Daring Escape: Fled

Fled is based on the life of Mary (Dabby) Bryant, the woman behind one of history’s most daring escapes. Sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia, she escaped from the colony and sailed over 3,000 miles for 66 days in a stolen open boat with her husband, two children and other companions to West Timor (Coepang as it was then called). Here she was discovered, arrested and returned to Britain to be incarcerated until she was taken up as a cause célèbre by James Boswell who set her up in a house and sent her a stipend after she returned to Cornwall. In an Author’s Note, Meg Keneally stresses that this is a work of fiction, which is why she has changed some elements of the story, including names of the characters – Mary Bryant becomes Jenny Trelawny, later Gwynn after marrying Dan Gwynn.

The first part of the novel concerns Jenny’s route to crime and the highway robbery for which she was transported to the other side of the world. There is a detailed account of that trip on the Charlotte, on which she conceives and after which her daughter is named. She befriends Captain James Corbett, whose character is based on that of Watkin Tench, who tells her, “We don’t need to remake Newgate on the other side of the world. Well, I imagine there will be a guard house, or something like it. I’m sure that not everybody has left their criminal disposition back in England. But the entire place is intended as a prison. We’ll have no need of walls for the most part, it is to be hoped. We’ll have the ocean.”

The Charlotte at Portsmouth, May 1787 from Frank Allen's The Ships of the First Fleet

Life in this colony is brutish and cruel, as it is intended to be, in a land that must seem upside-down. The triangle that is used for the floggings is “an ominous symbol, a profane and subverted trinity.” To save herself from rape and degradation by the male convicts and soldiers, she marries Dan and has another child, Emmanuel (these were the real names of Mary Bryant’s children). Married couples are given separate quarters but others, jealous of what they perceive to be her advantages, strive to bring her low. When their actions result in Jenny being expelled to the women’s camp, she reflects, “While space was the only blessing this colony provided in abundance, it was one of the many denied to the hut convicts. Jenny now lived in a place of wails and screams and sobs and fights, of stench upon stench, of dangers buried in innocent conversation.”

From the moment she lands in Botany Bay, Jenny knows she wants to leave, and it soon becomes apparent that their best chance of survival is escape. Food is scarce, supply ships are absent, farming is in its infancy, and provisions are rapidly dwindling; making theft of food a hanging offence and starving to death a distinct possibility. Perhaps if the settlers had collaborated with the local people they might have had better chances of survival, but there is limited interaction between the white settlers and the Indigenous tribes. Jenny encounters an Aboriginal woman who shows her what leaves to chew or to brew to avoid scurvy. Although these are plentiful, Jenny guards this knowledge as currency, as she does when the Indigenous people take her fishing and share their methods with her.

Questions have been asked as to why Mary Bryant would risk a journey for herself and her children on the ocean and potential drowning. As well as starvation, the new colony is rife with disease (particularly smallpox) and the dangers to the women convicts are manifold. “Emmanuel’s death at sea is a possibility. His death here is nigh on certain.”

1930s era illustration of the convict escape

Much of the action of the novel takes place on the water, either in the Charlotte, or the cutter in which Jenny and her companions make their escape. These seafaring experiences are described in some length, which is both terrifying and tedious as indeed it must have been in reality. When they land, Dan’s bragging of his expertise at sailing the boat back to Coepang, leads to them being discovered and their subsequent arrest. The governor who had supported them and admired their skill and courage when he thought they were shipwrecked, turns against them when he learns they are escaped convicts, because he is angry that he has been cheated and make to look a fool; he fears for his reputation and “Laughter, laughter on the seas as the story spreads about the dupe of a governor.” Jenny is frequently at the mercy of men and their egos.

Eventually she returns to her family in Cornwall. She had been afraid of their reaction, but they are thrilled to see her and welcome her back, so the story has come full circle. This is one of the bits that the author has invented, but it makes for a satisfying conclusion. Mary Bryant’s adventure is a fascinating story and, although she has changed the names to compensate for lack of certain facts, Meg Keneally has told it with drama and compassion.

Friday Five: Some TV Shows

I haven't done this for a while, so here are just a few shows I've been watching recently (well, in the last couple of years anyway).

5 TV Shows Watched Recently-ish:

Anti and Ricky Gervais in After Life

1. After Life, Series 1, 2 & 3 (Netflix) - Tony (Ricky Gervais) is struggling to see the point of life after his wife Lisa (Kerry Godliman) has died from breast cancer. He contemplates suicide but is gradually drawn back into the community by his colleagues (Tony Way; Mandeep Dhillon; Tom Basden; Diane Morgan), his dad (David Bradley), his dad's nurse (Ashley Jensen), a prostitute with a solid social outlook (Roisin Conalty), a fellow griever on a park bench (Penelope Wilton), his dodgy postman (Joe Wilkinson), and a beautiful dog (Anti). It's black humour written by a master of the dark art. 
2. Handmaid's Tale, Season 5 (Hulu/ SBS On Demand) - It just keeps getting better! June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) are out of Gilead and still each other's nemeses. The cinematography is outstanding and the writing explores the nature of reproduction, rebirth and new beginnings. It is powerful drama, superbly acted and I just can't get enough of it (baby).



Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale

3. Lucifer, Season 3 (Netflix) - Tom Ellis has great style and charisma as Lucifer Morningstar, which is essential as Lauren German as Chloe Decker, the love 'interest', is anything but. There's some biblical hokum featuring angels and demons, heaven and hell, Cain and Abel, but mainly I watch it for the sharp suits, predictable plotting and flash scenery. It's easy on the eye (and the brain) but 26 episodes in a season is too much. Why do you do this, America?
4. Robin of Sherwood, Series 1, 2 & 3 (ITV) - I re-watched the entire box set. Such fun! That Clannad music! Michael Praed 'morphing' into Jason Connery! A young Ray Winstone being gruff as Will Scarlett! Nickolas Grace hamming it up as the Sheriff! The introduction of the Saracen character with Mark Ryan!  Maid Marian proving that frizzy hair was considered attractive! Herne the Hunter proving the writers were on drugs! Ground-breaking sets and backdrops; arrow shooting, quarterstaff fighting, horse-riding and swordsmanship! The same story trotted out 26 times! Guest appearances from the likes of Rula Lenska, Cyril Cusak, Phil Davis, Richard O'Brien and Lewis Collins! This was all so comforting and reminded me of watching television at home in my parents' house pretending I'd already done my homework. 
5. Spirited, Season 1 & 2 (ABC iview) - The Australian supernatural comedy drama romance ticks a lot of boxes. The lead actors Claudia Karvan and Matt King have great chemistry although they are completely different people - she's an uptight dentist; he's a post-punk new romantic. Oh, and he's dead. He inhabits the apartment block she moves into after she splits up with her husband (Rodger Corser) and he haunts people because he can't leave. She is the only human who can see him, so they exchange witty banter, although other humans can only hear her side of it and think she's going crazy. She just might be. It's like Moonlighting with a ghost, and was apparently targeted at 'women in their 40s'. There probably aren't many shows aiming at that demographic. On the basis of this, there should be more.

Matt King, Claudia Karvan and Rodger Corser in Spirited

Friday Five: Books Read in January

 

1. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon: Magnificent sweeping saga of love and literature, family secrets and a hidden bookshop, set in Barcelona. It is the second most successful novel in Spanish publishing history after Don Quixote.
2. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende: Read for family book club, this is a love story told through reminisces and letters in the confines of war and a nursing home.
3. Taste, My Life through Food by Stanely Tucci: I listened to this as an audio book because I love his voice and his charming self-deprecation, a result of growing up in America, choosing to live in England, and celebrating his Italian heritage. Through recipes, anecdotes and observations, he guides us through the highs and lows of his life in a rich and piquant memoir.
4. Destructive Emotions and How We Can Overcome Them by Daniel Goleman: Combining Buddhist wisdom and the latest research in neuroscience and child development, these dialogues with the Dalai Lama offer insights into how we can recognise destructive emotions and how to manage them. Spoiler alert - it is not the emotion itself which is destructive (anger is an energy after all), but our reaction to it and whether we allow it to take over rational thought.
5. Terms and Conditions by Robert Glancy: Waking up after a car accident with amnesia, Frank starts to piece together his memories only to recall that he doesn't like his job, his wife, his brother or even himself very much. As a business lawyer who specialises in terms and conditions, he reminds us with wry humour that it's always important to check the fine print. An enjoyable novel celebrating decency and standing up to the man.

Friday Five: Building Lego Words

January 28th is International Lego Day. This date marks the day when Danish carpenter, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, first submitted his patent for the original Lego brick in 1958. The LEGO company was founded in 1932, and made a variety of wooden toys. It took the name 'Lego' from the Danish words, 'Leg godt', which translates to 'play well'. It's still a big thing among children and some adults. Some of those adult enjoy acronyms. I hope you like these ones.

Lego Titanic built with the SNOT method

5 LEGO Acronyms:

BURP - Big Ugly Rock Piece: The larger of two classic pre-fabricated Lego elements frequently included in Lego castle sets. Part number 6082

SNOT - Studs Not On Top: Building things with pieces on their sides or upside down

POOP - Parts Out of Other Parts: Single-mould pieces that could also be built from smaller existing parts

AFOL - Adult Fan Of Lego: Most adults use this acronym but there are others

BOLOCs - Built Of Lots Of Colours: Models made using the Lego you have, no matter what colour, leading to rainbow-coloured builds

Millennium Falcon built with the BOLOCs method

Thorny Issues: Briar Rose

Briar Rose by Jane Yolen

Tor

Pp. 281

Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose is one of a series of re-told fairy-tales created by Terri Windling, who states in the foreword, “For countless centuries, storytellers have used the richly symbolic language of fairy tales to explore all the dark, and bright, and shades of gray of the human experience. Jane Yolen knows this better than most. And does it better than most.” Yolen takes the story of Briar Rose (also known as Sleeping Beauty) and links it to the Holocaust in ways that seems perfectly feasible while simultaneously fantastical. It is a Young Adult novel, with simplistic and unrealistic plot devices and characterisation, but it is also interesting reading for anyone who understands the power of the land of make believe.

Rebecca Berlin (Becca) is a young woman who has grown up hearing her grandmother (Gemma), always telling the same story, Briar Rose, in exactly the same words. No one knows much about Gemma, but after her death, Becca finds a box of personal effects which leads her to think there may be a war-time past. Her editor, Stan, encourages her to go to Poland to seek out the mysterious past of her grandmother. With the ease of stories over reality, he arranges her travel and translator through his journalistic contacts, so that when Becca reaches Poland she is assisted by a woman named Magda an incredibly hospitable tour-guide, translator, and unlocker of gates both literal and metaphoric.

They conveniently find a man, Josef Potocki, who knows Gemma’s story, which he relates to them in the middle third of the book – a story within a story, within a story. It transpires that the castle is a concentration camp, the brambles are barbed wire, the sleeping beauty is gassed, and the prince’s kiss is the breath of life. Tales are told as a means of coping with events, and if they are painful and don’t provide relief, one wonders what is the point. Becca is desperate to paint herself as the heroine in this tale; the Cinderella of the story. She can’t wait to return to America and boast to her sisters that she found the truth, even though they thought she was crazy for trying – yes, there are two of them with similar names (Sylvia and Shana) and she is the youngest.

The fairy-tale tropes loom large throughout the novel, and the narration is tightly constructed at the expense of character. This is satisfying in and of itself, and true to the genre. It may read like a creative writing challenge, but it certainly passes the test it has set itself.

The Rose Bower from the Briar Rose series (1885-1890) by Edward Burne-Jones 

Friday Five: But Wait, There's More Theatre

Lima Prichard as Ste and Nick Dyball as Jamie in Beautiful Thing

1. Beautiful Thing - Everyman Theatre, ACT Hub: The coming-of-age exploration of sexual orientation drama is sensitively directed by Jarrad West although some of the class issues and geo-political context is lacking. Sandra (Amy Kowalczuk) is a single mother in 80s Britain (southeast London, and the accent ain't bad) with all the social connotations that implies. Dressed in short leather skirts, chain-smoking and both seducing and repelling her latest hippie lover, Tony (played with cringe-worthy 'think-of-me-as-your-mate' pseudo cool by Colin Giles), Sandra is desperately concerned with appearances while pretending she doesn't care what the neighbours think. Her world order is challenged when her son Jamie (Nick Dyball, who does some great work when he isn't shouting to portray emotion) develops feelings for Ste, the heartthrob next-door. Liam Prichard has remarkable confidence in the role, delivering a subtle performance full of troubled teen vulnerability. Liv Boddington plays Leah, the drug-taking, Mama Cass-loving expelled adolescent with peculiar naivety rather than as an ASBO waiting to happen, in keeping with the sanitisation of the whole. Some of the blocking and sight-lines are questionable as the traverse set is problematic depending on where the audience member sits, but on the whole this is a heartfelt and touching production. 
2. Cyrano - Melbourne Theatre Company, Southbank Theatre: The production directed by Sarah Goodes is original and immediate, switching genders, updating language, and consolidating characters to make this a story for our times rather than an historic piece. Playwright and performer, Virginia Gay writes, "The stories that we tell have enormous importance... I don't think entertainment and fighting for something more are mutually exclusive; if you can do them both at once, then that is the sweet spot." This is smart and sexy, with many a self-aware wry comment on the nature of theatricality - often directly to the audience - enhanced by a plain, back-stage set. Gay is superb as the titular character with all the best lines and the nuanced personal development, Tuuli Narkle works hard with limited material as Roxanne, and Claude Jabbour brings the buff in contrast to the brains as the alternate love interest. The supporting chorus (Holly Austin, Robin Goldsworthy, Milo Hartill) guide us through the story with music, humour and theatrics, as they have heard it many times before, but the interpretation makes it feel fresh to our eyes and ears. 

3. Murder on the Nile - Tempo Theatre, Belconnen Community Theatre: Jon Elphick directs another Agatha Christie for Tempo Theatre - this is the eleventh time that he has done so, and it's pretty solid with no frills. First performed in 1946, Murder on the Nile is the play of the novel (and subsequent film versions) of the film, Death on the Nile. The staging here is all on a boat - mainly portrayed by a couple of port holes in the set - on the Nile - a missed opportunity for some dramatic lighting to portray the vivid sunsets mentioned in the script. Regular stalwarts of the company, Garry Robinson, Marian Fitzgerald, Paul Jackson and Kim Wilson return to play a variety of roles they've played before. If you've seen one Tempo production of an Agatha Christie play; you've seen them all - this isn't a bad thing because it makes Christie comfortable and familiar and sometimes that's just what's required from a night at the theatre. 
4. Come Alive Festival of Museum Theatre - The National Library of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery, NPG: Come Alive is a student festival that gains its inspiration from the exhibits and collections of the National Library of Australia and the National Portrait Gallery, creating  theatre performances that have drawn on characters, events, objects and items in the two galleries' vast collections. Peter Wilkins, artistic director of Come Alive, works with teachers and students to create the original and inspired performances in which students pursue their passion for the performing arts and engage with their nation's cultural heritage. Over a week, eleven groups presented fourteen performance through theatre, movement and music, as well as visual media. I saw St Clare's College perform Clowning Around (an abstract exploration of the association between clowns and mental disorders through movement and masks) and Colour My World inspired by the sculpture of Dr John Wu and his drive to create spaces for young patients that brought light into a world of darkness. I also saw a surreal and fascinating short piece by St Edmund's College called Life is Like a Box of Chocolates and inspired by a tin box of chocolates sent by Queen Victoria to her troops serving in South Africa in 1899. Nigel Palfreman is the teacher behind this memorable work which ranges from Buckingham Palace to the soldiers on the front line, and incorporates the legend of Banjo Patterson. Ashleigh Nguyen performed a dance piece based on the portrait and story of Anna May Wong, who 'reshaped the way Asian roles in American cinema could be conceived and created.' The bold work combines dance, text and video all choreographed and curated by Nguyen herself to confront stereotypes and challenge expectations. This is an excellent festival which should be encouraged and supported by all who care about engaging young people with their history and culture in original and exciting ways.
5. Sunshine Super Girl - Performing Lines, The Q - Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre: I remember watching the Wimbledon Women’s final in 1980 and knowing I was watching something special. Written and directed by Andrea James, Sunshine Super Girl follows the life, challenges and achievements of Evonne Goolagong Cawley, acted with a well-judged blend of charm and grit by Ella Ferris. All the other players in her story from her family to her coaches to coaches, competitors and journalists are given vibrant life and interpretation by the spectacular skills of the ensemble (Sermash Bin Saad, Jacqueline Compton, Lincoln Elliott, Katina Olsen). Katine Olsen is also credited as the movement director, and she has created an almost balletic interpretation of the drama of sport. Moments of humour and pathos are given equal weight as the highs and lows reflect the parrying back and forth of the ball over the net and into the angles of the court. The set, designed by Romaine Harper suits the purpose superbly as it represents the physical court, with movable fixtures, an umpire's chair, and metal benches representing everything from the family car to a hotel bed to a trophy cabinet. It would have been even more appealing if this were performed in the traverse setting as that would enhance the audience engagement and experience of the ebb and flow of the game(play). Sunshine Super Girl at The Q is a spectacular production of a play about a remarkable woman, and I’m all out of superlatives.

Ella Ferris as Evonne Goolagong Cawley in Sunshine Super Girl

Friday Five: Another Round of Theatre

1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - Free-Rain Theatre Company, ACT HUB: If you’ve ever been to one of those parties which go on too long and you should have left hours ago but somehow you just can’t and it turns into a metaphorical self-flagellation and everyone is ugly, mean and cruel, you will recognise this scenario. Cate Clelland directs Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with an almost uncomfortable intimacy as we come literally face to face with couples falling and tearing each other apart. Albee wrote, "There was a time when people believed in deities. And then revolutions came—industrial, French, Freudian, Marxist. God and absolutes vanished. Individuals find this very difficult and uncomfortable. All they have left is fantasy or the examination of the self." The four actors (Andrea Close; Michael Sparks; Karina Hudson; Josh Wiseman) do an outstanding job of examining themselves for three hours, hiding behind games and illusions because their reality is empty and brutal. Watch this play with absolute admiration; then find someone you love, hold them close, and tell them how much you value them, because the alternative is unbearable.
2. Art - The Street, Street One: Directed by Shelley Higgs and designed by Imogen Keen, this production is outstanding. It deconstructs language and theatre itself and builds it back into something cohesive as three men argue over a painting that remains concealed for a good part of the play. Serge (Shane Dundas) has bought it; Marc (Christopher Carroll) thinks it is ridiculous and Yvan (Craig Alexander) attempts to placate both sides without being forced into expressing an opinion. Of course, we take from art what we bring to it, and the men project their feelings, emotions, resentments and frustrations onto the canvas, just as the audience projects theirs onto the stage. The physical comedy is ramped up to match the witty script by Yasmina Reza, translated from French into English by Christopher Hampton, and they combine to make a fast-paced entertaining night out that also gives the audience something to think about.  



Christopher Carroll, Craig Alexander and Shane Dundas in Art at The Street Theatre

3. Bakkhai - NUTS, Kambri Cultural Centre: Playwright Anne Carson adapted this Greek tragedy from Euripides, claiming that it is his most subversive play, "telling the story of a man who cannot admit he would rather live in the skin of a woman, and a god who seems to combine all sexualities into a single ruinous demand for adoration." Director Kieran Knox has found plenty to exploit in the work, giving roles to a multitude of actors (some much better than others) in this student production. While it may miss many of the subtleties of civic duty and personal insecurity and identification, it succumbs to the trans and queer narrative that the cast and crew so clearly want to give it. Played in the round, the audience are up close and personal to way too much shrieking and the sombre moments risk being laughable, but the ensemble has a lot of fun with lots of anger, gore, shouting, violence, death, exile, filicide and madness - typical fun Greek tragedy. Moral of the story: don’t mock the gods; they’ve not got a great sense of humour or humility. Definitely worth watching if you like that sort of thing.
4. Soul Trading - Canberra Youth Theatre, Courtyard Studio: Kate Walder has written an intriguing new work set in the future (2079) where every child has an educational robot to help them learn and their lives are strictly regulated in every department. Jerry (Ted Abraham) is slightly different from the other kids and his 3-D-printed robot, Elon (Orlando Dove), is even more so. Thematic elements of  human interaction, environmental concerns and the morality of genetic selection add engaging layers to the witty production directed by Jena Prince. Production values of set, costume (Phoenix Mae), sound (Patrick Haesler) and lights (Antony Hateley) are extremely high and contribute to the atmosphere of the performance, which is both slick and charming. Although projection and diction from the cast is frequently questionable, the movement of the young actors which differentiate the sharp efficiency of the AI bots from their more languid and emotive human companions is highly commendable from this promising ensemble.
5. The Velveteen Rabbit - Child Players ACT, Belconnen Community Theatre: This theatrical adaptation of a childhood classic is utterly adorable and perfectly pitched at the young audience. Simple and effective set, props and costumes are all innovative for the obviously limited budget. It is a good decision to have an adult actor (Janine O' Dwyer) play Nana - the older audience loved her long-suffering actions and eye rolls - and child actors for all the rest; the toys who come alive by emerging from the toy-box are clear and easy to understand. The blocking in a couple of scenes means that sight-lines are challenged and focus is lost, but on the whole it is well-delineated with separate spaces for action - inside/ outside - and the calendar marking the passage of time is inspired and beautifully illustrated. As the Velveteen Rabbit, Asha Ellis displays a  delightfully mature approach for such a young performer with clear physical movements and facial expressions, great comedy timing, a sense of innocent wonder, and sympathetic interactions with the other characters. All the cast members get moments to highlight their abilities (the choreography of the real rabbits dance is charming), pleasing the family audience and the actors themselves. There is nothing too fancy or distracting, with nice moments of differentiation between the characters and explanation of the story, which makes for a wonderful first theatre outing.

Lily Welling and Asha Ellis in The Velveteen Rabbit by Child Players ACT