The Secret River began life as a novel, written by Kate Grenville in 2005, since when it has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared on school curricula. Local playwright, Andrew Bovell, has adapted the book for the stage and it is directed by Neil Armfield, co-Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival. That is a highly skilled and respected trio at the very source of this work, and the multiple awards that it has won are testament to the high quality and importance of the production.
The performance is set in front of a man-made cliff, the result of years of mining the stone for homes. Nature is reclaiming this hideous scar on the landscape, with many saplings growing and huge old gum trees around the area. A performance area has been set up, with undulations and slopes. To one side an open fire burns, and keeps burning through the entire evening. It becomes, at different times, the fire for both the indigenous inhabitants, and of the family of settlers. It all becomes an integral part of the performances, with the set design by Stephen Curtis working in with the quarry, and the whole lit evocatively by Mark Howett. Composer, Iain Grandage, and sound designer, Steve Francis, add to the natural sounds around us, and the songs of the Europeans, juxtaposed against those of the indigenous family mark the differences starkly.
The story concerns William Thornhill, transported to Australia for 'the term of his natural life', who has been given a pardon. His wife, Sal, had elected to come to Australia with him when he was sentenced, with their two sons, Willie and Dick. Having been pardoned she wants to return to England, but he argues that they have not enough money for the journey and takes the family up the Hawkesbury River to a spot on a curve in the river where he claims 100 acres for himself. She elicits a promise from him that they will work there until they have the money to return home, but he really has no such intention and hopes that she will come to see his point of view.
Along the river are other English settlers, but there is also a family of indigenous Dharug people, neither group being able to understand either the language or the culture of the other. This first contact situation was never going to end well due to the fallacious myth of terra nullius (nobody's land). When Captain Cook and the first fleet arrived on the east coast of Australia, they ignored the fact that the land was inhabited, and the international rulings that indigenous peoples were supposed to be treated with respect and to be asked to sell their land to people who wished to settle. Cook threw out the rule book and acted as though the land was uninhabited.
William, Sal, Willie, and Dick Thornhill are played, respectively, by Nathaniel Dean, Georgia Adamson, Liam Daughtry or Sebastien Skubala on alternating nights, and Jules Dawson or Hugo De Guzman on alternating nights, and they make a very convincing family. As time goes by, they each find different ways of relating to their indigenous neighbours or, perhaps, co-inhabitants would be a more accurate term, as both groups wait vainly for the other to move on.
Ningali Lawford-Wolf has several roles, the first being as a narrator, guiding the audience through the story and acting as a sort of Greek chorus, commenting on all that happens. She also plays Dhirrumbin, the wife of Yalamundi, played by Stephen Goldsmith, the two elders in the Dharug family. Finally, she plays Dulla Djin, the 'wife' of, Thomas Blackwood, played sensitively by Colin Moody. Blackwood and young Dick are the only two who have learned the language of their neighbours and treat them as fellow human beings, equals.
At the far end of the spectrum is the revolting, Smasher Sullivan, who keeps a set of dogs trained to attack indigenous people and tear them apart. He also carries a whip to use on them and it is this that blinds Blackwood when he attempts to stop the settlers from massacring the entire Dharug group. Richard Piper creates a Sullivan that makes your skin crawl and who you would never want to meet in real life. Veteran actor, Bruce Spence, plays Loveday, an educated and well-spoken settler, but who has no qualms about also joining in the massacre, which is triggered by the death of Saggity Birtles from a spear wound. Jennifer Hagan adds another perspective as the widow, Mr. Herring.
We, in the audience, are in a similar situation to the settlers as there are no translations provided, which is an excellent decision as it adds so much authenticity to the production. We look for the facial expressions and the body language and, thanks to superb actors, we see and learn so much, and wonder how the settlers could have missed so many positive signs. It is clear that their preconceived ideas and prejudices have clouded their senses, and erected a barrier, to what could have been a warm and productive future for everybody.
The marvellous actors playing the Dharung family convey confusion, bewilderment, anger, compassion, and a myriad other emotions, with their characters as individual and diverse as those of the settlers. Aside from Ningali Lawford-Wolf and Stephen Goldsmith as the family's elders, Frances Djulibing, Shaka Cook, Marcus Corowa, Dylan Miller, Natasha Wanganeen, Liam Clarke, with Jayden Bush on other nights, as the child, Garraway, all are totally convincing and elicit the sympathy of the entire audience.
There is not a weak link anywhere in this production. Every actor creates memorable characters and all contribute to setting up the strong feeling in each member of the audience as the tragic consequences unfold.
So many wonderful opportunities were missed by the English settlers, so many chances to build a cohesive nation were overlooked, so many disastrous decisions made in ignorance. The legacy of those early years lives on, and still divides a nation.
As the audience stood, awkwardly, in a standing ovation, not entirely sure what was appropriate, given the subject matter, it was wonderful to see so many tears, and then to realise that the performers were also crying. A sudden, brief thought of the novel of South African Apartheid, Cry, The Beloved Country, crossed the mind. That book had a great impact and brought Apartheid to the consciousness of the whole world, but this is an Australian story, a story that continues today, a story that few non-indigenous Australians have heard or properly understood, making it, and this play, of vital importance. Get tickets if you can.
