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| Jalen Sutcliffe - Clancy Enchelmaier - Lorinda May Merrypor in "Waltzing the Wilarra" |
Written and Composed by David Milroy – Directed by Brittanie
Shipway
Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. 15th & 16th
August 2025
Opening night performance on August 15th reviewed
by BILL STEPHENS
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| Hanna Underwood - Leonard Mickelo & Company in "Waltzing the Wilarra". |
When premiered as part of the Perth International Arts Festival in February 2011, Waltzing the Wilarra was hailed as a landmark production.
An original
Australian musical play, written and composed by David Milroy, the first act of
Waltzing the Wilarra is set in a mix-race dance club in post-World War 11 Perth,
at a time when curfews, and the fear of being arrested for consorting, were always
present.
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| Clancy Enchelmaier & Lorinda May Merrypor in "Waltzing the Wilarra" |
The action centres around the relationship between
half-sisters Elsa (Lorinda May Merrypor ) and Fay (Juliette Coates), who were brought
up by kindly indigenous elder Mrs Cray (Lisa Maza).
Elsa, an Indigenous child of the stolen generation, is
resentful of the attention Mrs Cray lavishes on Fay, who is white. Fay has a crush on Charlie Runaway (Shaka
Cook) a young Indigenous man who is best friends with Elsa’s husband Jack
(Clancy Enchelmaier), a drunken white ex-soldier.
However, Charlie is in love with Elsa and rejects Fay’s
advances. Following a brawl at the club, Jack and Charlie are carted off to gaol.
Later it is revealed that Jack has been killed although, how, remains a
mystery.
The second act is set in the same club 40 years later, when
the club is now slated for demolition. Elsa, Fay, Charlie join others at the
club for a reunion hosted by Athena (Hannah Underwood) which soon descends into
recriminations during which dark secrets are revealed.
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| Sutcliffe - Hannah Underwood - Shaka Cook in "Waltzing the Wilarra" |
Whatever charm the original production may have had appears to have evaporated in this production directed with a heavy hand by Brittanie Shipway, who has her cast portray the characters so broadly that it is difficult to engage with any of them.
Without the benefit of a printed program, and with pre-publicity
that suggested that the show was a three-hander about characters Charlie, Elsa
and Fay, most of the audience were surprised to discover that this production involved
a relatively large cast of 8 actors and 2 musicians.
The hardworking cast struggled to bring life to a set of stock
characters in a show that attempts to address complicated racial issues by
clothing them in a warm glow of nostalgia.
In addition to the artists already named, Jalen Sutcliffe
played Mr. Mack, and Leonard Mickelo played Old Toss, Sandy Barr and a
detective.
There are 16 original songs featured in the show, mostly to provide atmosphere rather than advance the storyline, but no information is available about the two musicians who provide the accompaniment, or the creatives responsible for the setting, costumes, choreography, lighting or sound.
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| The Company of "Waltzing the Wilarra". Photos by Matthew Chen This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 16th August 2025. |