Currently, Belvoir’s Company B is revisiting a production that it first played some 18 years ago, Louis Nowra’s adaptation of Xavier Herbert’s brilliant epic novel, ‘Capricornia’. Wesley Enoch is the director for the new production, and together with a large, talented cast, ‘Capricornia’ has once again lovingly and artfully been brought to the stage.

Herbert’s classic novel charts the journey of Norman Shillingsworth, a young man who returns home to Capricornia (the Northern Territory) after being brought up in Melbourne. He believes that his dark skin is a result of being the son of a Javanese princess. What he learns back home, in a very harsh way, is that he is a full caste Aboriginal, and that he was taken from his Aboriginal family at a very young age, and was brought up by a white family, in the notorious policy of assimilation that was predominant in the 1930’s.

Louis Nowra’s adaptation, as well as focusing on the confusion, prejudice and hostility rampant in Capricornia, concentrates on the tragic love story that develops between Norman and his half-caste lover Tocky O’Cannon.

A cast of eleven actors perform more than 40 roles. My favourite performances were by the two lovers, played by Luke Carroll in the lead and a wonderful Ursula Yovich as Tocky.

Enoch’s production was helped by a strong creative team including Steve Francis’s score, Mark Howlett’s striking lighting design, and Brian Thompson’s expansive, evocative set with the stage covered in fabric and ramps and platforms leading everywhere, giving the actors plenty of room to move.