Continuing my “Eurovision Countdown” and highlighting another wonderful song and performance. And highlighting something which I wish there was more of in modern Eurovision: songs in languages other than English. This song is awesome, and was easily my favourite from 2007. Marija Šerifović from Serbia. There’s an English language version, too, but in my opinion, it lacks the passion of this.
My head tells me I should go to bed straight away, as it’s close to midnight and I need to be awake at five o’clock in the morning to be at work at six. Actually, to be honest, although I set the alarm for five o’clock, I usually hit the snooze button a couple of times, and, being so close to work, I can still make it by six. But I just can’t go to bed just yet, as I’m still quite pumped from having seen the Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of “Death of a Salesman”.
I have always been vaguely aware of Arthur Miller’s work, having studied “The Crucible” at high school. However, I’ve never seen a production of his best known play, “Death of a Salesman”. And so when Colin and I were sitting in the theatre tonight waiting for the show to start, I asked him for a brief outline of the plot. Put very simply: it’s the story of a man who, close to retirement, with many regrets, kills himself.
In deciding to go, the star attraction for me was Jackie Weaver as the wife. I think she’s such a fantastic actor and one of those people who, when on stage, just makes you feel good.
However, it was Jackie’s real life husband – and husband in the play – who was the real surprise attraction. He was absolutely tremendous in the title role. There were so many people from my own life – friends and family (and probably a bit of myself) – who I could see in the characterisation he provided. Truly fantastic, especially as he maintained such a strong and consistent performance over a fairly lengthy play.
Also, the actor who played the son “Biff” was excellent. In this character too, I could see many parralels with the issues all of us struggle with as we search for meaning. Like his father, he too, had regrets about an apparent sense of failure.
The most moving scene for me was the funeral scene. The look on Jackie Weaver’s face, that look of desolate grief, was overwhelming. As I looked into her eyes, tears swelled up in mine, eventually rolling down my right cheek.
At one moment I thought of the father son relationship as being like that explored in “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof”. And then I began to think about plays like “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf” and some of the other great works of American theatre. At that point I wondered if, we too, have a similar theatrical tradition in Australia. I concluded that although we have some great plays, we probably don’t have many of those plays which have the same international appeal. We often go for the quirky, the uniquely Australian, and we often don’t like to “spell it out” as obviously as American theatre often does. We also often use humour to diffuse an exploration of some of those “great issues” of life. That may or may not be a good thing.
Overall though I thought it was a great play. Great actors, too. And the set was simple. There was nothing to distract you from the play itself, which contains so many memorable scenes and memorable lines. The kind of lines that you don’t just let slip by as “good one liners”. They’re the kind of lines that you listen to, and then reflect upon for moments afterwards. Don’t ask me to repeat some of them now, though, as it’s close to midnight and I should be in bed.
When I called my friend Sue in Melbourne for a weather report this morning I’d already packed my bag. I didn’t really think I needed to ask if I should bring a jacket but something deep inside me thought I should. “Yes you do, it’s twelve degrees outside and I’m driving to work with the heater on”, she told me. I was silent for a moment. And then I began laughing nervously. “My how things can change so very quickly”, I thought to myself about the weather in Melbourne. Welcome relief, I’d imagine after what they’ve been through.
I’ve come down for a face to face meeting for work tomorrow. Taking advantage of this, I’ve decided to spend the night before with Sue, which is a lovely bonus. It’s actually my first flight since arriving back from overseas and I’d forgotten how much hassle can be involved in travelling by air. And by that, I don’t just mean the security screening. When I arrived at Sydney Airport, I went straight to the automatic check-in terminal and was issued with my boarding pass in a matter of seconds. After that you would have though it was reasonably straight-forward to walk over to the baggage drop-off and well, drop of my bag. Unfortunately, however, there was only one operator available for the fifty-plus people in the queue. Eventually, they gave us another operator, but that didn’t seem to make much difference. When I finally made my way towards the front of the queue, I quickly realised passengers were probably a major part of the problem. It seemed whenever someone was about to put their bags on the transporter belt, they suddenly needed to be opened and checked several items. And various items needed to be transfered between the two sets or luggage. One woman I noticed zipped and unzipped her bags three times, looking for something and then checking for something else. And then I noticed another syndrome in the queue where the very next person to be called up, suddenly finds themself in a trance-like state and seemingly unable to hear the calls for “next please”. Oh, and don’t get me started about those people who hog the aisle as they pack and unpack everything in the overhead lockers, while a crowd of people awaits taking their seat. Do you think the grumpy old man gene has set in, or is this frustration more common?
On arrival, I discovered my taxi driver had a “chip on his shoulder” about Sydney. “I’ll bet you’ve got more people working up there in Sydney than we do in Melbourne”. “You know, Melbourne is actually the cultural capital of Australia”. Yawn. After a while, I actually said to him, “You know most people in Sydney think Melbourne is a great place and we love visiting friends and family down here”. At first he seemed a little shocked by the revelation. And then I told him, “You know this Melbourne-Sydney thing? Well, we NEVER talk about in Sydney.”. Stunned silence followed. We then had a conversation about the relative merits of Moomba and Mardi Gras (same weekend), and finally he realised I didn’t have two heads after all.
After work, Sue and I wandered down the Docklands Area for a bit of a look. And then after some discussion, settled on a meal at a cheap and cheerful place in St Kilda. Sue will remember the name of it, I’m sure. When my plate of lasagne arrived, I wondered at first if I could possibly eat it all. But you know the way pizza looks impossibly large when it arrives and suddenly you’ve consumed a whole one? Well, this lasagne was the same. “I haven’t had a glass of lambrusco in ages. Gosh it tastes good”, Sue commented further over dinner.
After dinner, we headed over to Chadstone Mall, which Sue told me was heavily promoted as “the largest in the Southern Hemisphere”. “What, larger than the one in Nairobi?”, I laughed to myself. And so while Sue looked at some boots, frocks, handbags and jackets (and bought a children’s toy), I was more interested in checking out glasses frames. Thanks to everyone for the terrific feedback. I feel much more confident about what I need to do now.
And then it was back home, a small amount of television watching, and time for bed.
Somewhere in my collection, I still have an original vinyl copy of the Yothu Yindi album, “Tribal Voice”. Though I liked and played the album a fair bit, it was the dance remix of the song “Treaty” that really brought them to my attention, and made them a favourite. And after that, there was a terrific remix of “Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming)” which, to be honest I think I preferred over “Treaty”.
Yothu Yindi
They performed both songs tonight, as the feature act performing at the opening of the Darwin Festival.
Yothu Yindi
For the second time in fifteen years, they performed with the original line-up. They performed a show in Queensland recently, but this was their first on home-turf which made it very special. Musically, visually, and politically, they’re as strong as ever. In the midst of an awesome version of “Treaty” (which had everyone on the dance floor), there was also a lengthy performance sequence about West Papua.
There were some other musicians performing tonight also, including a Darwin singer, Caiti Baker.
SA Singer, Adrian Eagle was terrific.
And I loved seeing singer, Ali Mills, who I first discovered through this awesome version of “Waltzing Matilda”. Later, I learned more about her role in the Mills Sisters, and that awesome song, Arafura Pearl”, which she performed tonight.
This show was to feature Marianne Faithfull in the role of the devil. Having seen the show, I can really imagine her doing it. Although I think she’s a great singer – I have a number of CDs – I think it’s a role she could have pulled off at this point in the life because, aside from walking on stage with a devilish smile, saying a few lines and singing a couple of songs, there’s not much to the role. However due to ill-health, she was unable to attend which, although disappointing was not the end of the world.
In his review in “The Age”, Bruce Hallett provides a neat summary of the plot of this musical. In essence the story tells of the young clerk Wilhelm and his love for Kathchen, the daughter of the old forester Kuno, who demands that she marry a hunter. Wilhelm is anything but a marksman, but he soon gets the mastery and power he needs after making a pact with the devil Pegleg. But one of the “magic bullets” he is given, and later solicits, in the hope of realising his destiny and dream, turns out to be cursed and destroys the very thing he desires.
Although it’s classic stuff, the re-telling was modern in an 80’s kind of way. The music, the costumes, the themes were not quite contemporary, but very much “of their time” when I think the musical was written. I could imagine Deborah Harry or Laurie Anderson or someone like that having a role in this. There were times, though, when it sounded a little dated… such as the satirical line about how marijuana leads to heroin (boringly William S Burroughs in its irony, I thought)… which made me disconnect.
Musically, of course, Marianne Faithfull would have been well suited to the role. The music is “classic Tom Waits” with its range encompassing the soulful and beautiful to the crashing and dischordant. With lyrics by Waits and William S. Burroughs (who also wrote the libretto), there are shades of Brecht and Weill which, again, I really love. Often, though, the music moves at such a pace it was difficult to pick up what was being said. Although I really enjoyed the music, I’d be struggling now to remember any of the tunes.
Visually though, it was terrific, with good lighting and set design. I had to laugh, though, when the characters were brought on stage. There was the devil in white face and black. There were also characters reminiscent of the mentally ill patients of the Australian movie, Cosi. The combination of both made me observe, “Oh look, it’s Clover Moore and Sydney’s Homeless”, a reference to the distinctive and seemingly unchanging appearance of the Lord Mayor of Sydney who was sitting several rows in front of me.
I thought it was quite good, but not great. My opinion however, was far more generous than my work colleague who, on arring back after intermission, declared, “Oh well, here’s another hour of torture we have to sit through”.
Academic and filmmaker (and colleague and friend) Larissa Behrendt talked about the importance to her of using archival material in her work, emphasizing the power of showing, rather than just telling, younger generations about past events. She acknowledged that reviewing some of the archive material in her new film was a little “triggering”, as it included memories of some difficult periods in Aboriginal history.
Larissa;s latest film, One Mind, One Heart, centers on the bark petitions, examples of which are displayed in the foyer of Parliament House in Canberra. These petitions, originating from Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory in the 1960s, addressed many issues, including land rights.
The film tells the story of one such petition that ended up in a house in Derby, Western Australia, separated from the others, and its eventual return to its community in the Northern Territory.
This journey raised interesting issues about the nature of repatriation: of returning artefacts and human remains to many communities from which they were taken. The interesting thing in this case is these petitions were intentionally created to leave the community and raise awareness. This distinction adds a layer of nuance to the discussion of repatriation.
The film’s producer, (my friend) Michaela Perske, was praised by Larissa for her problem-solving skills and ability to navigate the challenges of filmmaking, particularly when tackling difficult subjects. Larissa and Michaela have a strong friendship and working relationship having previously collaborated on the film After the Apology.
Despite confronting subject matter, including Aboriginal disadvantage, the abolition of ATSIC, and the Northern Territory Intervention, the film’s strength lies in its focus on the individuals involved. Viewers get to know key figures in the Indigenous rights movement, such as Aunty Pat Turner, Peter Yu and many others. The combination of contemporary interviews and archival footage creates a really powerful narrative of community strength and resilience. The response to today’s screening (and Q&A) session at Dendy Newtown was very positive.
Larissa Behrendt (second from right) at today’s screening at Dendy Newtown
One Mind, One Heart is currently available on SBS On Demand and NITV, and I’d highly recommend seeing it.
Despite the crap weather we’ve had over the last few weeks, Sydney really turned it on today. It was a beautiful day – warm, but not too warm; cool, but not too cool – and so Sue and I spent the afternoon wandering around the Royal Botanic Gardens. In between, we took in a tour of Government House (which was very enjoyable – the tour guide was excellent), and enjoyed a glass of wine at Opera Bar. It doesn’t get much better.
