Black, White + Colour

Photography/Biography Book Review: Brian Rope

Black, White + Colour - A Biography of Mervyn Bishop

Text © Tim Dobbyn 2025

Publisher: Ginninderra Press

ISBN Standard edition: 9781761097089

ISBN International edition: 979-8-9921572-0-8

207 pp

Book cover (featuring School Bus Yarrabah, 1974 – Mervyn Bishop)

This illustrated biography of Mervyn Bishop - Australia’s first indigenous professional photographer and treasured artist - provides an intimate portrait. Well researched and clearly written, it has many examples of his fine images as well as other relevant illustrations.

Mervyn on the old Brewarrina bridge, 2019, Tim Dobbyn

Bishop fell in love with photography as a boy of 12 in his hometown of Brewarrina. Serendipitous contact with some white journalists led to a job at the Sydney Morning Herald when just 17. He says his photography is based in the newspaper world.

Closing of pub, Glebe, 1967, Mervyn Bishop

Lionel Rose, world champion bantam weight boxer before departing to the USA to defend his title, Sydney, 1968, Mervyn Bishop

One of his best-known images is Life and Death Dash which caught the anxiety and haste of a religious sister carrying a tearful boy into hospital. He hurried back to the Herald-Sun offices after taking this image to process it. However, their tabloid - the Sun - did not use it. But it is in this book.

Life and Death Dash, Sydney, 1971, Mervyn Bishop

Later, Bishop entered it in the 1971 Australian Press Photographer of the Year Award and won, receiving a medallion and AUD$2,000. But he never received the customary pay increase the Herald had given to other Award winners. This book provides a lot more information, including Bishop’s own view that he had faced a glass ceiling in that workplace.

Disillusioned, Bishop moved to Canberra as a government photographer. In that role, he took an iconic photo of Gough Whitlam pouring earth into the hands of traditional owner Vincent Lingiari. All adult Australians well know the story, the image and an equally iconic song which refers to the event. Again it is in the book.

A further well-known image, Cousins, Ralph and Jim, shows the universal joy of skipping school. Wearing school uniforms, the boys are rowing a boat on the Barwon River. They had decided it would be better to be with Mervyn who was visiting Brewarrina than to go to school. This delightful photo is accompanied here by a detailed story, revealing just how thoroughly the book’s author, Tim Dobbyn, has explored his subject’s life story.

Woman in wheelchair, Wilcannia, 1988, Mervyn Bishop

Dobbyn is a former journalist who started at Australian Associated Press in 1981 before moving to the United States in 1987 to work for Reuters. After taking a break from daily journalism, he worked freelance jobs before starting work on this biography in 2018.

NADOC 86 Exhibition of Aboriginal and Islander Photographers, Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Sydney, 1986, William Yang

 

In 1993, significant Australian-Chinese photographer William Yang set off with Bishop to explore the relationship of Aboriginal people with the Barwon River but decided Bishop’s personal story was of greater interest. In 2003 the Sydney Opera House arranged for these two photographers to create a show for its annual showcase of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and artists. The book provides a detailed description of difficulties experienced and overcome as they created the exhibition.

After returning to Sydney, Bishop was eventually befriended by the arts scene, leading to his first solo exhibition in 1991. Sadly this victory was clouded by the death of his wife on the day of the opening. Dobbyn tells us that Bishop enjoys his current status in the art world but is irritated by artistic analysis of his work.

While often celebrated for chronicling the rising visibility of Indigenous Australians, Bishop is also proud of what he calls his “Whitefella pictures”. He carved his own path, deftly navigating the Black and White worlds of post-war Australia. The book says he has had an unadorned approach to portraiture, with no subject losing any dignity “in the presence of the humble man from Brewarrina.”

Body painting for the Marayarr Murrukundja ceremony, Indonesia, 1993, Mervyn Bishop

Bungaree: The Showman, 2012, Mervyn Bishop

 
The book is dedicated to the first inhabitants of Australia, stating their knowledge and art should be a source of pride and wonder to all Australians. This white Australian couldn’t agree more. Anyone thinking otherwise should, if possible, take a look at the superb indigenous artworks in the 5th National Indigenous Art Triennial: After the Rain, the Artistic Director of which is Tony Albert, Girramay/Yidinji/Kuku-Yalanji peoples, one of Australia’s foremost contemporary artists. It’s at the National Gallery of Australia until 26 April 2026, then will tour nationally.

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

HAND TO GOD by Robert Askins. Directed by Jarrad West. ACT Hub. To December 20. 

Photos Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore

Here’s a wild pre Christmas revival of this somewhat mad play that is a kind of dark Sesame Street. It will be very much to some people’s off-beat festive season tastes.

Awkwardly trendy Pastor Greg (Lachlan Ruffy) has a puppet workshop running at the church, where harried divorcee Margery (Amy Kowalczuk ) is training a few young people in the art of using puppetry to tell religious stories. These include the self assured Jessica (Meaghan Stewart) and the rather feral Timmy (William Allington). Her son Jason (Michael Cooper) is working with a puppet called Tyrone. 

And Tyrone is the one to watch as he changes gradually from mild and meek to savage with a mouth full of teeth and an attitude and  vocabulary to match. Cooper is both increasingly deranged puppet and increasingly cowed puppeteer with an admirable dexterity in switching from one to another. 

It’s certainly an adult horror play with some drive and humour and a heap of sexuality. 

But apart from Cooper, this is a revival with a different cast and it could use a little more certainty and a little less thrashing around. I seem to remember the 2022 production as having more clarity and a less frenetic approach. 

Nonetheless it’s a piece to see. The whole notion of puppets who are maybe more than wood and cloth is always a haunting one. 

ALANNA MACLEAN

A HANDEL CELEBRATION

Canberra Choral Society

Erin Helyard, director

Myriam Arbouz, soprano

Llewellyn Hall, December 13

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Promising arias and choruses from the greatest works of Georg Frideric Handel, the Canberra Choral Society provided a huge choir to sing the many choruses and French soprano, Myriam Arbouz to sing the arias. It was all directed by Sydney’s Erin Helyard.

Myriam Arbouz has established herself as one of the most compelling interpreters of baroque and early classical repertoire. She has performed across Europe, Australia and beyond.

Erin Helyard is artistic director and co-founder of Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes (Sydney). He is also Associate Professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

For this Come & Sing event, the 160-member choir, prepared by Canberra based composer, conductor and performer, Dan Walker, included 80 guest singers from the Canberra community.

Canberra Choral Society, guest singers and orchestra with Erin Helyard, director

Helyard addressed the audience at the beginning of the concert, saying that, in his opinion, Handel’s music and his works were Theatre of the Mind, conjuring up colourful ancient stories and characters. To open the program, Sinfonia from Handel’s early opera Agripinna was played by the orchestra, taking us deep into Handel’s world.

A large program of choruses was presented. Many were familiar and the huge choir impressed with the depth and accuracy of their singing. The words in English were very clear and easily understood.

It was all so well performed by the choir. Particularly outstanding were Jealously! from Hercules with its contrasting soft and dramatic passages and Funeral Anthem For Queen Caroline with its beautiful, sombre beginning. The very well-known Zadok the Priest was given a rousing performance, with trumpeters Zach Raffan and Sam Hutchinson playing superbly. Two choruses from the oratorio Theodora were also memorably sung as was the moving finale of Handel’s Messiah.

Myriam Arbouz, soprano, with Erin Helyard, director

Soprano, Myriam Arbouz, sang four arias. Her beautiful, clear soprano, and the depth of feeling she presented in each item to bring her characters to life, showed why she is so renowned as a performer. Each aria she sang was a highlight of the program. The well-known Lascia ch’io pianga (Let me weep) from Rinaldo was given a refreshing new depth in her interpretation and the emotional Ombre pallide from Alcina was also memorably sung.

The orchestra gave a fine performance throughout and the thoughtfully chosen items of the program produced a true celebration of Handel’s music, ending the year on a high note.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 14 December 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/.

 

EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS PROGRAM 2025 - Quantum Leap Australia

Choreographers L - R:         Chloe Curtis - Akira Byrne - Maya Wille-Bellchambers - Jahna Lugnan        Gigi Rohrlach - Lucia Morabito.

Mentors: Alice Lee Holland, Emma Batchelor

Costume co-ordination: Natalie Wade, Linda Uzubalis

Sound mastering Kimmo Vennonen – Lighting support: Owen Davies, Sidestage.

A Block Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre, 13^th, 14^th December 2025.

Performance on 13^th December reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Introducing this year’s edition of the Emerging Choreographer’s Program, Artistic Director and CEO, Alice Lee Holland revealed that QL2 Dance would undergo a name change to Quantum Leap Australia, with this program being the first under its new name. 

Holland also mentioned later, that in her mentoring, she had encouraged the choreographers, who’s ages ranged from 16 to 19 years, not to concentrate on producing a polished final work, but rather to use the opportunity to test their ability to express complex ideas through dance.

The Emerging Choreographer’s Program is an annual program that provides young Quantum Leap artists with the opportunity to create their own original short dance work.

They are guided through the process by professional mentors, this year Alice Lee Holland and Emma Batchelor, provided with rehearsal space and access to dancers, but all decisions regarding concepts, costuming, lighting, music and direction of their dancers are their own.   

This year, all the emerging choreographers participated as dancers in at least one other work by another of the choreographers. One explaining in the Q & A following the performances, that this had proved a helpful strategy with her own problem solving.

For interested audiences, how the aspiring choreographers’ embrace this opportunity, and the topics chosen for their dance work, can be fascinating.

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform METAMORPHOSIS by Maya Wille-Bellchambers

18-year-old Maya Willie-Bellchambers has already been accepted into VCA for study next year. Although she has participated in the ECP previously, “Metamorphosis” is the first work she has created alone.

Inspired by her interest in mental illness, she drew her inspiration from the transformation of caterpillar to butterfly, to express feelings of entrapment.

For her ambitious work, five dancers, costumed in semi-business attire, remained expressionless as they worked closely together to create unsettling visuals, during which their fingers were constantly wriggling. 

Quantum Leap Australian dancers perform "MIRAGE OF MEMORIES" by Lucia Morabito

 First time participant in the ECP, Lucia Morabito also utilised five dancers for her work intitled “Mirage of Memories” with which she explored notions around personal and collective perceptions of memory. 

Created in four distinct chapters, her dancers languidly paraded, formed graceful groups, or simply sat as if sunbaking, as they watched one or more of their number scrawl words on the wall behind them.

 Indefinite and undimmed – Crossroads/Naïve Desperations – In Grievance Of Its Shape – Comicality Of My Recollections, began to cover the wall.  And while the words meant little to this viewer, it was difficult not to be captivated by the lyrical mood created by the movement and soundtrack which included a lovely version of the song “Stairway to the Stars”.

Quan

Quantum Leap Australia dancers performing BREATHING STATUES by Gigi Rohrlach.

A similar mood was evoked by Gigi Rohrlach’s lovely creation,” Breathing Statues”. To the music of nature sounds mixed with Masakatsu Takagi and Rosalia, Rohrlach joined dancers, Akira Byrne, Anna Maksimova, and Coral Onn to perform a graceful work featuring gentle unison movement and poses to elicit visions of forgotten statues in an overgrown forest.

While the choreography may not have been groundbreaking, it was certainly lovely to watch and perfectly chosen for its purpose.

 

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform "CHOROPHOBIA" by Chloe Curtis

Although 16-year-old Chloe Curtis has been participating as a dancer in ECP’s since 2022, this is the first time she has been involved as a choreographer.

Challenging herself with a difficult subject, fear of phobia, she worked with six dancers to create, “Chorophobia” exploring six different psychological reactions to fear.

Very well performed by the dancers, to a nervy, well-chosen soundtrack mix, the work had the dancers reacting to flashing lights while performing slithering movements, spasms, twitches and at times, simply rocking gently to evoke their responses to the various criteria.

Jahna Lugnam performing in "THE SHAPE OF ME IS CHANGING by Akira Byrne

18- year-old Akira Byrne was awarded a Canberra Critics Circle Award for the extraordinary solo work she created and performed during the 2024 ECP.

This year she challenged herself further by joining dancers Jahna Lugnan, Coral Onn, Marlon Clode, Juliette Feerick and Reuben Reynolds to deliver her own original poetry in her work exploring physical confines and living with pain, “the shape of me is shifting”.

Performed to Harland Rust’s, “I’m Sending Conrad Away”, the work was remarkable for its imagery and an extraordinary performance by Jahna Lugnan. Already a charismatic dancer, Byrne is exhibiting the potential to become an extraordinary dance creator.

Quantum Leap Australia dancers perform "THE DOG SHOWS NO CONCERN" by Jahna Lugnan

The final work of the program, intriguingly entitled, “The Dog Shows No Concern” was created by Jahna Lugnan, participating in her fourth ECP, and her third time as a choreographer.

Setting out to resist audience expectations and inspired by the David Byrne book “American Utopia”, this work featured a surprise at every turn.

At its heart is a very funny choreography performed to a version of Bizet’s “Habanera” written for his opera “Carmen”, but in this version, performed po-faced by the dancers, with inventive, and very funny choreography that resisted any reference to the opera.

Delightfully entertaining, it proved a perfect way to end the program, leaving this reviewer looking forward to seeing more work from this choreographer.

Throughout, the Emerging Choreographers Program 2025 proved impressive for the attention to the production elements, costuming, lighting and sound, for the commitment and skill of the dancers, and for the ingenuity and imagination of the fledgling choreographers.

 

Quantum Leap Australia dancer performing in "MIRAGE OF MEMORIES" by Lucia Morabito.



Photos by Olivier Wikner, O & J Wikner Photography.

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

LOVING - Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s & A loving City - Queerberra Revisited

LOVING - Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s

A loving City - Queerberra Revisited

Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG), Gallery 2 | 6 December 2025 to 5 April 2026

Whilst most certainly being complementary, these two exhibitions in adjoining spaces are also very different to each other. LOVING – Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s is, obviously, only about men. The large number of photographs in the display is essentially monochromatic.

Installation image - LOVING – Photographs of men in Love, 1850s to 1950s © Brian Rope

But, when visitors walk through into the next space to A loving City – Queerberra Revisited they will immediately see colour images hung against a background of vivid rainbow colours.

Installation image - A loving City – Queerberra Revisited © Brian Rope

The content of LOVING was created by collectors and arts professionals Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell. That married couple discovered an old photograph of two other men in a tender loving embrace at an antique store in Dallas, Texas, 25 years ago. The image sparked a passion which resulted in a global journey searching for other photographs capturing men in love. They searched flea markets, auction houses, family albums and online collections, gradually gathering from all over the world over 4,000 tender images of male couples taken between the 1850s and 1950s - 100 years of social history and the development of photography.

In 2020, they published a book internationally, showing hundreds of the previously unpublished vernacular photographs depicting romantic love between men that powerfully and movingly reasserted both that love is love and that there had always been men who loved each other. It and this exhibition tenderly portray romantic love between men. There are snapshots, portraits, and group photos taken in the most varied places and situations. Often taken when male partnerships were illegal, the collectors identified the men in the images as couples by what they have described as the unmistakable look in the eyes of two people in love, by their body language, and even by coded inscriptions. There is a diversity of image formats - ambrotypes, daguerreotypes, glass negatives, tin types, cabinet cards, photo postcards, and more.

Three years later, the collection was exhibited for the first time at the Musée Rath in Geneva. Now, it is being displayed in Australia, co-presented by CMAG and the Delegation of the European Union to Australia. The photographs on display have been digitised. They tell stories which have a considerable impact when we consider them. They speak to spirit and resilience. LOVING brings to light the lives and stories of male couples from around the world - giving voice to their courage, intimacy and enduring love for their “other halves”.

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s © The Nini-Treadwell collection

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s
© The Nini-Treadwell collection

Unknown subject, Loving: Photographs of Men in Love 1850s-1950s

© The Nini-Treadwell collection

The second exhibition, A Loving City: Queerberra Revisited, is a return to a 2017 portrait series - Queerberra by photographer Jane Duong and producer Victoria Firth-Smith.

Created between 2015 and 2017, in the lead-up to Australia’s same-sex marriage postal vote, the original project captured over 100 portraits of LGBTQIA+ Canberrans in their homes, workplaces and everyday spaces. Over weekends spent in bedrooms, workplaces, and on the streets, portraits of pride, exhaustion, defiance, love, and hope were captured with grace and honesty. Some subjects were already out. Others came out for the first time. This unique art project set out to portray the beauty of Canberra’s rich array of local identities from LGBTIQ, asexual and cisgender peoples, to drag queens and kings, and beyond. Everyday lives were captured and shared with pride - some had not been ‘out’ publicly, others were very much in the public eye.

On 15 November 2017, Canberra’s voters delivered Australia’s strongest "Yes" vote in support of marriage equality. The Queerberra book was launched the very next day. Eight years later, this revisiting of the book and original exhibition showcases 99 of the original 100 portraits from that book and invites audiences to consider how much things have changed in that time.

Caitlin and Jill, Queerberra - photography by Jane Duong and produced by Victoria Firth-Smith

 

James, Queerberra - photography by Jane Duong and produced by Victoria Firth-Smith

These two exhibitions are simultaneously intensely intimate and deeply political. Each one stands alone in its story and tone; together they form a larger narrative about connection across generations, time periods and other things that often divide us.

This review is also available on the author's blog. And a shorter version is on a Canberra City News webpage.

A CELTIC CHRISTMAS by a Taste of Ireland - Canberra Theatre

"A Celtic Christmas" dancers in action.

Directed and choreographed by Brent Pace

 Co-Directed and Co- choreographed by Ceili Moore

Musical Direction by Charlie Galloway – Set Design Gavin Leahy

Sound and Video design by Jack Kearney.

Performed by Mitchell O’Hara – Callum O’Neill – Tom Doherty – Cathal Doughan - Declan McLaughlin – Ciaren Keogh – Joey Roca – Rochelle Hoffman – Meagan Urbanek – Aoibhin Kenneally – Emma Martin – Eleanor Murray – Minnie Yarnold – Bella Masters.

Presented by Pace Live’s A Taste of Ireland – Canberra Theatre – December 12, 2025.

Reviewed By BILL STEPHENS

The cast of "A Celtic Christmas"

A very specific dance style, Irish dance is characterised by upright posture, rigid torso, and rapid footwork, accompanied by fiddles, pipes and drums.

As with classical ballet, exponents usually commence learning the techniques at an   early age, then perfect those skills by participating in competitions initially at fairs and social gatherings.

In 1994 a seven-minute interval dance presentation by Michael Flatley and Jean Butler during the Eurovision Song Contest sparked world-wide interest in Irish dance, leading to the creation of the stage show Riverdance in 1995.  Riverdance combined Irish dance with theatrical elements and became a global sensation.

 A Taste of Ireland grew out of this interest in Celtic dance and for more than ten years has been touring the world in various iterations. A Celtic Christmas by A Taste of Ireland is its flagship Christmas production.

Rochelle Hoffman and the cast of "A Celtic Christmas"

A Celtic Christmas presents a captivating blend of Irish tunes with upbeat arrangements of Christmas carols, all wrapped up in a pretty package of colourful costumes and theatricalised Irish dance. The show provides a delightful evening of feel-good entertainment along with some truly spectacular Irish dancing performed before a huge painted backdrop depicting a cosy room with blazing fire, augmented with a giant video screen utilised for locale changes. 

Although there is a story included that’s meant to connect the impressive group dancing, but the rigid Irish dance technique isn’t really conducive to storytelling so that the production numbers devised to support the storyline, although spectacular, often felt contrived.

The singer and musicians for "A Celtic Christmas"

Particularly as the dance numbers were interrupted by items performed live by a singer, a fiddle player and a guitarist, subtly enhanced by a pre-recorded soundtrack; ostensibly to provide time to allow the dancers to change costumes, but being traditional Irish songs and music, appeared to have nothing to do with the story being told.

Regretfully that trio shall have to remain nameless as there is no reference to them either in the printed program or the A Celtic Christmas website.   

But it was the dancing that the audience had come to see, and in that area, this troupe is very impressive indeed. Among the talented ensemble cast are some who have danced in productions of Riverdance and Lord of the Dance around the world, and most rank among the top ten world title holders for their Irish dance skills.

Mitchell O'Hara and Rochelle Hoffman in action during "A Celtic Christmas"

Led by Mitchell O’Hara and Rochelle Hoffman as the lovers, commoner Oisin and Princess Ava, they perform a succession of spectacular, inventively choreographed group routines.

While the first half of the program impressed with its impressive energy, discipline and attention to detail, after interval, the pace slackened alarmingly with the inclusion of obvious padding.

A long sequence involving the male ensemble pretending to be blokey carollers performing poorly sung carols, seemed superfluous. Had the performers attempted harmonies and treated the carols with respect, it may have had some point. But as presented, the singing was raucous and performed in a manner likely to offend Tom in the audience to whom those particular carols have significance.

Mitchell O'Hara in action during "A Celtic Christmas"

There was also a long solo by O’Hara in which he demonstrated his impressive dancing virtuosity. As skilled and charming as he is, however, his propensity to shamelessly milk his applause, caused him to overstay his welcome.

This was time that could have been more interestingly devoted to devising more opportunities for individual ensemble members to demonstrate their obvious mastery of the dancing technique the audience had come to see. 

Mitchell O"Hara - Rochelle Hoffman and some of the cast of "A Celtic Christman"




Photos supplied.



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

 

Hand to God - Everyman Theatre

 Hand to God by Robert Askins. Presented by Everyman Theatre at ACT Hub at Causeway Hall. 10 December – 20 December 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
Dec 12

Directed by Jarrad West

Cast
Michael Cooper as Jason (and the puppet Tyrone)
Amy Kowalczuk as his mother Margery
Lachlan Ruffy as Pastor Greg
Meaghan Stewart as Jason’s girlfriend Jessica
William 'Wally' Allington as Timothy, one-time school acquaintance.


Hand to God is an American play: embarrassingly funny; a crude satire. Yet, in the final scene of a young man’s mental breakdown, we see a reflection of America this century – even unto Donald Trump.

Though first produced in 2011, the teenager with his devil of a hand-puppet is an image that inevitably brings to mind that over-the-top ham actor’s extremities in his first Presidential Term 2017-2020, and currently.

Tyrone with Michael Cooper as Jason 
in Hand to God, Everyman Theatre 2025

 The point about the play is that it’s very funny – I would say terribly funny.  AI says The play is described as a "blasphemous black comedy (with puppets!)" that explores faith and morality and is intended for adult audiences due to its mature content, coarse language, and sexual references.  So, don’t take your chidren.

 

William 'Wally' Allington as Timothy, Meaghan Stewart as Jessica, Michael Cooper as Jason

 More – it really means, don’t take the children to America, where the diabolical Donald has Trumped – like Tyrone trumps Jason, destroying his faith in family –  even at the level of our international family.

In their small-town Cypress, Texas, Marjorie’s attempts to stay true to her marriage vows after her husband’s death, distracted by entertaining the faith community with puppets which go crazy, represent a world ruled by the dictates of an entertainer who believes he is the real thing.

Fortunately we still have the writers and performing artists we need to help us at least understand ourselves a bit better.

This is where the puppets and the terrific performances by Everyman come into the picture.

Once upon a time, many years ago when Drama was still not an independent school subject, I experimented with teachers of disaffected young teenagers using drama to assist with their education.  Using just one hand as theirself and the other as a puppet, what the hands said to each other, about behaviour issues, for example, could result in a new awareness about actions and consequences.  If the situation was managed by the teachers carefully and positively, of course.

In Hand to God, son Jason’s emotional dilemmas about his mother Margery’s struggles to find her way out of the grief and loss of her husband, while facing up to his own attraction to Jessica – and including the threat from Timothy’s sexual intentions towards both women – is simply not a situation that can be managed.

This is because they, including Paster Greg who is attracted, probably genuinely, to Margery, are all enclosed in an emotional prison.  There is no escape hatch; nor any independent non-interested outsider to help them manage.  Even in my teaching role, as my experiments showed, a successful change was difficult to achieve.

So in performing Jason, as he, as himself, talks with and argues with his puppet, who is also Jason – and in doing so instantly switching voice, mannerisms and feelings from one character to the other – Michael Cooper achieves an extraordinary feat as an actor.  From the very beginning, sitting alone (but with Tyrone) before any other characters have come on stage, I could respond at once to him, not as a puppeteer, but as a real person with some kind of special relationship with his puppet.

That degree of professionalism built throughout the cast and makes this production of Hand to God as good to see and engage with as I can imagine.

I fear, though, for America – and therefore for all the world – because Trump plays himself as Tyrone all the time, never revealing what we may hope is a real commonsense character hidden in himself.

The result is that too many people laugh – as we certainly did last night at The Hub – at the entertainment, and don’t realise that Marjery’s hope that her puppet show will create peace and harmony can’t succeed without true emotional intelligence.

The play ends deliberately without making it clear that the inordinate mess in the Church Hall, where everything is torn up and scattered everywhere, can never be put back in order.

Or maybe we might think that Margery’s final hug with Jason is an OK sign for the future.

For America, I guess, we haven’t got to the end of the play yet – but I’ve stopped laughing.  This is serious.

And I thank Jarrad West and everyone in Everyman Theatre.  

See Hand to God, but be careful of your mental puppets.

Michael Cooper, Amy Kowalczuk and Lachlan Ruffy
in the final scene of Hand to God, Everyman Theatre 2025