A South Coast Selection

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

A South Coast Selection | Heide Smith

Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre (BAS), Moruya | 28 June - 26 July 2025

Heide Smith (then Soltsien) trained, then worked, as a photographer in her native Germany. After meeting and marrying Brian Smith, a British Army officer stationed in Germany, she continued working as a photographer – initially in Britain and Europe then, following migration, in Australia. She worked in Canberra from 1978 to 1998, then on the NSW South Coast. This photo artist’s own website quotes her as saying she believes that “Once a photographer, always a CAMERA WOMAN.”

I’m not sure when I first met this renowned photographer, but I still have my jotted notes of her helpful comments whilst judging the entries (including mine) at a Canberra Photographic Society competition in July 1986. “If the lighting is very contrasty, slightly overexpose then underdevelop with good agitation” and “For portraits, light up the shorter side of the face.” Of course, to follow her first piece of advice in those words, we need to be shooting film and processing it in a darkroom.

From 1984 to 1996, Smith was the official photographer for the National Press Club in Canberra. Working from an office in the Club’s building during four of those years, I attended various events and observed her photographing their high-profile speakers, including politicians, ambassadors, artists and actors. People such as writer and journalist Phillip Adams, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Hans Blix, US President George Bush Senior, philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky, actor Audrey Hepburn, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Smith is best known for her meaningful portraits and documentary-style photography, capturing the authentic essence of people and places. Her most iconic works include a culturally significant series documenting the Tiwi people of Northern Australia, and extraordinary images of Cambodia as a country in transition. And an extensive visual chronicle of Canberra, including her 1991 portraits of Canberra Raiders as a fundraising venture for the then financially struggling Rugby League club.

Throughout her career, this artist has published eleven books, held numerous exhibitions, and received prestigious accolades, including an Honorary Fellowship and a Fellowship from the Australian Institute of Professional Photography. Many Canberrans, myself included, purchased copies of her five books about Canberra. The final one A Portrait of Canberra and Canberrans 1979-2012 was published to celebrate Canberra’s Centenary, is one of only two of her books still available for sale in her bookshop. The other available for purchase is Portrait of a People – the Tiwi of Northern Australia.

Screenshot taken from https://heidesmith.com/canberra-collection/

Her new exhibition, A South Coast Selection, showing at the Basil Sellers Exhibition Centre in Moruya, highlights Smith’s deep relationship with the south coast of New South Wales (Australia) where she has lived since the late 1990s. Her images allow visitors to absorb the area's unspoiled beauty, uniqueness, and sense of community. Every one of them displays her characteristically warm and clear style, whether it be a personal portrait or an expressive landscape.

It is more than a showcase of images - it’s a celebration of place, people, and the timeless ability of photography to tell stories of importance. Stories of the coastline itself, but also of the ranges and forests which provide its backdrop. Places such as the much-loved Gulaga, sacred mountain for the Yuin people, being severely damaged by bushfire. Tranquil afternoon reflections amongst forest and mangroves at Hobbs Point. Fabulous pelicans on Coila Beach. A stunningly red sunset on Lake Wapengo. And glorious mist amongst the forest at Belimbla. Then there are stories of some most interesting people such as the late architect and photographer Bruce Loder, and Guboo Ted Thomas - land rights activist and a tribal Elder of the Yuin nation who grew up on the Wallaga Lake Reserve near Narooma.

Gulaga Burning, 2009 © Heide Smith

 

Belimbla, 2004 © Heide Smith

Lift Off at Tuross Coila Beach, 2018 © Heide Smith

Wapengo Red, 1986 © Heide Smith

Bruce Loder, 2004 © Heide Smith

Ted Guboo Thomas, 1986 © Heide Smith

There are 43 framed prints on display, all printed by Smith, plus a 27 minutes video introduction to the new book launched at the opening of the exhibition. FotoHeide A Photographer’s Tale, by husband Brian, is the story of Smith’s remarkable career. It will be the subject of a separate review.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. A shorter version has been published on the Canberra City News website here.

Pianist Krupinski dazzles audience in superb concert

By Tony Magee

Polish pianist Lucas Krupinski masterfully delivered a superb program of Chopin, Scriabin and Brahms at the Wesley Music Centre. Showcasing a dazzling technique, the pianist also played the entire program from memory.

The packed house included His Excellency Michel Goffin, Ambassador of Belgium.

Opening with the Polonaise in C-sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1 by Chopin, the young Krupinski commenced with a grandiose flourish of chords which melded into beautiful melodic phrases of rubato, played with great feeling and passion with superb tone production.

The piece then featured a thick chordal structure played in double forte, contrasted with softer melodic passages. Left hand melody was brought out beautifully later in the piece.

Lucas Krupinski has been a featured soloist all around the world including Carnegie Hall New York, the Royal Albert Hall London and Wigmore Hall London, as well as numerous European venues including his native Poland.

He is the winner of many major piano competitions including all prizes at the 7^th San Marino International Piano Competition, the Chopin Geselschaft in Hannover, Aachen, Goerlitz, and the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe.

His debut album Espressione was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards in 2018, alongside albums by Kristian Zimmerman and Evgeny Kissen.

He has been honoured with a commemorative medal from the Frederick Chopin University of Music in recognition of his artistic achievements.

Since 2023 he has been a member of the Penderecki Trio.

Continuing with the Nocturne in F Major, Op. 15 No. 1 by Chopin, Krupinski delivered beautiful, sensitive and lyrical phrasing in the opening passages. The middle section was of almost Lisztian proportions including dramatic cascading bass runs, played by Krupinski in the bravura style. This was exciting and expressive playing, full of flair, spirit and panache  before dwindling into a delicate pianissimo finale.

Chopin’s Scherzo in B-flat minor, Op. 31 followed. This is a more substantial work with a bold entry followed by glittering, cascading treble runs. Krupinski handled all this superbly. Later in the work he savoured the opportunity to enrapture the audience with beautiful, thoughtful and reflective playing.

Scriabin composed his Fantasie in B minor, Op. 28 in 1900. Astonishingly, Scriabin had no recollection of even composing the piece when he heard it performed at a musical soirée the following year.

A dramatic and complex work, Krupinski delivered it with authority and command, beginning with a somewhat ambiguous, open harmony with a descending bassline and a melody which alternately moved upwards and then plunged dramatically down in jagged gestures.

This brooding opening gave way to one of Scriabin's most beautiful melodies with Krupibski capturing the cantabile style of writing beautifully.

After a short break, Krupinski returned to the stage to play the massive 35 minute Piano Sonata in F minor by Brahms.

Composed in 1853, when the composer was just over 20 years old, the work is dedicated to Countess Ida von Hohenthal of Leipzig.

In five sections covering the full range of dynamics and the full keyboard, the opening motifs were bold, followed by majestic high octave cadence points.

The second movement was gentle and reflective, with Krupinski bringing forth lyrical and cantabile phrases.

The opening section of the bouncy third movement was played with flair and conviction. In triple time, the piece is later contrasted with phrases of an almost comic and cheeky nature.

Krupinski captured the gentle question and answer motifs which characterise the opening of the fourth movement, before revealing the fifth and final movement in rondo form in the home key of F minor. The pianist explored the many musical ideas that become intertwined in this virtuosic and triumphant section, once again showcasing his penchant for bravura playing, something he does so well.

Deafening and sustained applause followed, the audience enticing Krupinski back for an encore, Chopin’s Waltz in C sharp minor.

Throughout the concert, the audience was treated to seventy minutes of world class playing from this wonderfully talented pianist. It is a credit to the Wesley Music Centre that they are able to engage artists of this calibre.

THESE PRECIOUS HOURS

Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas Reimagined

Canberra Qwire

Ellery String Quartet

Llewellyn Hall, June 28

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

In an unexpected and bold move, the proudly LGBTIQA+ Canberra Qwire joined forces with the Ellery String Quartet and soloists to present Henry Purcell’s 17^th century opera re-imagined in concert.

Inspired by certain lines in the text, the Qwire recast Dido as a male-identifying role, evoking Queer narrative exploration of the love of Dido, now King of Carthage, for Aeneas, Prince of Troy, with the Sorcerer plotting the destruction of Carthage and its king. The reimagination also placed the Sorcerer and his followers as metaphorical symbols of intolerance of the LGBTIQA+ community.

Oscar Balle-Bowness (Dido), Andrew Barrow (Aeneas) and Rachel Mink (Belinda)

Dido was sung by Oscar Balle-Bowness, Aeneas by Andrew Barrow, Belinda by Rachel Mink and the Sorcerer by Alasdair Stretch. The Qwire fulfilled the role of the chorus, providing additional characters and narrative throughout the opera. The music was played very well by the Ellery String Quartet with Hugo Temby, continuo, Lizzy Collier, double bass and Jack Holmes, percussion. The musical director was Callum Tolhurst-Close.

Callum Tolhurst-Close (Musical Director)

The simple story of the opera played very well in its reimagining. The confident and appealing vocal performances of all the soloists gave the story a passionate and touching conviction. The famous Dido’s Lament in the third act was given a moving performance by Oscar Balle-Bowness.

The highlight of the evening, though, was the powerful and disciplined performance of the choir. Entries were sharp and the parts were clearly and warmly sung. This was a big sing for the choir and their performance was admirable throughout.

Canberra Qwire, Soloists and Callum Tolhurst-Close (Musical Director)

As they took their bows at the end of the opera, the company was given ecstatic and much-deserved applause by the large audience.

The opera ran for only an hour and, after an interval, the Qwire returned with a set of six songs including Earth Song by Frank Ticheli, Seasons of Love by Jonathan Larsen and And So It Goes by Billy Joel. Members of the Qwire introduced the songs, explaining why each song had special meaning for them.

The presentation of these modern songs was a change of pace from the opera, but the Qwire gave them the same highly polished standard of performance.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 21 June 2025.

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/.

 

  

METEOR SHOWER

Written by Steve Martin

Directed by Chris Baldock

Mockingbird Theatrics

Belconnen Arts Centre to July 5

 

Reviewed by Len Power 26 June 2025

 

How do meteors, homosexuality, the subconscious and eggplants come together with profound meaning in Steve Martin’s absurdist comedy?

While a meteor shower rages overhead, Corky and Norm host a dinner party for another couple, Gerald and Laura, at their home in the valley outside Los Angeles. The evening starts normally enough, but soon there is a suspicion that Gerald and Laura are not what they appear to be. Aggressively sexual and argumentative, their behaviour triggers an evening of increasing insanity.

On a stylish but normal household setting, director, Chris Baldock and his cast of four unleash a frenzied experience that confounds and intrigues while it entertains. Steve Martin’s incisive sense of humour takes the niceties of human social behaviour and turns them upside down in this very funny play.

Jess Beange as Corky and Sachin Nayak as Norm are the unsuspecting couple hosting the dinner party. Playing a normal, unexceptional couple at the beginning, they are put through an extraordinary emotional and behavioural experience in which the speed of their dialogue delivery and comic timing is very impressive.

Sachin Nayak (Norm) and Jess Beange (Corky)

As the strange couple invited to the dinner party, Maxine Eayr as Laura and Anto Hermida as Gerald play their colourful and intimidating characters with confidence, energy and skill, utilizing their body language particularly well.

Maxine Eayr (Laura) and Anto Hermida (Gerald)

Presented cinematically in short scenes where time and reality collide, there are echoes of Alan Resnais’ film, Last Year At Marienbad, Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel and even Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

Meteor Shower takes you on a wild and hilarious rollercoaster ride through human emotions and behaviours with one of the cleverest endings you’re ever likely to see!

 

Photos by Chris Baldock

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 27 June 2025.

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 Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh. Directed by Cate Clelland. Free Rain. ACT Hub June 25-July 5. Reviewed by Alanna Maclean.

From left, Maureen (Janie Lawson) and Mag (Alice Ferguson). Photo: Janelle McMenamin

The Beauty Queen of Leenane is a funny, dark and deeply human play.

Maureen (Janie Lawson) is in her forties, unmarried and caring for her aged mother Mag (Alice Ferguson). The beauties of the Irish countryside do not compensate, although they are visible out the kitchen window. When Pato (Bruce Hardie) comes gently courting it’s the old call of escape  via migration to America rather than to England or the siren song of Australian soaps coming from the TV set. But events will turn more on the unthinking actions of his nephew Ray (Robbie Haltiner) and the terrible tensions between mother and daughter.

Director and designer Cate Clelland’s set only contains two dankly green walls of a house but they hold the window out onto the countryside and the front door which might mean escape or imprisonment. 

There are impressive performances all round. Lawson is a brooding Maureen, longing for what Pato can offer her but ugly in word and deed when she is thwarted. Ferguson’s Mag is a study in the machinations of the declining ageing invalid whose life is running along different tracks to her daughter’s. Her unthinking actions have dark repercussions. The relationship between mother and daughter is ultimately a brutal one.

Haltiner as Ray is too focussed on his own shallow world of old feuds and an inability to carry instructions in his memory to see potential  consequences. The character brings humour to the script but increasingly he’s an awful unknowing harbinger of doom. 

Hardie’s Pato brings in a breath of hope with a sensitive reading aloud of his letter to Maureen which offers her a real future. 

There’s much ‘If only…’ in the feelings awoken by this piece. Only the unthinking Ray seems to escape. 

A freezing cold night  at the ACT Hub but a focussed production and an absorbed audience kept the theatre warm. 

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE - Free Rain Theatre - ACT Hub.

Janie Lawson (Maureen Foley) - Alice Ferguson (Mag Foley) in "The Beauty Queen of Leenane"

 

Written by Martin McDonagh – Designed and Directed by Cate Clelland

Lighting Design by Craig Muller – Sound Design by Neville Pye

Presented by Free Rain Theatre:  25^th June – 5^th July 2025.

Opening Night performance reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Bruce Hardie (Pato Dooley) - Janie Lawson (Maureen Foley) in "The Beauty Queen of Leenane"

Written in 1996 as the first of a trilogy of plays by Irish playwright, Martin McDonagh, set in County Galway, The Beauty Queen of Leenane is set in a small village on the west coast of Ireland. The play enjoyed critical acclaim on London’s West End where it was nominated for “Best New Play” in the 1997 Olivier Awards, and on Broadway where it was nominated for six Tony Awards and took home four.

The play follows a series of events arising out of the toxic relationship between 70-year-old Mag Foley (Alice Ferguson), and her 40-year-old spinster daughter, Maureen, (Janie Lawson), who feels trapped by having to care for her elderly mother in the remote Irish village.

The pair spend their time making each other’s lives as miserable as they can. Maureen desperately seeks release from her perceived entrapment, even resorting to torturing her mother on occasion, to which Mag responds by tantalising Maureen at every opportunity and blocking any hope of escape.

Robbie Haltiner (Ray Dooley) - Alice Ferguson (Mag Foley) in "The Beauty Queen of Leenane"

When a young neighbour, Ray Dooley, (Robbie Haltiner) calls on Mag in Maureen’s absence to invite both women to a farewell party for his visiting American uncle Pato Dooley (Bruce Hardie). The seeds for tragedy are sown when Ray, impatient about Maureen’s absence, but unsure of Mag’s ability to remember the details of the invitation, decides to write them on a note and leaves it in Mag’s care to pass on to Maureen on her return.  But as soon as Ray leaves, Mag burns the note.  

However, on his way out Ray meets the returning Maureen and informs her of the party.

Maureen questions Mag about the invitation, but she denies all knowledge of it.

 Infuriated, Maureen decides to attend the party without Mag, whereupon she strikes up an acquaintance with Pato, brings him home, and they spend the night together.

This is not the end of the play of course, because Maureen’s decision to attend the party leads to a series of miscommunications that have tragic consequences for all concerned.

McDonagh has crafted four compelling characters, brought to life with commendable skill by this meticulously chosen cast. Although Maureen's treatment of her mother may not be commendable, Janie Lawson's responses to Mag's relentless mischievous nit-picking, her misinterpretation of Pato’s concern for her comfort, and her poignant realisation that her opportunity to change her circumstances has slipped away, are portrayed with impressive emotional insight.

Alice Ferguson's portrayal of Maureen's mother, Mag, is also skilfully executed, earning audience empathy while maintaining their support.

Bruce Hardie (Pato Dooley) - Janie Lawson (Maureen Foley) - Alice Ferguson (Mag Foley)

Bruce Hardie delivers an excellent performance as Pato, Maureen’s last hope for escape, while Robbie Haltiner brings dark humour as the insensitive Ray Dooley.

Cate Clelland's setting accurately depicts the atmosphere of the Irish cottage where the Foleys live, with the actors surrounded by well-chosen properties that reflect their situation. Her direction is also precise and well considered.

However, the choice to have Pato read his pivotal letter to Maureen in the kitchen of the Foley cottage raises questions. Additionally, the transitions between scenes were unimaginative and frequently disrupted the carefully crafted act climaxes, causing the audience to become disengaged while they observed dimly lit figures rearranging props on the set.

It was especially disheartening toward the conclusion of the play when the actor portraying the murdered corpse stood up and exited the stage in clear view of the audience, distracting from what should have been an impactful denouement and resulting in an untidy sequence of bows.

Hopefully these blemishes will be attended to before the season progresses much further, to allow future audiences to enjoy this otherwise excellent production without distraction.

  

                                                 Photos by Janelle McMenamin

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

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

 

Written by Martin McDonagh

Directed by Cate Clelland

Free Rain Theatre production

ACT HUB Theatre to 5 July

 

Reviewed by Len Power 25 June 2025

 

Probably more recently known for his screenplays of the films, “The Banshees of Inisheren”, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “In Bruges”, Martin McDonagh got his start with the play, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” in 1996.

Set in Galway, Ireland, the play focuses on two women – plain, middle-aged Maureen and her ageing, manipulative mother, Mag. Living an isolated existence, Maureen finds a chance for someone to love her, but her mother does everything she can to sabotage the relationship.

This often funny play explores the dark side of human nature. Loneliness, family conflict and a sense of hopelessness lead to violence with devastating results.

McDonagh’s play gives the performers four colourful and richly detailed characters to play. The Irish accents used by all four actors are very convincing.

Janie Lawson (Maureen) and Alice Ferguson (Mag)

As the grasping, whining mother, Mag, Alice Ferguson plays her character’s fear of loneliness, her quiet and cunning malevolence as well as her calculated undermining of her daughter’s chance for happiness with a level of reality that is confronting as well as truthful.

Janie Lawson is superb as the daughter, Maureen. The tediousness of her day-to-day existence caring for an irritating, elderly mother is skilfully portrayed. While reaching out for a chance to love someone, her desperate longing is so well-played, the pain she feels is quite touching.

Bruce Hardie (Pato), Alice Ferguson (Mag) and Janie Lawson (Maureen)

Pato Dooley is the man Maureen falls in love with. Played with a masculine warmth and confidence by Bruce Hardie, his performance is particularly notable in a scene where he reads out a letter he is sending to Maureen.

As the brother of Pato, Robbie Haltiner gives a colourful and very real performance as Ray Dooley, a man who seems accepting of his limited world.

Cate Clelland directs the play with assurance, guiding her actors with skill on an atmospheric and detailed set designed by her and realized by Ron Abrahams.

There is violence in this story that is quite disturbing, but the performances of the actors make this a memorable experience from start to finish.

 

Photos by Olivia Wenholz

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/.

 

 

CARMEN - The Australian Ballet

Callum Linnane (Don Jose) - Jill Ogai (Carmen) in Johan Inger's "Carmen"

Choreographed by Johan Inger – Conducted by Jessica Gethin.

Décor designed by Curt Allen Wilmer and Leticia Ganan

Costume Design by David Delfin - Lighting Design by Tom Visser

The Australian Ballet - Canberra Theatre Centre 20th – 25^th June, 2025

Opening night performance on 20^th June 2025 reviewed by Bill Stephens

Jill Ogai (Carmen) Callum Linnane (Don Jose) in Johan Inger's "Carmen"

 After an absence of eight years the Australian Ballet is back in town with a stunningly danced production of the ballet Carmen.

The Australian Ballet was the very first company to perform on the brand-new Canberra Theatre stage when on the 25^th June 1965, it presented a program consisting of Robert Helpman’s The Display, Rex Reid’s Melbourne Cup and Act 11 of Peggy Van Praagh’s  Swan Lake to open the theatre. All these ballets were danced in pointe shoes.

Sixty years later, almost to the day, The Australian Ballet has returned to the Canberra Theatre to celebrate this milestone with a contemporary version of Carmen choreographed by Johan Inger, which could hardly be more different to the one presented on this stage by the company in 1973 choreographed by Roland Petit and also danced in point shoes.

For his version Inger subverts the classical ballet technique with movement that is gritty, aggressively modern, startingly erotic, and danced in soft shoes. To focus on the psychological aspects of the relationship between Carmen and Don Jose he employs a choreographic repertoire that is difficult to describe being at times athletic, angular, buoyant, physically demanding, sometimes beautiful, at others brutal, but always exhilarating and superbly danced by the whole company with careful attention to phrasing and detail.

Inger has set his version to a captivating arrangement of the music composed at various times for this ballet by Georges Bizet, Rodion Shchedrin and Marc Alvarez and orchestrated by Alvaro Dominguez who incorporates unexpected instrumentations and time signatures to support Inger’s dynamic choreography.  

On opening night, it was thrillingly interpreted by the Canberra Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jessica Gethin following an introduction by the company’s Artistic Director, David Hallberg, making his first visit to the National Capital.

But Inger’s choreography is not the only aspect of this production which departs from the norm. For his costumes for the girls, David Delfin eschews the swirling frilled skirts associated with Spanish dance, in favour of short, cheeky ruffled skirts, some worn with the tops pulled down around their waists.  The girls were dressed identically, but each in a different colour. Carmen’s dress is the only red one, but otherwise similar to the others.

But apart from her dress, there is nothing else similar about Jill Ogai’s Carmen.  Defiant, wilful, overtly sensual and completely in control, she commands the stage, taking her pick of the men and taunting her lovers, playing them off against each other.

Brett Chynoweth (Zuniga) - Jill Ogai (Carmen) in Johan Inger's "Carmen)

Among them Brett Chynoweth’s Commanding Officer, Zuniga is a sinister opportunist. Jake Mangakahia’s self-obsessed Torero flaunts his rock-star glamour, but it is Callum Linnane’s insecure Don Jose who offers the predatory Carmen the most challenge. She senses he is out of his depth, but intrigued by her attraction to him, sets out to challenge him to his limit even though she also senses that their relationship will end in tragedy. 

All this is played out on a sparse setting consisting of a series of huge triangular prisms. These prisms offer different surfaces; concrete, textured and mirrored, and manipulated into different configurations by the dancers, to be converted into a variety of locales through the lighting wizardry of Tom Visser, allowing Inger to demonstrate his remarkable aptitude for creating mood, spectacle and emotionally powerful visuals to enhance his choreography and storytelling.

The choice of Inger’s powerful thought-provoking ballet for this occasion was a particularly apt choice, because not only is it a dazzling showcase for the skill and artistry of the current dancers of The Australian Ballet, it also demonstrates the Company’s ability to tackle, with confidence and panache, even the most complex of concepts signalling future directions for the art of ballet. 

 

The moment Zuniga is shot by Don Jose.
Zuniga (Brett Chynoweth) - Carmen (Jill Ogai) - Don Jose (Callum Linnane) 



Images by Longley


This review also published in Australian Arts Review. www.artsreview.com.au

  

  

THE QUEEN'S NANNY - Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse

Matthew Backer (Elizabeth) - Briallen Clarke (Marion) in "The Queen's Nanny"

Written by Melanie Tait – Directed by Priscilla Jackman

Set Design by Michael Hankin – Costumes designed by Genevieve Graham

Lighting Design by Morgan Moroney – Composer & Sound Design by James Peter Brown

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse 19^th to 21^st June 2025.

Opening night performance on 19^th June reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

In 1932, Marion Crawford became a governess for the Duke and Duchess of York. Seventeen years later, she wrote a book about her experiences. Meanwhile, the Yorks had become the King and Queen of the British Commonwealth, and her charges, Elizabeth and Margaret, had become Royal Princesses.

Crawford had become a trusted servant of the family, referred to by them as Crawfie. She lived in a grace-and-favour house as a term of her employment. Her service continued until Princess Elizabeth's marriage in 1947, which occurred two months after Crawford's own wedding that she had postponed for 16 years to serve the family.

Though The Young Princesses revealed a loving view of the Royal Family, Queen Elizabeth felt it breached privacy and trust. She dismissed Crawfie and revoked her privileges, including her house.

These events are explored with impressive economy by playwright, Melanie Tait who gives equal weight to both sides of the story, inserting an Australian character to provide salient historical facts to ensure the clarity of the storytelling. 

Elsewhere the necessary information is presented in short concise episodes by Briallen Clarke as Marion Crawford, Sharon Millerchip as Queen Elizabeth and Matthew Backer as everyone else.

Sharon Millerchip (Elizabeth) - Matthew Backer (J) - Briallen Clarke (Crawford)
in "The Queen's Nanny"

It might have been tempting to present this play as a satire about class and entitlement, particularly with the decision to cast Matthew Backer as Princess Elizabeth throughout the entire period of Crawfie’s employment.

Instead, director Priscilla Jackman avoided that path. Choosing an elegant setting by Michael Hankin which included a model train overhead, and scale models of the contrasting houses in which Crawfie and the Yorks lived, matched with appropriately stylish costumes by Genevieve Graham, Jackman shaped her production as an engaging, thoughtful examination of the right to tell one’s own story, with which to frame the acting skills of her accomplished cast.

As well as portraying the narrator, a journalist, Crawfie’s fiancé George and various other male characters required for the story, Matthew Backer fascinates with his portrayal of the young princess maturing into womanhood and a future as queen. Avoiding camp, he employs restraint and minimal props to move and captivate his audience with the sincerity of his characterisation.

Briallen Clarke's Crawfie is a dedicated character, sharp and efficient, prepared to adapt her accent and postpone her wedding for her job but unable to pass up a substantial payment to share work-related information.

Sharon Millerchip (Elizabeth) in "The Queen's Nanny"

Sharon Millerchip’s fascinatingly nuanced portrayal of Queen Elizabeth shows her as playful, carefree,and generous, but assertive when enforcing boundaries. This is evident in her response when the princess offers to loan Crawfie a tiara from the royal collection for her wedding, and when the Queen denies the young princess permission to be Crawfie’s bridesmaid.

The scene in which the Queen berates Crawfie for her perceived disloyalty, dismissing her and stripping her of her entitlements, in front of the princess, is superbly rendered by all three actors, providing the play with both a thrilling climax, and a poignant ending, by revealing that this was the last interaction in which any of these characters ever spoke to each other again.   

With The Queen’s Nanny Melanie Tait has created a fascinating play that throws light on an almost forgotten moment in history which reveals that although the Queen Mother’s treatment of Marion Crawford may have seemed harsh at the time, history has proven that she was right to have misgivings about Crawford’s actions. They opened a floodgate of telltale publications by trusted employees and even members of the Royal Family, which question, and even threaten, the very existence of British Royalty.

                                                        Images by Melanie Desa

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

 

 

The Lodge, & Am I In Your Way?

Visual Art Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

The Lodge | Amala Groom

Am I In Your Way? | Raquel Ormella

Canberra Contemporary | 3 May – 12 July 2025

Readers who are not familiar with Australia’s national capital city and, in particular, the design and purpose of its central area might like to look at TheWalter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin Design Drawings of the City of Canberra and/or read material about the design, such as thisWikipedia article.

Am I in your way? extends Raquel Ormella’s career-long focus on the visual cultures of protest and resistance. This exhibition takes as its starting point the location of the Canberra Contemporary gallery in which it is on display - at the centre of the Parliamentary Triangle looking out onto Lake Burley Griffin and across it towards and beyond the base of that triangle - as a site to consider past and present formations of national identities. 

The work activates the view down Walter Burley Griffin’s designed sightline between Parliament House and the Australian War Memorial, passing through the centre of the International Flag Display on Commonwealth Place. Drawings, flags and performance works in the exhibition look at how political protestors have used their bodies as direct forms of passive disruption. 

Inked messages on the front or reverse of, or alongside, found vintage Canberra postcards are both entertaining and significant. Likewise, messages on created banners both challenge and amuse us.

Raquel Ormella, 'One bomb vs many' 2025, installation view, 'Am I in your way_', Canberra Contemporary, 2025, ink on found vintage Canberra postcards, dimensions variable. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Raquel Ormella, 'Am I in your way_', 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brian Rope

Raquel Ormella, 'Am I in your way_', 2025, installation view, Canberra Contemporary, 2025. Photo by Brenton McGeachie_2

Raquel Ormella, 'future history #1', 2025, installation view, 'Am I in your way_', Canberra Contemporary, 2025,  nylon, 90 x 170cm. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

In an environment where attitudes towards legitimate disruption and protest are changing, this exhibition is a timely exploration of an emerging criminalisation of what might simply be no more than an inconvenience for passers-by or bystanders.

The second exhibition being shown in the adjacent gallery space is The Lodge, named after the Prime Minister’s residence. It is the third moving image work in Amala Groom’s Raised by Wolves series exploring the relationship between alchemy (spirit) and science (matter), following the belief that life is a marriage of these forces, with the human being as the ultimate construct between them.

This excellent 11:11 minutes single-channel video work connects strongly with Groom’s personal history of direct action at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy located within the Parliamentary Triangle, and her many years of political engagement both inside and outside the walls of Parliament House. Her returning to Ngunnawal country to film this artwork is important; it is both ceremonial and cyclical. In doing so, she has reactivated her ancestral songlines (the Aboriginal walking routes that crossed the country, linking important sites and locations), and this resultant autobiographical (in nature) work is a reweaving of both history and the future.

Wearing a typically long and white wedding dress, Groom herself symbolically weaves and unravels a red rope (commonly used as a symbol of protection, unity, and unbreakable bonds) along Anzac Parade, embodying both the colonial structural constraints Indigenous people faced (and still do) and the profound role ancestors play in spirituality, offering guidance and a sense of belonging. The work culminates in her transformation; empowered by the campfire that burns constantly at the Tent Embassy, she is seen running through Parliament House then ultimately vanishing into the bush as a sovereign Wiradyuri woman.

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_10

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_2

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_4

Amala Groom, The Lodge 2025 production still, single channel video. Image credit Ryan Andrew Lee_7

In this work, Groom has reclaimed what we might think of as “the heart of the Australian state” created by all who came after those we now refer to as our First Peoples. For many, many years previously the area of country now within the Parliamentary Triangle was a sacred place used by those First Peoples for corroborees and tribal indigenous gatherings. Visitors to the exhibition should view the entire video, waiting as necessary to watch it from the start, taking in its significant messages, thinking about the significance of various shapes they see, and admiring the very professional performance and film quality. Then read the artist statement and the exhibition essay to understand more fully what they have viewed.

These two exhibitions both present profound and important messages. Together the messages are enhanced and strengthened.

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