by The Torch Company
at North Melbourne Town Hall until February 20, 2000
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
The last fifteen minutes of The Torch are filled with potent
images and powerful, passionate social commentary. Even after the curtain call,
the poignancy continues with Uncle Emanuel Cooper, elder of the Yorta Yorta
tribe, singing "In the Sweet By and By".
The Torch is community theatre at its most engaging and
effective. It combines professional artists with members of the community, most
of whom are non-Anglo Australians, either Kooris or immigrants from all
continents. The result is a vibrant, colourful and heartfelt production.
The issues arising are those inherent in our multicultural
country. We confront racism, poverty, abuse, conservatism, homelessness and
despair. But we also see a growing sense of community and acceptance, some
steps toward reconciliation and a pride in our past, wherever it was.
Director, Stefo Nantsou has a deft hand. He devised a clever
and socially challenging script with input from the company of actors. He cultivates
a fine level of performance in a group of largely non-professional actors.
There are several threads to the story. In Tidy Town in
country Australia, the community prepares for the Olympic Torch to be carried
through the town. Local resident, Rose (Andrea James) attends her mother's
funeral with her father, Bill. (Steve Payne)
Her journey through grief takes her to the city where she
confronts hostels, housing commission flats and the ethnic diversity that was
absent from her rural life.
The most significant meeting is with an old Koori, Uncle
Shady, (Tony Briggs) who knows more about Rose and her past than Rose herself.
Rose must reassess who she is, here she fits in and how to live her life.
Nadja Kostich is luminous as the persecuted Serbian
immigrant and Sally Mwangola has great dignity as the wife of a Kenyan doctor.
Jim Daly is versatile in several roles.
Nantsou creates some truly magical and painful images
amongst a stage set of grey boxes. Cultural icons, such as the Unknown Soldier,
collide with aboriginal ghosts. A settlement of Kooris are violently moved from
their land. Tidy Town residents mass to watch the Torch run .
The international Olympic coverage cameras capture Rose's
exceptionally creative no-violent protest action in Tidy Town. It makes a
gloriously poetic and admirable ending to this delightful and emotional play.
by Kate Herbert
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