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POSTED: 09 SEPTEMBER 2011 Africa, conceived, designed and created by My Darling Patricia My Darling Patricia & Sydney Theatre Company | Wharf 2, Walsh Bay, Sydney | Until 17 September My Darling Patricia, founded in 2003, has become one of Australia’s most respected contemporary theatre companies. Their shows have toured Australia to acclaim and now their latest work, Africa, has arrived at Wharf 2. It is inspired by the true story of two German children, both under seven years of age, who tried to escape to Africa in 2009. This remarkable real-life event is transposed into a story about the power of the imagination in children, who in this case want to escape domestic abuse. Left home alone one evening, they watch a wildlife documentary on Africa and decide to attempt to escape their reality.
The stage design (Clare Britton, Bridget Dolan) creates two worlds. Upstairs is the world of the parents, a shadowy domain obscured by frosted glass panels, and beneath, a space littered with toys and laundry and possibility. Their mother (Jodie Le Vesconte) is single, wild and foul-mouthed. She parties hard and obviously loves her children, in a wild, leonine way, but because of substance abuse she is also neglectful and chaotic. She is in an abusive relationship with Brad (Anthony Ahern), who is abhorrent, a predatory primate and possible paedophile. They fight physically and verbally with their head and torsos obscured, creating powerful images of domestic decay and degradation that are filtered for us through a child’s eye perspective, as the savagery of jungle life plays out in their own dilapidated apartment. However, these dark themes are elevated by the humour created by the children, who are puppets, controlled by three visible puppeteers. Courtney, the eldest girl is gutsy and spirited. Her sister is the so very cute Bubba — think cabbage-patch doll brought to life. Their friend, Cheedy, a neighbour, is a fragile and haunted-looking boy who wears a cast on his arm and is hospitalised after a beating at home. Bryony Anderson’s banraku-style puppets are effectively malleable, but it is their expert operation that truly animates them. Michelle Robin Anderson’s, Sam Routledge’s and Claire Britton’s precise technical manipulation mirrors the awkwardness of child movement as the puppets’ wide-eyed faces display their hurt and joy in a heart-wrenching manner. This is a story about children for an adult audience. The themes it covers are confronting and disturbing, as the dynamics of domestic abuse are dramatically dissected. On a wider scale, it is also about the power adults naturally have over children, and how the imagination of childhood is able to transcend that power. Thumbs Up!
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All images: © Jeff Busby 2011
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