Good Works by Nick Enright

 Good Works by Nick Enright. Lexi Sekuless Productions at Mill Theatre, Dairy Road, Canberra, July 21 – August 12, 2023

Book at https://events.humanitix.com/good-works-july-2023-theatre-at-dairy-road

Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 21

Production Team

Playwright: Nick Enright
Director: Julian Meyrick; Designer: Kathleen Kershaw
Sound Designer: Damien Ashcroft; Lighting Designer: Jennifer Wright
Choreographer: Belynda Buck; Stage Manager: Jess Morris

Cast

Tim/Eddie: Oliver Bailey; Shane/Neil: Martin Everett; Rita: Adele Querol
Mary Margaret: Lexi Sekuless;
Alan/Brother Clement/Barry/Mr Donovan: Neil Pigot
Mother John/Mrs Kennedy/Mrs Donovan: Helen McFarlane

I find the layout of Mill Theatre difficult for sight-lines, especially from the longer side back row, even with an empty up-aisle in front,                                                                           

My seat: back row 5 from left

because the entrances/exits are a bit like watching a tennis match from the sideline.

However, Kathleen Kershaw and Belynda Buck successfully choreographed the six performers, playing in short scenes with their characters constantly shifting their ages, in this play which spans 60 years, leaping back and forth between the 1920s, ’50s and ’80s, telling the tangled story of two Australian Irish Catholic families.

Next time I think I’ll try a front row end or side seat next to the entrance – I suppose what would be downstage left, in a conventional setup.  From there I would have easily seen where the switch-blade knife was hidden ‘under the house’ behind that end of the piano, and had a full view of all the action, including on the floor far downstage right

And there, I wouldn’t have been quite so close to the sound and violence of the strop, banged horribly by Neil Pigot as Brother Clement, on the aisle step just in front of me, while Oliver Bailey as Tim cried out “I can’t” hop.

But I must say, Martin Everett’s Shane, stabbing the Brother, and Tim’s kicking to complete the murder, was a truly shocking sight down that empty up-aisle.

I believe the last time Good Works was presented, directed for Darlinghurst Theatre Copmany at Eternity Theatre, Sydney by Canberra Critics’ Award winner Iain Sinclair (BA Hons Australian National University) was in 2015, when Daily Review’s Ben Neutze remarked “Good Works is a beautiful play. Let’s hope it’s not another 20 years before it’s revived again.”  So it is pleasing to see Canberra’s Lexi Sekuless Productions coming in early after 8 years, and working with the highly regarded theatre historian Julian Meyrick as director.

Canberra Weekly [  https://canberraweekly.com.au/mill-theatre-leads-revival-of-aussie-stories-in-canberra  ]  reports Meyrick as saying Enright possesses the special ability of being a male playwright who could capture convincing women, something that only someone who cares about women could do. The female characters in the play followed the same timeline and arc as Meyrick’s mother.

“Nick would have grown up in this time and so when you read the play, you’re aware of a number of factors. One is the kind of Catholicism and the wowserism of Australia at the time; the second is the way the small communities cook up and the way they gossip; and then the third is this kind of yearning for something different, the beginnings of a kind of a desire to be freer.”

And as I remember Nick Enright, his interest – and concerns – about young people were clear from his play and film Black Rock about the murder of teenage girl Leigh Leigh, as well as his work in setting up the original Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) with director David Berthold.  His later 1999 work Spurboard was presented at Wharf 2 with “16 young actors and a professional support team working in association with Pulse 10, which is STC's youth and education wing
[ https://frankmckone2.blogspot.com/1999/10/1999-spurboard-by-nick-enright-preview.html ] - Canberra Times), while his influence has gone on to the theatre industry more widely, for example at the 2018 Industry Forum held at the ATYP Young People and The Arts: The child as cultural citizen
[ https://frankmckone2.blogspot.com/2018/06/2018-young-people-and-arts-child-as.html ]

It’s awful to remember that Enright contracted melanoma cancer about 1988, around the same time as I did, but surgery was kind to me; while after 15 years in remission Nick died at 52 in 2003.  So for me this production of Good Works is in memory of Nick Enright OAM.  The Sydney Morning Herald published a tribute on 25 March 2023:

Writer and teacher, died 20 years ago on March the 30th, 2003. He was a man of singular grace, intelligence and charm.

As long as memory, itself a dying thing, survives, we hold dear our friendship with him and regret his early leaving.

~JH & RB
https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/474871/nick-enright/?r=https://tributes.smh.com.au/obituaries/smh-au

Good Works, with Meyrick’s directing and an excellent cast, works very well in this small theatre space.  From an actor’s point of view the switching of costumes is nothing compared with reappearing every few minutes at a different stage, from maybe 5-year-old to grandparent, of the same character, let alone as a different character as the men and Helen McFarlane are required to do.   Would it have been better to use more actors?  Eight men and five women?

It is true that I found myself sometimes having to stop to think about who were the characters on stage at that moment, but the play often moved on so quickly, leaving me to realise that I did not need to remember every detail about everyone because what the play as a whole was really about was impressionistic.

With its ironic title, the play was not  specifically about this or that character, nor even about this or that particular family, but about the nature of the culture of the society to which these families belonged.  Does this society work?  Does it work well?  Is it true to our real society?  Or some part of it?

This production works better with fewer actors in a kind of maelstrom of flurries with occasional moments of seemingly unlikely stillness, especially in this small space.  Interestingly, on that point, in a more conventional small in-the-round theatre, such as my favourite Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, warmth, connection and intimacy give the drama strength.  In the rectangular flat space of the Mill Theatre, empathy and identifying with the characters is not the point.  It’s almost Brechtian in keeping our minds working as we put together, as far as we can, the unexpected bits and pieces of these families’ lives.

The result, in my view, is a play which encapsulates the thinking of the author about at least this part of Australian life – apparently informed by Enright’s experience growing up in the country industrial coal mining town, Maitland, where St Joseph’s was established in 1835 and Case 43 of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse says it all:
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-studies/case-study-43-catholic-church-authorities-maitland-newcastle

Good Works indeed!

 

The cast in rehearsal for Good Works by Nick Enright
Lexi Sekuless Productions, 2023

 

 

 

 

GOOD WORKS by NICK ENRIGHT

 

 

Lexi Sekuless as Mary Margaret and Oliver Bailey
as Timothy in Good Works

Good Works by Nick Enright. 

Directed by Julian Meyrick. Production design and costumes by Kathleen Kershaw. Composition and sound design. Damien Ashcroft. Lighting design team. Stefan Wronski. Jennifer Wright. Tim Sekuless. Choreographer Belynda Buck. Stage Manager. Jess Morris. Lexi Sekuless Productions. Major Event Partner. Elite Event Technology. Event supporter. Events ACT. The Mill Theatre. July 12 – August 12 2023. Bookings: Humanitix.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Adele Querol as Rita. Helen McFarlane as Mrs. Kennedy and
Lexi Sekuless as Mary Margaret in Good Works

In 1994, critic Angela Bennie wrote about playwright Nick Enright’s latest play Good Works in the Sydney Morning Herald: “It is without doubt destined to become a major work in the Australian Theatre” In The Australian John McCallum noted “It is an exciting work by an experienced writer who has finally found his personal voice.”  Sadly the writer of such works as Blackrock, The Boy From Oz and Lorenzo’s Oil died prematurely at the age of 52. His death came as a huge loss to the Australian theatre. Fortunately, director and theatre historian Julian Meyrick has been invited by Lexi Sekuless to revive Enright’s startlingly personal memory play at her Mill Theatre on Dairy Road. It has proven to be an inspired choice, not only because of Bennie’s prophesy but because of the outstanding ensemble that Meyrick has cast to mount a professional production of the highest standard. It is impossible not to be intrigued by Meyrick’s skilfully directed production. 

Oliver Bailey as Tim. Martin Everett as Shane

Good Works tells the story of two mothers and their sons over a period of 60 years. The action jumps back and forth from the childhoods of Mary Margaret (Lexi Sekuless) and Rita Kennedy (Adele Querol) and their sons Timothy Donovan (Oliver Bailey) and Shane Grogan (Martin Everett) to their adult lives.  Like memories the scenes jump back and forth in vignettes of each character’s life. Meyrick in fine dramaturgical style has cleverly used designer Kathleen Kershaw’s painted swirl design upon the stage as an interlinking arena in which Mary Margaret and Rita’s childhood friendship changes as they develop into antagonistic adulthood. So too do we witness the emerging sexual chemistry between the sensitive and sickly Tim and the troubled Shane. Sekuless and Querol play the roles of Mary Margaret and Rita from girlhood to motherhood throughout while the other four actors change roles as Enright’s intertwined scenes unfold. Bailey and Everett play the boys and the other’s father, the violent Eddie Grogan (Bailey) and the autocratic Donovan Senior’s compliant son, Neil (Everett)  while Helen McFarlane and Neil Pigot play multiple roles. To the credit of Meryck’s direction and the sharply observed performances by each actor every character is superbly played with thorough conviction. Enright assures that stereotype is avoided by providing contrast . Pigot’s chilling portrayal of the sadistic Brother is contrasted by McFarlane’s gentle performance of the kindly nun.

Neil Pigot as Brother in Good Works

Good Works tests an audience’s commitment to intellectual rigour and empathy. Enright’s themes of family relationships, friendship, sexuality, Catholicism, domestic violence and social status are as relevant today as they were during the period of Enright’s family drama. In the ideal intimacy of the Mill Theatre, Lexi Sekuless Production’s staging of Good Works  confirms Bennie’s 1995 prediction. Good Works is more than a classic of the Australian stage. It is a profound and compelling account of the frailties and strengths of the human condition, performed with enormous heart and humanity by the Mill Theatre’s brilliant cast and creatives. Like a jigsaw, it may take some time for the pieces to fit together but the journey and the discovery will be well worth the experience.  The Mill Theatre only seats 67 in its small space, so be sure to secure your tickets for this outstanding production of a classic revival. It is not to be missed.

Photos by Daniel Abroguena

YULDEA - Bangarra Dance Theatre

 

Choreographed by Frances Rings – Set Design by Elizabeth Gadsby

Costume Design by Jennifer Irwin – Lighting Design by Karen Norris

Composed by Leon Rodgers – Guest composers: Electric Fields.

Canberra Theatre 20 – 22^nd July 2023.

Performance on 20^th July reviewed by Bill Stephens 

It has been interesting to watch Bangarra Dance Theatre’s gentle transition under the Artistic Directorship of Frances Rings. Rings has always been a passionate exponent of the use of dance to portray Australia’s history through the lens of the indigenous experience.

With “Yuldea” she has focussed on the Great Victorian Desert and the Far West Region of South Australia where she herself grew up.  It was an area for the gathering of many tribes, with a rich history of colonial incursions, among them, the building of the Trans-Australian Railway and the atomic testing at Maralinga.

 “Yuldea” attempts to portray the effects of these events on the traditional life of the original inhabitants of this land.

As with all Bangarra Dance Theatre presentations the design elements are superb. A throbbing soundtrack heralds the opening scene which is performed behind a scrim. Through the haze groups of dancers suggest the arrival and departure of itinerant tribes. 

Lighting design by Karen Norris takes advantage of every opportunity offered by Elizabeth Gadsby’s spare, sculptural setting to endow it with a pervading sense of mystery and atmosphere.  A horizontal light-filled column, which initially hovers above the dancers, then later frames them in a giant arc, dominates this setting which is backed by a graceful string curtain which allowed the dancers enter and exit the shiny, ochre strewn stage.

Jennifer Irwin continues to amaze with her bold combinations of soft textured fabrics and bare skin to achieve a feeling of primitiveness and high fashion that compliments the bodies of the dancers, as well as serving the drama of the subject matter.

Nowhere is her aesthetic better exemplified than in the stunning Kapi Spirit duet performed by Lillian Banks and Kallum Goolagong.

Lillian and Kallum Goolagong in "Yuldea"

Responding to an evocative soundscape by Leon Rodgers, Rings choreography is sophisticated, resourceful and captivating to watch. Often embracing acrobatic elements and beautifully resolved groupings, it is danced with precision, drama and commitment by the dancers.

However, despite the beauty of the images throughout, it was often difficult to recognise the intended significance of the symbolism ensconced in the various sections as suggested in the information provided in the printed program. However “Yuldea” still provides a memorable evening of superbly presented dance.

                                                         Images by Kate Longley

                           This review first published in CITY NEWS on 21.07.23

YULDEA

 

YULDEA. 

Choreographed by Frances Ring and the dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre. Set designer. Elizabeth Gadsby. Costume designer. Jennifer Irwin. Lighting designer. Karen Norris. Composer. Leon Rodgers. Guest composers. Electric Fields. Bangarra Dance Theatre. Canberra Theatre. July 20-22 2023. Bookings: 62752700

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.

 

Connection and collaboration lie at the very heart of Aboriginal culture. Nowhere is this more evident than in Frances Ring’s first work for Bangarra Dance Theatre since taking over from Stephen Page as artistic director. Truthtelling, healing and hope embody Bangarra Dance Theatre’s work. 

Deeply personal, Yuldea is a  powerful and moving account of her mob’s confrontation with colonial incursion and the impact of industrialization upon a culture, lore ceremony and kinship of the Nunga people of far west South Australia and the Anangu people of the Great Victorian desert.     Yuldea’s story is one of oppression and displacement. It is also one of resilience and survival. In four acts, Ring’s dancers enact the connection between sky and water, land and custom, incursion and destruction. The collaboration and ritual so beautifully expressed by Ring’s remarkable dancers in Act 1 is devastatingly represented in  Act 3, Empire, when the Trans Western Railway weaves like a steel serpent through their land.  The true horror of the white man’s impact is graphically evoked in Act 3’s dance sequences -  Mission and Black Mist. The dancers capture the devastating influence of alcohol, disease and dependency. In one chilling sequence dancers are dragged across the stage while struggling to escape. The traditional connection with earth is proud and communal in Act 1 becomes an image of oppression in Act 3.. Ring’s choreography is a poignantly visceral reminder of historical abuse and humiliation. The black mist of Maralinga that enveloped the Anangu people, bringing the spectre of death assumes a dark foreboding in Leon Rodgers’ score and Karen Norris’s lighting on Elizabeth Gadsbys cyclorama setting.

Yuldea is a visual and aural delight that touches the heart. Designer Elizabeth Gadsby’s open staging of Rings’ work accompanied by Norris’s striking lighting effects and Rodgers’ and Electric Fields’ emotive composition allows for a diversity of choreography and emotional response. Collaboration creates a harmony of spirit and understanding. There is a fusion of empathy in every aspect of the work and an audience is swept along in a spectacle of sound and light and dance. Rings' vision is translucent and transformative and the company shines in the shared light of her vision.

Ring and her creatives and dancers share a story that combines traditional and contemporary dance in perfect contrast and infusion. The four acts of the dance reflect the dignity of lore and custom in contrast to the cruelty of opportunistic ignorance. And yet in Act 4- Ooldea Spirit Yuldea offers hope as connection and collaboration come together to celebrate unity of spirit and kinship

Ring has stamped this wonderful work with her own distinct artistry. Her dancers respond to her distinctive choreography and the moments of traditional  connection to the earth, combined at times with balletic movement, graceful lifts, trust falls and acrobatics. There is a complexity to the story of Yuldea and its many conflicting stories and Ring with her dancers has  continued to explore new ways to carry the stories of their people forward into the future.

Maybe they too have been inspired by Selena Walker’s Welcome to Country and its embracing tone of reconciliation and hope. Art is political and in this historic year of  a referendum to determine a voice to parliament in the constitution Bangarra has created a dance work that reminds us of the stories that have led to this point in time and signal the hope of a new age of connection,collaboration and reconciliation. Bangarra’s Yuldea is probably the most important performance that you are likely to see this year. Don’t miss it.

Photos by Karen Longley

 

Yuldea - Bangarra Dance Theatre

 

 Yuldea – Bangarra Dance Theatre at Canberra Theatre Centre July 20 – 22, 2023.

Reviewed by Frank McKone

CREDITS

Choreographer – Frances Rings and the dancers of Bangarra Dance Theatre
Set Designer – Elizabeth Gadsby; Costume Designer – Jennifer Irwin
Lighting Designer – Karen Norris; Composer – Leon Rodgers
Guest Composers – Electric Fields
Miming Cultural Consultant – Clem Lawrie

BANGARRA DANCERS

Rikki Mason          Ryan Pearson                      Lillian Banks
Bradley Smith       Courtney Radford              Kallum Goolagong
Kassidy Waters     Kiarn Doyle                         Maddison Paluch
Daniel Mateo         Emily Flannery                   Janaya Lamb
Jesse Murray         Chantelle Lee Lockhart     James Boyd
Lucy May               Amberlilly Gordon    

Program Note:
Yuldea reflects the truth-telling of the Indigenous experience in Australia and
reminds us that there are two stories to the making of this country. Yooldil Kapi
is the traditional name for a permanent waterhole situated on the traditional lands
of the Kokatha people. It is recognised as one of the most important Aboriginal
sites in Australia. With the federation of our nation, Yuldea, and cultural life
would forever be changed. The precious permanent water source became highly
sought after by the explorers and settlers, and then used for the creation of the
Trans-Australian railway line. For many Anangu, it was a site of first contact and
a dramatic change to their traditional existence. People were displaced and
forced to leave their ancestral home.
[see https://kokatha.com.au for more]

________________________________________________________________________________

Frances Rings’ and the Company’s choreography has grown from within the story of the essential water, stolen from the people who had learned to understand their place and how to live with confidence on their Country.  It becomes a story of Biblical proportions of a free and independent people facing the pestilence of invasion by the locusts under the Crown, of their determination to survive near destruction, and to regain their rightful standing under the arch of reconciliation.

Yuldea is an outstanding work of dance-theatre, as powerful visually in the set design as in the sound and music; in the symbolism of imagery in costume design; in the emotional quality of the dance, in group, pair and individual scenes.  Yuldea is a great poem of the past, present and future which looks forward with confidence for new understanding across the cultural divide of colonialism.

Frances Rings, now Artistic Director of Bangarra, following the 33 year leadership of Stephen Page, has created a mature work for the Company, grounded in her personal history as she explains: Within my family lineage lies the stories of forefathers and mothers who lived a dynamic sophisticated desert life, leaving their imprint scattered throughout Country like memories suspended in time.  Their lives were forever changed by the impact of colonial progress….The story of Yuldea asks us to look beyond the narrative of our Nation’s modernisation to reconcile fraught history, and to affirm a future that no longer hides behind its truths but grows because of them.

In the introductory Welcome to Ngunnawal Country, where Canberra Theatre is situated, two things were made clear.  The traditional First Nations Welcome is an invitation to all with good intentions based on respect.  For the upcoming referendum on a constitutional Indigenous Voice to Parliament, each one of us should inform ourselves and vote as we see fit in good conscience.

I must say I hope the success of the great work of art,Yuldea, presages another – political – positive success this year.

Photos: Kate Longley

 

LUCIE IN THE SKY - Australasian Dance Collective

 

Chimene Steele-Prior with Lucie in "Lucie in the Sky"

Concepted, created and choreographed by Amy Hollingsworth

Lighting Design by Alexander Berlage – Costumes designed by Harriet Oxley.

Music composition and sound design by Wil Hughes

Drone choreography by Amy Hollingsworth and Verity Studio.

Drones programmed by Verity Studio – Technical Adviser: Dr Catherine Ball

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse 14^th and 15^th July 2023.

Performance on 14^th July reviewed by Bill Stephens.

Putting aside the technical miracles achieved in getting this production to the stage, it’s amazing how easily one succumbs to the fantasy that these cute little fairy lights have personalities of their own, and react with curiosity and playfulness to the overtures of the six superb dancers who make up the Australasian Dance Collective.

Presented as part of Canberra’s inaugural Uncharted Territory Festival, created to celebrate creativity, experimentation and ground-breaking ideas, “Lucie in the Sky” certainly ticked all the boxes of the festival’s criteria.

Dancers of Australian Dance Collective interacting with the drones in "Lucie in the Sky"

“Lucie in the Sky” was concepted, created and choreographed by Amy Hollingsworth with, and for, the six dancers who make up her Australasian Dance Collective; Chase Clegg-Robinson, Harrison Elliott, Lilly King, Taiga Kita-Leong, Jack Lister and Chimene Steele-Prior.

Before the performance Hollingsworth addressed the audience to inform it that each of the five drones had been given individual names and emotionally coded to respond to the personalities allotted to the six dancers, the Caregiver, the Artist, the Innocent, the Seeker, the Magician and the Warrior.

She also shattered any suggestion that the name of the show had anything to do with the Beatles pop group, explaining that the particular microdrones used were trademarked, Lucies. In this show the blue drone is called Lucie, hence the title.  

In performance however , even though each of the drones had its own individual colour, it still proved difficult to keep track of who, and which, was what, mainly due to the low lighting level of Alexander Berlage’s extraordinary lighting design. Necessary of course to highlight the drones, but often making it difficult to recognise the individual dancers.

All the dancers were costumed in elegant, individually detailed, off-white costumes, designed by Harriet Oxley. Each was given moments to shine, with and without the drones. The whip-sharp solos and graceful group interaction, cleverly choreographed by Hollingsworth to highlight each dancer’s individuality and strengths, were a joy to watch.

Harrison Elliott and Skip in "Lucie in the Sky".

Harrison Elliott was a stand-out with his virtuosic, beautifully controlled tumbling and playful responses to the cheeky drone, Skip the Jester.

This is not the first time drones have been used in live performance.  Celine Dion, Justin Bieber and even Cirque du Soleil have used them in mass displays. However with “Lucie in the Sky”, Amy Hollingsworth and her company have found a captivating way to make them appear to interact with the performers.

Therefore after bonding with the five captivating drones during performance it came as something of a letdown to discover, in the post-show conversation that followed the opening night performance, that it actually required 48 drones for each performance.

This is because each tiny Lucie drone only has a three-minute battery life. To then learn that each drone is carefully mapped and tightly programmed, requiring the dancers to adhere strictly to the complex choreography to achieve the impression that they were interacting with the drones, felt a little like learning the truth about Santa Claus.

However don’t let truth deprive you of a truly unique and delightful experience when “Lucie in the Sky” comes your way.

                                                         Images by David Kelly

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

GOOD WORKS

Written by Nick Enright

Directed by Julian Meyrick

The Mill Theatre At Dairy Road, Fyshwick to August 12

 

 Reviewed by Len Power 19 July 2023

 

Written in 1995 by Australian Nick Enright, the play explores the memories of members of two Irish Catholic families, the Donovans and the Kennedys.  Covering 60 years, the play moves randomly between the 1920s, the 50s and the 80s and builds up a vivid picture of life in those times.

The ‘Good Works’ of the play’s title depend on everyone’s personal point of view.  The religious influence of the time on these people is strong and far-reaching.  It underlies thoughts, judgements and decisions, many leading to conflict and tragedy.

The cast of six play the members of this family at various times in their lives.  At first, the random nature of the memories seems confusing but eventually a clearer picture emerges.  The incisive performances of all six actors add considerably to the production’s success.

Oliver Bailey and Martin Everett give deeply detailed performances as the two boys who share a binding friendship growing up together before an incident tears them apart.  Adele Querol gives a spirited and moving performance as Rita, a girl and woman who tries to fight against the perceived restrictions of her life.  Lexi Sekuless skilfully plays Mary Margaret, Rita’s school friend, who grows into a woman of strong, well-meaning principles.  Helen McFarlane gives finely etched characters in a number of roles and Neil Pigot, who also plays multiple roles, is particularly effective as the sadistic Catholic Brother Clement.

Director, Julian Meyrick, keeps the highly complex interaction of these characters and the time shifts clear.  The clever lighting design of Stefan Wronksi, Jennifer Wright and Tim Sekuless helps to keep us aware of these different time periods.  The simple but attractive set designed by Kathleen Kershaw works well.  It has a dreamlike, shadowy feeling about it.

This is a play that resonates for anyone who lived during those time periods.  For everyone else, it is a highly effective look back at a very different time in this country.

 

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/.