Perth Theatre Trust Presents CATALPA Beginning 3/11

The true story of the whaling ship 'Catalpa', and her captain George Anthony has been described as one of the most extraordinary prison escapes of all time linking Ireland, Australia and the United States of America. It was a mission that spanned the globe and culminated in the rescue of six Irish Fenian political prisoners from Fremantle Prison.

This electrifying one-man show, performed by Irish born Des Fleming, captivated audiences during its Melbourne season and proved both a critical and box office success. In 2008, Catalpa received two Green Room Award Nominations for Direction and Music.

The Catalpa rescue is an epic highlight of West Australian history, a commemorative sculpture was dedicated in 2005 by the City of Rockingham at the site of the actual rescue. The sculpture comprises six bronze, over life-size wild geese taking flight towards the Indian Ocean, the setting sun and freedom from Fremantle Prison through the Port of Rockingham and onto Massachusetts, United States.

A perfect complement to St Patrick's celebrations: this rich, lyrical show builds into an astonishingly gripping tapestry, a ripping yarn brought to life by word and sound alone.

"It's a triumph, a joy and a delight. I beg you to go and see it." The Irish Times

"The role demands immense range and virtuosity from actor Des Fleming, and exceptional detail from director Alice Bishop. The production achieves both." Martin Ball - The Age

"Fleming is a rare talent of an actor, versatile, understated and powerful all at once. Alice Bishop did a wonderful job with an objective eye, dictating the momentum and tempo of the piece and staging it seamlessly. The original music and sound performed live by Wally Gunn is perfectly suited to the production." Paul Kooperman - Australian Stage Online
"Fleming gives a clean, polished and thoroughly engaging performance." Chris Thorpe - Arts Hub

PREVIEW: Friday 11 March @ 7.30pm
SEASON: Saturday 12 to Saturday 19 March 2011 @ 7.30pm
MATINEE: Saturday 19 March @ 2pm
WHERE: Subiaco Arts Centre, 180 Hamersley St, Subiaco
BOOKINGS: BOCS Ticketing 9484 1133 or www.bocsticketing.com.au or at any BOCS outlet
GROUP BOOKINGS: Ph 9321 6831: Buy 10 tickets and get one free
*TICKETS: Standard $38 Concession $33
Student Rush $20, available 15 minutes before the show. Conditions apply.
*Prices include booking fees. Transaction fees may apply.
Special $5 Pint of Guinness on presentation of ticket at the bar

THE COMPANY
ITCH Productions is a Melbourne based independent theatre company. Their aim is to produce exciting and entertaining work, which engages with the universal question of what it is to be human and to tell stories in a way that provokes, enriches and sustains the imagination. InterNational Theatre of the Condition of Humans, ITCH for short, was established in late 2007. Catalpa by Donal O'Kelly, which premiered at the Mechanics Institute, Brunswick in May 2008 was ITCH's debut show, which they have followed up with successful seasons of new works BODYBAG (2009) and The Butterfly Catcher, which premiered in June 2010. www.itchproductions.com.au

DES FLEMING - ACTOR / PRODUCER
A native of Cork City, Des trained at the Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin. Since becoming resident in Melbourne he has starred in Catalpa, The Butterfly Catcher and BODYBAG with ITCH Productions and Eureka - the Musical at Her Majesty's Theatre. Film and TV includes roles in Blue Heelers, MDA, All Saints and the feature films Dying Breed and Laws of Attraction. In Ireland he starred as Pete Maguire in the BAFTA award winning comedy series Custer's Last Stand-Up for the BBC. Theatre includes roles in Anna Karenina, King Lear, The Passion of Jerome (National Theatre of Ireland) and Juno and the Paycock.

ALICE BISHOP - DIRECTOR / DESIGNER
Her directorial credits include Catalpa (Green Room nomination for Best Director), BODYBAG and The Butterfly Catcher with ITCH Productions. Nil, Cat & Buried, The Doctor (which she also translated and adapted) and The Ruffian on the Stair for le poulet terrible, Don DeLillo's Love Lies Bleeding with Redstitch, Alzheimers the Musical for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (nominated for a Golden Gibbo), The Trial of Adolf Eichmann at La Mama, Percy Shelley's The Cenci for Perth's Hayman Theatre, I've Got a Bug for the Adelaide Fringe as well as Much Ado About Nothing for Essential Theatre. For three years she was a member of The Sheryls, which played to packed houses on the Australian festival circuit and the Edinburgh Fringe.

WALLY GUNN - COMPOSER
As well as working with visual artists, dancers, and filmmakers, Wally has worked extensively in the theatre. Recent productions to feature his original composition and sound design include: The Eleventh Hour's The Winter's Tale, Melbourne Workers Theatre's Shrimp (awarded Drama Victoria's Best Performance for Young People 2007), and The Eleventh Hour's I Am Not What I Am - Othello Retold. Wally has recently completed a Masters of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in NYC.

DONAL O'KELLY - WRITER
One of Ireland's best-known playwrights and actors. Catalpa won a Scotsman Fringe First Award at the 1996 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Critic's Prize at the Melbourne International Festival in 1997. Catalpa has played all over the world - Kennedy Centre Washington DC, Melbourne, London, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Paris, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Geneva, always to enthusiastic audiences and rave reviews. Donal has twice been awarded an Irish Arts Council literature bursary, and in 1999 was awarded the Irish American Cultural Institute Butler Literary Award.

James RushFORD - MUSICIAN
James is a young Melbourne-based composer/performer and multi-instrumentalist. His regular ensembles include the trio Golden Fur, rock trio Johnny Saw Horses, and an improvising duo with Joe Talia. He performs intermittently with Francis Plagne, Ned Collette & Wirewalker, BROUS and the Un-Australian String Quartet. His solo record, Vellus, was released by the experimental music label Cajid Media in 2008, followed by a collaborative album with Joe Talia, Palisades, on Sabbatical Records in 2009. James completed a Masters of Music Performance (Composition) at the Victorian College of the Arts last year. In 2008, James was the recipient of the Eric & Margot Cooper Travel Scholarship and the Dowd Foundation Award. As a composer, James was also the recipient of the Alan Rose Memorial Fund, the Keith & Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship, the Marion and Isobel Thomas Prize, the Frank Bosch Scholarship, and has had music commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Speak Percussion, Song Company, Team of Pianists, Decibel, ELISION (UK), CUSP Gallery, Ear Massage (NETHERLANDS), The Bionic Ear Institute, Tristram Williams, Quiver, the Melbourne International Arts Festival (2006 and 2008), and the 21:100:100.

THE TRUE STORY OF CATALPA

In 1866 six Irish men serving in the British Army are convicted of treason, and sentenced to life imprisonment and exile in the penal colony of Western Australia, the most remote prison on the planet.

One of the imprisoned men, James Wilson, sends an appeal for rescue to Fenian leader John Devoy in New York. Devoy, who had been instrumental in recruiting the men to the Irish Republican Brotherhood, conceives an audacious plan to rescue them. It was an ambitious undertaking which required the financial support and the secrecy of over 3000 Irishmen.

However, the ultimate success of the mission lies with two men, John Breslin and Captain George Anthony.

Breslin, a devoted republican has already established himself as a successful operative, having planned and led the rescue of Fenian leader, James Stephens, from Richmond prison in Dublin. Captain Anthony, who has no ties to the Irish cause, craves the opportunity to sail one last time. He agrees to leave his wife and baby daughter, and skipper the Catalpa on her hazardous ocean voyage.

These two men face enormous odds, but their greatest obstacle may turn out to be each other. Breslin's lust for French girl, Marie Tondut threatens the entire enterprise while Anthony's wavering loyalty struggles to keep it afloat.

THE CATALPA ESCAPE

Perhaps the most famous escape from Fremantle Prison was that of six Irish convicts in 1876. The Fenian movement or Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret political society engaged in resistance against British rule in Ireland in the 1860s. A number of Fenians who had infiltrated the British military services were discovered, arrested and sentenced to transportation to Australia.

In 1868 the convict ship Hougoumont arrived at Fremantle carrying 279 convicts, including 62 Fenians. This was the last convict transport to arrive in Australia. The following year one of the Fenian prisoners, John Boyle O'Reilly, was sent to a convict depot in Bunbury. O'Reilly befriended a local Catholic priest who helped him escape aboard an American whaling vessel. O'Reilly sailed to America and settled in Boston, eventually becoming the editor of the Boston Pilot. Yet he never forgot the other Fenian prisoners back in Fremantle.

Two rounds of pardons in 1869 and 1871 saw most of the Fenians released. The American Brotherhood, including O'Reilly and another Irishman John Devoy, plotted to rescue the remaining prisoners.

The Catalpa ship was purchased and in April 1875, disguised as a whaler, it left Massachusetts for Western Australia. Captained by George Anthony and crewed by 22 sailors, most of whom did not know their true mission, the Catalpa took 11 months to reach Australia.

Meanwhile two undercover Fenian agents John Breslin and Tom Desmond arrived in Fremantle in September 1875. Breslin masquerading as a wealthy American businessman and Desmond as a wheelwright.

The Catalpa reached Bunbury in March 1876. Anthony and Breslin met to finalise the rescue. Coded messages were sent to the prisoners in the Convict Establishment and on Easter Monday the rescue plan was put into action.

Desmond cut the telegraph lines between Fremantle and Perth to hamper communications. The six Fenian prisoners left the prison in their morning work parties. Most of the convict garrison was out watching the Perth Regatta on the river and security was at a minimum. The six Fenian prisoners - Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hasset, RoBert Cranston and James Wilson slipped away from their work parties and were met by Breslin and Desmond with two horse drawn carriages. A nervous two hours followed as the carriages raced south to Rockingham where a long boat waited to take them out to the Catalpa. A local worker James Bell, saw the convicts as they arrived on the beach and raced to Fremantle to alert the authorities.

A fierce storm which cut the whale boat's mast prevented the long boat from reaching the Catalpa, which was moored at Garden Island. Forced to remain in the long boat overnight the Fenians feared for their lives. The next morning the Fenians once again rowed for the Catalpa. They reached Catalpa in the morning but they also found steamship Georgette and a water police cutter were closing in. The whaleboat reached the Catalpa and because there were no official orders to board the ship, the Georgette and the cutter withdrew.

The next morning the refuelled and heavily armed Georgette commandeered by the Governor returned and fired a warning shot with its 12 pounder (5 kg) cannon. Ignoring the demand to surrender, Anthony raised and then pointed towards, the U.S. flag, informed the Georgette that an attack on the Catalpa would be considered an act of war against the USA, and proceeded westward. Wanting to avoid a diplomatic incident, the Georgette reluctantly allowed the Fenians to sail away into the Indian Ocean.

Due to cut telegraph cables, news of the escape did not reach London until June. At the same time, Catalpa made its best to avoid Royal Navy ships on its way back to the USA. O'Reilly received the news of the escape on June 7 and released the news to the press. The news sparked celebrations in USA and Ireland and anger and embarrassment in Britain and Australia. Catalpa returned to New York harbor on
19 August 1876.

The Catalpa arrived at its homeport of New Bedford, south of Boston on 25 August 1876 to a heroes' welcome. Back in Western Australia the Governor and authorities were severely shamed and a thorough inquiry was held.

The story of the escape, is one of the most ambitious and audacious in the long history of Fremantle prison, soon became world news as reports recounting the daring tale appeared in newspapers in the USA, Europe and Britain. Songs and poems were written to celebrate the escape. One such song The Ballad of the Catalpa, written in WA to the tune of a traditional Irish folk song, so annoyed the police that it was officially banned.

The Catalpa Rescue has inspired many poems, songs, other theatre productions, a drama documentary for the ABC (2007) and a national exhibition Escape! Fremantle to Freedom, curated by Fremantle Prison.

On 9 September 2005 a memorial (picture left) was unveiled in Rockingham to commemorate the escape. The memorial, a large statue of six wild geese, was created by Irish Western Australian artists Charlie Smith and Joan Walsh Smith. The geese refer to the phrase "The Wild Geese", which was a name given to Irish soldiers who served in European armies after being exiled from Ireland. To the Irish 'The Wild Geese' have always represented the flight from oppression and the hope of achieving freedom and human dignity.

The semi circular form of the monument echoes the sacred groves of the Celts. Constructed in local limestone it symbolises Fremantle Prison and the many civic structures built by the Fenians in their captivity. The Wild Geese are mounted on a pillar representing the Catalpa Tree, after which the ship was named and the Tree of Life, which to the Celts with its roots and branches form a continuous symbol of eternity.

 

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