Review: STOLEN Is A Stirring Expression Of A Terrible Part Of Australia's History

Friday 3rd June 2016, 7:30pm, Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatres

Australia's horrific history of taking Aboriginal children from their families plays out in STOLEN with moving modern "song lines" and storytelling. Opening at the end of Reconciliation Week, Jane Harrison's play remains an important reminder to new generations to never repeat the mistakes of our past and to understand the ongoing effects of these terrible acts.

Vicki Van Hout (Director and Co-Designer) gives new life to Harrison's work, first performed in 1998 in Melbourne, with a sensitivity and simplicity with a liberal dose of symbolism. Whilst STOLEN has previously been presented at Riverside Theatres in 2013 and 2015 in the form of play readings, this is a new, fully staged work, presented by National Theatre of Parramatta.

Van Hout and Imogen Ross (Co-Designer) have created a seemingly simple set, created with found objects that the performers make, and destroy, through the course of the 90 minute performance. A colourful yarn covered tree, complete with tennis ball fruit and lamplight reaches out over the stage that is filled with cardboard in various stages of construction and destruction. The natural form of the tree is countered by the rigidity of the window frame, complete with vertical blinds, suspended above the opposite side of the stage. The five performers are busy forming boxes, tidying scraps and tearing cardboard when the audience enters. Whilst some of the structures remain constant and are easily recognisable like the chest of drawers, other articles serve a variety of purposes through the work, drawing on the improvisation and symbolism of traditional Aboriginal storytelling.

Harrison, the playwright is herself of Aboriginal origin, a descendant of the Muruwari people of NSW, Director Van Hout is also of Aboriginal decent, as are the cast and some of the creatives making STOLEN even more real and honest. STOLEN focuses on five children that have each been affected by the Australian Government's Assimilation laws that saw Aboriginal children forcibly removed from families. Shirley (Henrietta Baird), now older, seeks to reconnect to her family and protect her new grandchild in a way she couldn't with her own children who were taken from her at birth. Ann (Matilda Brown), with fairer skin, was adopted by a white family but not told about her birth family till they make contact. Jimmy (Mathew Cooper) has bounced between menial jobs and jail following being released from the system and told that his mother is dead. Ruby (Berthalia Selina Reuben) was taken from the children's home and subjected to a life of servitude and abuse from her foster family. Sandy (Kerri Simpson), the product of a white man raping his mother, is constantly on the run from the authorities that want to take him away and therefore has never known a proper home.

Harrison has blended dialogues and monologues to tell the individual stories, using poetry and repetition along with traditional language and speech patterns indicative of Aboriginal groups to create variety and character detail. The stories are interwoven to give glimpses into each child's life. They are expressed through a variety of mediums, from spoken word, dance, and Toby K's (Lighting and Video designer) video projections. There is a strong physicality to the work which ranges from the light-hearted comedy of Ann trying to sunbake to Ruby's brutal abuse at the hands of her foster family. Dreamtime stories are accompanied by dance that draws on the mime and improvisation of traditional styles, from the kangaroos to the desert winds. Whilst most stories are clearly presented, the positioning of the "television" boxes for the projection of Ann's story needs to be angled to ensure that the entire audience can the "screen" along with the live action taking place.

The five performers capture the initial innocence of the children and evolve to express the damage caused by the separation. As children, the five present playful characters that are quickly plunged into confusion and fear as they each discover themselves torn from their families and put into the children's home. They handle the changes from their core roles to supporting each other's stories with ease as they help the primary storyteller express their story as additional characters and even filling in as furniture.

Phil Downing (Composer and Sound Designer) uses the performers to add to the soundscape which includes bird calls and the percussive beat of typing that underlies a number of the monologues, indicating that whilst some of the stories are being passed down through new song lines, others are being captured on paper. This beat also adds to the poetry of the work and is delivered with precision but at times can force the audience to strain to hear the text over the sounds. Whilst most of the work is presented without additional amplification, Downing captures and distorts sound for telephone calls and utilises a suspended microphone for more pointed presentation as Jimmy's anger increases.

STOLEN is an important, poignant work that reminds audiences to not forget this horrible chapter in our history and ensure that it doesn't happen again. It also serves as an expression of hope for those affected as the work shows that despite their losses and trauma, some of the children grow up to finding hope and understanding going forward.

Photos: Amanda James

STOLEN

Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Parramatta

Thursday 2nd June - Friday 17th June 2016

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