By Michael Futcher and Helen Howard, Matrix Theatre
At Beckett Theatre,
Malthouse, until July 15, 2000
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Good theatre moves, transforms and transports an audience. A
Beautiful Life does all this, forcing us to assess our views, question our
society and shift uncomfortably in our seats.
Writer/directors, Michael Futcher and Helen Howard, took the
story of an Iranian immigrant, a musician in their Brisbane company, and
created political theatre that challenges our often prejudiced and unfeeling
treatment of refugees.
It would be difficult to state a revolution in Australia
because of our "no worries" attitude. We live in a country sharing no
borders and have never suffered a civil war or oppression as a nation on our
own turf.
However, some of our migrants have suffered such horrors.
Hamid (Eugene Gilfedder), his wife Jhila (Doris Younane), son Amir (Yalin
Ozucelik) and friend Kamran (Errol O'Neill) were sponsored to come to Australia
to escape persecution in Iran.
Hamid suffered three years imprisonment without trial for
harbouring his friend, Masud (Sandro Colarelli), a member of the Mujahadin.
An even greater horror arises when Hamid, Jhila and Kamran
are arrested for a protest that goes wrong at the Iranian Embassy in Canberra
in 1992.
The Iranian government under the Ayatollah, was clearly
corrupt and oppressive but the Australian government bowed under diplomatic and
trade pressure.
Futcher and Howard weave past and present in the narrative.
The space is uncluttered and they use theatrical conventions to create
location, character and time shifts. It is a joy to watch the stage world
transformed by actors with few props and little technology apart form
compelling Middle Eastern music and evocative lighting.
The ensemble is excellent. Gilfedder is riveting as the
complex and driven Hamid. Younane finds strength and warmth in Jhila and
O'Neill demands our compassion for the damaged Kamran. Damien Garvey is
frightening as the smiling villain, Ahmad.
We are confronted by the apathy and prejudice of the
Australian justice system. The law is uninterested in the past suffering of
these people. It cares only about evidence, facts presented by brazen lawyers.
My one criticism is the two-dimensional characterisation in
writing and presentation of the Australians. If there is subtlety and range in
the character of the Iranians, so is there in us
This weekend, students rioted during a protest in
Teheran. The regime continues in Iran.
By Kate Herbert
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