The Visitors
Writer: Jane Harrison
Director: Frederick Copperwaite
Carriageworks
January 23–26, 2020
Acclaimed Murawari playwright, Jane Harrison, has re-imagined the arrival of the First Fleet in The Visitors – the latest game-changing production by Moogahlin Performing Arts. Presented from the perspective of seven clan leaders, who have gathered on Gadigal land to decide how they will respond to the strangers, the play resists the commonly held view that the Aboriginal people were victims of colonisation.
The lovely setting with its suggestion of tall trees amid scrub, the rhythmic sound of the sea and silent figure sitting at peace within the natural landscape, quickly establishes what is at stake. A slowly spreading ground-mist signals the arrival of the elders – performed by John Blair, Damion Hunter, Colin Kinchela, Nathan Leslie, Leroy Parsons and Glenn Shea – who have gathered in just such a way through time immemorial. They enter in that characteristically Bangarra fashion, unobtrusively but fully present, fully grounded.
Bare-footed, the elders wear tailored suits and ties, a uniform worn by any cabinet or board of directors, visually and wittily overturning any notion of an unsophisticated, haphazard native people. They have long-established protocols for conducting such a high-level meeting and rules for making important decisions and, as they talk and “listen deeply” (an important rule), each is readily recognisable as a type of person. The group is fully rounded out by “Gramps” (Glenn Shea), a very elderly man, and the arrival of Lawrence (Kerri Simpson), a young man not yet fully initiated but nevertheless, opinionated.
At first, they are pro-resistance. However, a more philosophical elder (Leroy Parsons), interested in observing the strangers and collecting artefacts left after Cook’s expedition, offers alternative interpretations of their behaviour. As they talk and share knowledge about the strangers – and make sly fun of them and their ways – they explore both their reasons for wanting to send them away and the possibility that the strangers have knowledge to offer. None has a more powerful story than the charismatic Gordon (Damion Hunter) who, from the beginning, has fiercely opposed welcoming the strangers.
By showing Aboriginal characters before colonisation Harrison has freed us from the narrative imposed upon events by the colonisers. Her insightful re-imagining offers us all a way we can move forward towards a better future based upon truth and respect. Those who see this performance will listen to the by now familiar Welcome to Country with a new understanding of how this valued Aboriginal precedent played out so tragically in our troubled history.
Congratulations to the ensemble cast whose respectful telling of their collective story made this play a deeply moving and illuminating experience.
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theatre@ssh.com.au
