Lee Bainbridge as Lupine. Jack Stokes as Wesley in Shellshocked

On stage artist Mr. Lupine stands with his back to the audience and is facing a large blank canvas on an easel. A young man enters. He has come to apply for a position as the artist’s apprentice. The ill--fitting suit matches his ill at ease demeanour. He stands awkwardly as Lupine sidles over, edging close to the uncomfortable young man. The tension is palpable, the proximity intimidating, the smirk and sonorous whine unnerving. Lupine teases, cajoling Wesley to respond to his demand for specifics and removal of the shoes. There is a tone of derision cloaked in snide admiration in Lupine’s fawning revelation of Wesley’s bravery award on the battlefield and local hero status. The cat gradually and with sinister motive lures the mouse with flattery and favour into a web of confusion that exposes a darker purpose, Stokes’ writing is gripping as twists and turns spin the young man into a spiralling relationship of resentment, despair and bitter self-esteem. The soldier who served and returned a hero and the artist whose polio prevented him from enlisting to serve the country are both victims of the deadly conflict. Stokes’ play is a testament to damage. Civilian and soldier must endure the damage that war creates. Lupine’s denial of living a purposeful life is his personal tragedy. Wesley’s inescapable experience on the bloody battlefield is his.

Jack Stokes as Wesley and Lee Bainbridge as Lupine  give  outstanding performances. In this psychological thriller that relies on absolute conviction, perfect timing and an innate grasp of the situation, Stokes and Bainbridge give performances that chill and thrill. It is ensemble playing at its best and a theatrical treat for audiences who become totally absorbed in the performances.

This is again an example of the excellent theatre that audiences may come to expect at Holden Street. Stokes has written a tightly constructed thriller that will intrigue from beginning to end.

 

Fit to Print: Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive selected by Mike Bowers

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

Fit to Print: Defining Moments from the Fairfax Photo Archive selected by Mike Bowers

NLA Exhibition Gallery I 27 February - 20 July 2025

The National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra holds more than 18,000 photographs in the Fairfax Archive of glass-plate negatives . Published in newspapers such as The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun and The Sydney Mail between 1890 and 1948, these images trace the art of photojournalism from its infancy.

The NLA invited renowned Australian photojournalist Mike Bowers to select some of his favourite images from the Archive. Using high quality prints made from the original glass-plate negatives, this exhibition explores how the pioneers of press photography in Australia developed their storytelling skills while also creating a lasting record of its society in the opening decades of the twentieth century.

In his curator’s essay, Bowers has written At its very best photojournalism can define a moment, a movement, an era, or even a whole generation. It can bring down a careless politician or elevate them to a winning position. It can lift a weary spirit. And sometimes it can move opinions and change the way we view the world.

Whether they have worked as a photojournalist or have just photographed a particular local event as an interested amateur, each person who has recorded a real life moment with a camera has captured a part of history. Having this opportunity to see around 150 of the Archive’s 18,000 historical moments in print is most special. For those unable to visit the gallery, there is a companion publication that can be purchased online here. It is also possible to explore the Archive online anytime.

Many of the images displayed are more than 100 years old examples of the birth of photojournalism. Five years before the invention of the daguerreotype, The Sydney Herald in April 1834, published a filled-in line drawing - starting the reign of wood-block engravers in Australian newspaper illustration. The halftone reproduction process was not introduced until 1888. Then, in 1892, The Sydney Mail published photographs of the finish of two horse races, highlighting how the need to capture sport’s excitement was driving photographic innovation and technology.

The first Fairfax photographer was George Bell. His 1920 image of shearers at work is in the exhibition and the companion publication. Bell travelled around Australia on horseback with tripods and heavy wooden cameras that used glass plates coated with emulsions.

Sydney Morning Herald photographer George Bell, New South Wales, 1910,
nla.obj-163385448, courtesy National Library of Australia

George Bell, Shearers at work on Boonoke Station, c. 1920,
nla.obj-162963514, courtesy National Library of Australia

Bowers’ essay shares much more about the history of photojournalism, and cameras and film, and about how aviation, war, sports and much more pushed the boundaries of photography.

It wasn’t until emulsions and shutters improved to allow for the ‘freezing’ of faster moving objects that photojournalists were able to begin creating the more familiar form of images that are commonplace now.

Here are just a few of the other wonderful images on display and included in the companion publication.

Mrs G. Gordon and Miss E. Patterson at the Gerringong motor races, New South Wales, 1930,
nla.obj-157983357, courtesy National Library of Australia

Jean Thompson sits in her Type 37A Bugatti between races, 1930,
nla.obj-157983478, courtesy National Library of Australia

Six of Inge Stange’s pupils in performance, New South Wales, year,
nla.obj-162055145, courtesy National Library of Australia

Young girl holding an exceptionally large apple, c. 1930,
nla.obj-163350126, courtesy National Library of Australia

We see stories, enjoy events in the landscape, dancers, famous people, unidentified children, colliery workers, a scout campfire, sports events and attendees, indigenous leaders, bridges, beaches, ballerinas and choirs. Depending on how many years we have been living in Australia, we might recall having seen some of the images before, whilst there are others we have never previously seen. This is Australian life as it was in the years from 1890 to 1948.

There are so many more interesting images of people in the exhibition such as one of a man examining a cello, one of Ginger Meggs’ creator at work and another of a woman beside Meroo Creek at Hardy’s Station, Yass.

The exhibition and essay point to significant times in history – such as the building and then opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Great Depression, how Australia “rode” on the sheep’s back, and the first transmissions of news photos by telegraph. The exhibition, essay and the companion publication now all have taken a significant and important place in Australian history. Bowers and the NLA curators who were involved with this project are to be commended on the very fine outcome.



This review is also available on the author's personal blog here.

COMPLETE WORKS: TABLETOP SHAKESPEARE ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2025

 

Complete Works: Tabletop Shakespeare.

Directed by Tim Etchells Forced Entertainment. The Space  Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival March 8 – 16 2025

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Robin Arthur tells the story of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Complete Works: Tabletop Shakespeare is an inventive way of telling the stories of Shakespeare’s plays in eight days with each play being explained in approximately 45 – 60 minutes. Unable to see all plays, I chose to go to Julius Caesar  being presented in the Adelaide Festival Centre’s intimate Space Theatre. In the centre of the stage was a table and chair. On the table was a simple sign with Julius Caesar scrawled in pencil. At either side of the stage was a set of shelves filled with a range of spirit bottles, medicine pill boxes and an assortment of condiment bottles.

Actor Robin Arthur enters and sits in the chair behind the table Beside him can be seen a variety of bottles that might be found in an everyday kitchen cupboard. These will be used to represent the characters in the play. Arthur begins to tell the story of Julius Caesar. As he does he brings out a bottle or tin or some other oil, spice or condiment to help explain the unfolding tale. In Julius Caesar the soothsayer who utters the warning about the Ides of March is a pill bottle. The leading characters then make an appearance. Caesar is a litre bottle of olive oil, Marc Anthony a tin of baking powder. Brutus is a plastic tube of sauce. Cassius another and so on. The senators in the forum are plastic cups. As Arthur tells the story he moves the objects around the table, describing the action with a gentle narration. It is told with the persuasive tone of a masterful storyteller, drawing his audience in to the plot. His voice delivered in an entirely natural tone captures the scheming intent of Cassius or the confusion of Brutus and the manipulation by Marc Antony at the Forum. The objects play out the scenes, slaying Caesar, fighting at Philippi, arguing amongst themselves, falling on one’s sword. This is all told in a voice that catches every nuance. It is colloquial and accessible as a prelude to tackling Shakespeare’s blank verse and prose.

When I was a child I would pore over Charles Lamb’s Shakespeare for kids, stories of Shakespeare’s plays written simply in a language that any child could understand and sometimes accompanied with pictures to heighten the tension and a sense of excitement in the great Bard’s canon. Forced Entertainment’s Complete Works: Tabletop Shakespeare replaces the image of the written word with Arthur’s skillful and engaging narration. He is a consummate storyteller, who instantly captures his audience’s interest and makes the story of the play accessible and entertaining. The pictures in Lamb’s stories are replaced with kitchen accessories such as bottles, tubes, spice jars and plastic cups to make the story interesting and accessible.

I wondered whether the school students who were in attendance were rapt in the story. It lacked the drama of the assassination, or the power of Antony’s oration, the pathos of Portia’s plea or the gruesome killing of the poet Cinna or the fury on the battlefield. There is irony laced with humour. It is an entertaining introduction to a play that may not instantly appeal to a student. But it is not Shakespeare. Some of Shakespeare’s text could have been incorporated in the storytelling. If Complete works: Tabletop Shakespeare is designed as an introduction to students to then be followed up by seeing a performance of the play with the knowledge of the plot, then the performance is an educational asset that could excite the interest in stories that have lasted for centuries and an appreciation and understanding of the works of William Shakespeare.

CAT POWER SINGS DYLAN THE1966 ROYAL ALBERT HALL CONCERT ADELAIDE FESTIVAL2025

 

Cat Power   Photo by Mario Sorrenti

CAT POWER SINGS DYLAN  The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert

Her Majesty's Theatre  March 10  Adelaide Festival 2025

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

I am instantly set aback. Cat Power the octane charged interpreter of Bob Dylan’s songs enters in a  green suit with white boots and blonde hair. It is not the image one might expect of a performer of Dylan’s classic songs from the 1966 Royal Albert Hall Performance. Nor is it the photo in the Adelaide Festival Program. With a single gesture it was clear who was in command as she beckoned the lights down and stood ready to sing lit by the back lighting that enveloped her in the folk singer’s haze. From the start it was clear that we were about to hear Cat Power’s rendition of Dylan in her powerhouse style.

For almost two hours Power sings the songs for Bob Dylan’s Live Royal Albert Hall concert of 1966 which was actually recorded ten days earlier on May 17 at the Manchester Free Trades Hall. It is only when she launches into one song after another with minimal commentary that it is obvious that the audience is in for a special tribute to Dylan, stamped with her own full throttles vocal rendition. In acknowledgement of the world tour concert, Power’s first half is accompanied by a blues guitarist and a harmonica player. It is rooted in the folk and blues tradition of Dylan’s Minnesota upbringing and the influence of idol Woody Guthrie. Opening the concert with Dylan’s ironic She Belongs To Me and closing with the crowd favourite a mesmerising Mr Tambourine Man Power, backed by the guitar and the melancholic sounds of the harmonica reaches deep into the soul to find her voice soaring with longing and regret (It’s All Over Now Baby Blue) or veiled sarcasm and suppressed anger in Just Like A Woman.

As the resounding applause subsides after Mr. Tambourine Man to close the first half the band enters for the second half. The evocative sounds of the acoustic accompaniment of the first half of folk rock songs gives way to the pumped energy of revolutionary electric rock with opened up piano, drums and percussion and electric guitar. Power opens with an anecdote of her experience with cigarettes and liquor and four debilitating bouts of covid. There is nothing in her voice to suggest any damage. She opens with Tell Me Momma , a plea to help a desperate woman on the edge. The shock of the shift from acoustic to electric is instantaneous as the band lunches into the song and Power gives it open throat velocity. With songs like Baby Let Me Follow You Down, Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat and Ballad of a Thin Man Power stamps her personality and phenomenal voice with her own distinct arrangements. She never veers away from the essence of Dylan’s music and lyrics, but stays true to Dylan’s commentary on relationships and society. Audiences have the rare opportunity to see live an interpreter of Dylan’s genius who reveres the man and his music and has the gift of casting fresh light upon Dylan’s songs

The outrage that accompanied the sudden shift from acoustic to electric in Dylan’s 1966 world tour is passe to a modern audience, which allows Power to revel in the shock of the new. My only reservation was the delivery of the lyrics. Dylan is a poet of his generation and his lyrics continue to resonate with meaning. He is the Shakespeare of his song. His lyrics are rich in irony, ambiguity and antithesis, allowing an insight into our humanity. Unfortunately, many of the lyrics were lost. Perhaps it was my hearing, perhaps the sound mix or perhaps the loss of the lyrics in the sheer forcefulness of Power’s voice. As others had difficulty, I assumed that it was one of the latter two. Whatever the case, I returned to google the lyrics again and found that they were crucial to an understanding and appreciation of Dylan’s poetic genius.They needed to be heard. Power’s unique talent and emotive vocal interpretation pays tribute to a singer/songwriter whose songs changed music forever. Power too, like the 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, has changed the way we appreciate, not only the songs but also Dylan the man. It was Power and Dylan who shared the evening’s standing ovation. 

(Cat Power) Charlyn	Marshall	Lead vocal
Henry	Munson	guitar / backing vox
Jordan	Summers	organ / wurlitzer
Adeline	Jasso	guitar
Matthew	Schuessler	Bass
Christopher	Joyner	Piano
Daniel	Potruch	Drummer

 

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2025

 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Text by John Cameron Mitchell. Music and lyrics by Stephen Trask. Co directors Shane Anthony and Dino Dimitriadis. Musical director Victoria Falconer. Set Design Jeremy Allen. Costume design Nicol and Ford. Lighting design Geoff Cobham. Choreography Amy Campbell. Sound design Jamie Mensforth. Soundscape design Jason Sweeny. Consent and community consultant Bayley Turner. Executive producer Rob Brookman. Associate producer Jeff Burns. Technical director Will Lewis. Producers  Richelle Brookman. Torbin Brookman  Andrew Henry. GWB Entertainment, Andrew Henry and the Adelaide Festival. Queens Theatre. February 18 - March 15 2025

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Sean Miley Moore as Hedwig

Outside the temperature soars to a stifling 35 degrees. Inside the Queens Theatre the hottest show in town sends the mercury through the roof with its production of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s raunchy and wild rock and roll musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The original theatre in Adelaide is ideal for the Adelaide Festival production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Hedwig, played with magnetic dynamism by Seann Miley Moore, is a queer singer, touring second rate venues across America with her companion former East German Drag queen Yitzhak ( a sensitively understated performance by Adam Noviello) and her band The Angry Inch. Like the show, the venues are rough and tawdry, concrete caverns or warehouse shells, neglected clubs, reeking with the odour of failure and rejection. For Hedwig, existing on the outskirts of social conformity, the 1961 construction of the wall, dividing her birthplace between the east and the west became a symbol of oppression and threatening negation of difference and individual sexuality. Hedwig immigrates to America on a quest for freedom and acceptance. In her attempt to discover love Hedwig experiences the cruel heartbreak of an American GI’s abuse and the betrayal of her lover Tommy Gnosis who stole her songs in his own quest for successful stardom. Hedwig is forced to survive, to battle on in a fierce assertion of identity. The raw defiance of Tear Me Down or the hope of escape from her struggles in Sugar Daddy or the botched sex change (The Angry Inch) and the possibility of overcoming the struggles in Wig in a Box all lead Hedwig on her rollercoaster search for the assertion of self.

Adam Noviello as Yitzhak, Seann Miley Moore as Hedwig

The character of Hedwig was created as a star vehicle for originator John Cameron Mitchell. The plot is simple, the themes of identity and place in the world against the forces of political oppression and regression universal in the search for acceptance. Nothing could be more relevant in a world where all attempts at the acceptance of difference are being threatened and suppressed. There is a prophetic ominousness to Cameron Mitchell and Trask’s musical about the tormented Hedwig. The role of Hedwig is crucial to our understanding of the threat to anyone who might be regarded as not conforming to some accepted “norm”. It is particularly pertinent to the current American president’s absurd pronouncement of the proclamation of only two genders. The role of Hedwig becomes a symbol of the struggle for acceptance and empathy. In this production Seann Miley Moore is a powerhouse of persuasion. His performance is ebulliently charismatic. From an explosive celebration of self to a dejected admission of insecurity and powerlessness, Moore charts the trajectory of Hedwig’s life with ricocheting emotion. When she passes on her wig to a transformed Yitzhak it is an act of love and acceptance. She has discovered the truth of being oneself. Moore leads the audience along a path of understanding. Moore’s remarkable range and power gives voice to the heights of passion and the gentle tone of introspection.

Seann Miley Moore in Hedwig and the Angry Inch

It is thirty years since the origin of Hedwig. Under Victoria Falconer’s musical direction, the performance by the band powerfully underscores the characters’ journey. Moore and Noviello, accompanied by Amy Clark as Yitzhak’s cover show that Hedwig and the Angry Inch  continues to have a connection with audiences, who, with arms held high wave from side to side in time with the music and in affirmation of their support for their shared humanity no matter what gender, no matter what difference. Raucous or raunchty, wild or gentle, defiant or compassionate, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is first class entertainment and a salutary lesson in acceptance.

The Angry Inch Musicians. Keyboards Victoria Falconer. Guitars Glenn Moorhouse. Bass Felicity Freeman. Drums Jarrad Pyne.

Photos by Shane Reid

 

 

 

 

CAMILLE O'SULLIVAN LOVELETTER ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2025

 

Loveletter  Camille O’Sullivan with collaborator and musician Feargal Murray

Her Majesty’s Theatre. Adelaide Festival. March 4-5 2025

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 No-one can deny the spellbinding talent of Camille O’Sullivan. With the vocal range and emotional intensity of a cyclone of song, O’ Sullivan is a unique and captivating artist. Her show Loveletter is a tribute to the singers who have inspired her but tragically are no longer with us. She mourns the loss of inspirations like Shane McGowan, frontman of the Pogues (A Rainy Night in Soho)), Kirsty MacColl (Fairytale in New York), the wonderful Sinead O’Connor (My Darling Child), Jacques Brel (In the Port of Amsterdam). David Bowie (Blackstar) and Leonard Cohen (Anthem). Loveletter is penned in the song of the soul. Sentimental, raunchy, fierce and introspective O’Sullivan pays tribute to her idols and makes their memory in song her own. Her rendition of Jacques Brel’s In The Port of Amsterdam is the most dynamic tearing of the heart I have ever heard or seen, a circular saw ripping through steel and shooting the sparks into the firmament. From the raunchy In These Shoes of Kirsty MacColl to the resigned wisdom of Leonard Cohen’s Anthem, O’Sullivan shows that the songs of the dead live on in the hearts and minds of the living.  Their poetry rings with the chime of the human spirit. They are the Muse, O’Sullivan their acolyte. From punk to pop and rock to jazz O’Sullivan sings her Loveletter with expressive force or gentle introspection. Her devotees sing along, a chorus of delight and adulation.

There is wisdom in the saying that less is sometimes more. O’Sullivan, on the stage of Her Majesty’s Theatre was in need of a director and dramaturge. Her singing could fill a stadium. Her banter becomes drawn out, often inaudible and mostly unnecessary. Her self-effacement “I’m falling apart” diminishes the power of her performance in the songs. In the first half of the show O’Sullivan is more controlled. The quips are there, the banter still offered as a touch of standup or at times lie-down comedy, but there is discipline. In the second half of the show, the softly sung songs are interrupted by mutterings and jokes directed at the front row of the stalls.

The result is a show advertised at one hour fifty minutes including a twenty minute interval that ran for almost two and three quarter hours with encores and chat. Devotees applauded enthusiastically, grateful in their adoration.

O’Sullivan and Murray are outstanding interpreters and performers. To see Murray playing a trumpet while playing with one hand on the keyboard is a treat. To be swept away by O’Sullivan’s vocal command and emotive force is acknowledgement enough of an unique talent. This was a Loveletter that was just too long.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

BLAZE 2025

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

BLAZE I Sophia Childs, Sophie Dumaresq, Gabrielle Hall-Lomax, Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan, Brennan O’Brien, Jessika Spencer

Canberra Contemporary I 8 February – 17 April 2025 

This exhibition is an emerging artists’ showcase. Now in its fifteenth iteration, BLAZE presents diverse voices at the beginnings of their art careers. It exhibits bold and thought-provoking artworks in several media. The artists were chosen based on contributions to the vitality of visual art in the ACT region and their exhibitions over the last eighteen months.

Sophia Childs is showing an assortment of delightful works for which she has sewn together irregular shaped pieces of fabric that she has painted on with acrylic. Most of the resultant works are spread out on the walls much as skins removed from a dead person’s or animal’s body might be. But these are not dead animal skins as the works are brightly multi-colourful and most fascinating to explore. Two of them are attached to recycled timber frames standing on cast plaster feet, further adding to their already substantial interest.

Installation view of work by Sophia Childs in BLAZE 2025 at Canberra Contemporary.
Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Sophie Dumaresq, whose works have been seen in a number of Canberra galleries recently is represented here with just one artwork, but it is rather special - a major mixed media performance piece with mechanical components. This anthropomorphic sculptural-performative shark is a major contribution to the artist’s self-appointed role as spokesperson for sympathy towards the Great White Shark. Those who have had an opportunity to watch whilst the artist is animating the shark would, no doubt, have thoroughly enjoyed the performance and, therefore, appreciated the piece and its message even more.

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax is showing eight framed prints, each having been made from scanned medium-format film. As displayed, they are separated into three groups by two piles of archival letters. Several images show us various immediate family members, including the artist herself, in differing and different poses. Roger’s head is obscured, posing a question as to why. Twins had me wondering whether or not the two figures were actually that or were the one person shown twice. Does the answer matter?

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax 'Roger' 2025, medium format film, scanned and printed on archival cotton rag, 60 x 60 cm. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax 'Twins' 2025, medium format film, scanned and printed on archival cotton rag, 60 x 60cm Photo courtesy of the artist

Each of these high-quality images is intriguing. Two of them, respectively titled Eyes and Ring, brought me to a stop as I walked around the space, forcing me to look even more closely and think longer about what they were telling me. The letter piles immediately made me want to rifle through them, closely reading and exploring their contents to discern the relationship to the prints. This is a fine storytelling body of work.

Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan is showing a set of six neon bent glass letter sculptures. They change colour (from warm red to icy argon-mercury blue) and shape as they are viewed from different positions in the gallery. A high voltage light beam dances in the complex forms. This is a further development from her previously exhibited and prize-winning glasswork. 

Brennan O’Brien’s four fastidious paintings explore softness and fluidity. They are works to stand before and enjoy as you absorb their content. His eyes, a blue million miles, painted with acrylic on primed plywood, is particularly surreal, a powerful study to stand before, look closely into, and simply enjoy.

Brennan O'Brien, 'His eyes, a blue million miles' 2024, oil on acrylic primed plywood,160 x 120cm. Photo courtesy of the artist

Wiradjuri woman Jessika Spencer has two works. One is constructed from natural and studio dyed raffia, hair, fishing line and a timber frame; the other from kangaroo bones, raffia and coolamon assemblage. Together they are a wonderful reimagining of country, “a utopia free of the effects of colonisation, capitalism and patriarchy.”

Visitors to this excellent show should read the detailed information about each artist’s works in the room sheet as they move around the gallery exploring and enjoying every exhibited piece.

This review is also available on the author's own blog here.

MY COUSIN FRANK ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2025

 

My Cousin Frank Written and told by Rhoda Roberts AO

 Directed by Kirk Page. Associate director Julian Louis. Lighting design Karl Johnson. AV Design Mic Gruchy and Jahvis Loveday. Sound design Damian Robinson. Producer Libby Lincoln. Production Manager Karl Johnson.Stage Manager Sheridyn Dalton. AV Operator Patrick Bolliger. Rhoda Roberts dressed by Ella Lincoln. A NORPA Production. Generously supported by Sam Harvey. Space Theatre. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival. March 3 – 5 2025.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

In 1964, Francis Roberts, known to all as Honest Frank was the first Aboriginal athlete to compete in an Olympic Games. In telling his story, cousin Rhoda Roberts AO weaves her family’s history through a telling account of the struggles and triumphs of the Bundjalung clan of North East New South Wales. Roberts relaxed and easy charm is instantly engaging and we are drawn into a conversation that is intimate, deeply personal and a lens through which we can learn and understand more about her people and their struggle for the preservation of culture; language and identity through kinship and resilience. It is uplifting in its account of a proud people who value kindness and humility and forthright in its condemnation of the Aboriginal Protection Board and the Lismore City Council that initiated the demolition of Honest Frank’s home on the adjacent aboriginal settlement of Cubawee. 

Rhoda Roberts AO in My Cousin Frank

 Robert’s armchair performance upholds the character and integrity of her people.. There is no overt judgement, no bitterness, no indignation or fury. Injustice speaks for itself. Our first indigenous participant in the Welterweight Division of the Boxing competition in the 1964 Olympics held no Australian citizenship and was given a British passport on which to travel. It is an act of humiliation for a man who was invited to dine with Hirohito. It was a humiliation experienced by the Aborigines who served Australia in wartime but were barred from entering the RSL when they returned. But Roberts’ story is not one of angry condemnation. That is for her audience to decide. Hers is a moving and inspiring celebration of family, of her grandfather who was a bad driver but a leading advocate for his people and a voice alongside Charlie Perkins for the 1967 referendum that finally gave the original inhabitants of the land the fundamental right of citizenship in the occupying nation’’s constitution; her great grandfather Lyle Roberts who established the Bundjalung principles of living and organized the 1938 Day of Mourning; her father who gave up boxing to become a pastor like his grandfather before him and founded the Koori Mail and long before the boxing Robertses who paved the way for cousin Frank, the “shy, good looking boy” and a revered Olympian and 2000 Olympics torchbearer.

The punching bag suspended from the ceiling and the gloves that Roberts holds in silent reverence are striking symbols of the fight for recognition, the fight for citizenship and the fight for dignity. It is the fight that may take them out of poverty. It is the fight that can fill them with pride in themselves and their people. It is the fight that echoes with the words of the Elders “Stand tall. Head high. Higher Up".

In 2011 cousin Frank died. He was awarded a state funeral with his welterweight boxing belt from the ’64 Olympics proudly displayed on his coffin. Neither the” Aboriginal Destructions Board” as it was mockingly called nor the Lismore City Council could deny Francis Roberts’ place in sporting history or his people’s welfare. Honest Frank is an inspiration to his clan and to all who uphold the values of kindness and humility. They are qualities that emanate from Roberts’ heartfelt love of country and all people. After the devastating result of the Voice referendum last year My Cousin Frank offers hope for the future, a future built on trust in the spirit of a Widjabul Wiabal and Githabul man who paved the way with a long line of Roberts’ ancestors.

My Cousin Frank is gentle storytelling without artifice or hyperbole.  It is truly honest in its telling and its spirit of hope. In her personable and easy truth telling Roberts' story helps us to believe that the wrongs of the past can give rise to the healing of the future. It is this belief in the power of the fighting spirit and inspired resilience that Rhoda Roberts’ story of My Cousin Frank is not to be missed if it comes to a theatre near you.