Curator and Artistic Director of the Bakehouse Theatre Company Suzanne Millar created the annual Storylines Festival in 2009 to, ‘use the Arts as a powerful creative force for multi-cultural cultures whose stories often go unheard’.
As part of this year’s Festival, Justin Fleming’s double bill A LAND BEYOND THE RIVER and JUNCTION, is currently playing at the Bondi Pavilion, both directed by Millar.
In A LAND BEYOND THE RIVER the focus is on the story of three young African refugees, Kir Deng, Alex Jalloh and Elijah Williams, who were interviewed by the playwright before writing the play. These refugees found a new home in Australia and interwoven with their stories are scenes from a theatre troupe workshopping a stage production of Harper Lee’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
The troupe decide to cast the roles colour blind following the theme that everyone is the same under their skin. This role reversal was exemplified by a great performance by young Asian actress Aileen Huynh who played the alleged rape victim.
A LAND BEYOND THE RIVER featured a fine ensemble including Andrew Cutcliffe, Kir Deng, Cheyne Finn, Aileen Huynh, Alex Jalloh, Joshua McElroy, Guy Simon, Jasmin Simmons and Elijah Williams.
After interval came JUNCTION. The focus was on the dark past of our indigenous Aboriginal people. A white girl and an indigenous boy spend the night in a long abandoned railway station in outback Australia. Darkness falls and romantic feelings pass between them. Things however become ugly. Noises emanate from an old transmitter. It’s the voices of mothers screaming and babies crying, the ghosts of Australia’s past.
This clever, taut, touching play was poignantly performed by Stacey Duckworth and Guy Simon (a performer in both plays).
One of the intriguing features of this play is that the piece could so easily fit to a number of different settings and contexts, the most obvious being the siding rail tracks to concentration camps in Poland post World War 2.
There are two more performances of this Justin Fleming Double Bill at the Bondi Pav, care of the Tamarama Rock Surfers, this Tuesday 14th and Thursday 17th August, 2012 at 8pm.
© David Kary
12th August, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- Storylines Festival, Justin Fleming, Suzanne Millar, Aileen Huynh, Jasmin Simmons, Andrew Cutcliffe, Cheyne Fynn, Stacey Duckworth, Guy Smith, Tamarama Rock Surfers, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary.