WALTZING THE WILARRA is an Australian musical play written and composed by David Milroy. The play is set in a mixed-race dance club in Perth, soon after World War II. With a charismatic cast of eight, two musicians and 16 original songs, period costumes and dancing, this production’s ingenuity is a treat.
Against a background of fear of arrest for consorting, whites and blacks form their own club where they can forget the war, the curfews and the discrimination. With a narrator named Terranulius (he can’t exist because the law says there was nobody here in 1788), and his sidekick ‘ghost’ law-maker opening the play, we’re in for night of fun, tragedy and reconciliation. The action centres around the relationship between half-sisters Elsa (Lorinda May Merrypor) and Fay (Juliette Coates), who were brought up by Indigenous Elder Mrs Cray (Lisa Maza).
Elsa, an Indigenous child of the stolen generation, is resentful of the attention Mrs Cray lavishes on Fay, who is white. Fay has a crush on Charlie Runaway (Shaka Cook), a young Indigenous man who is best friends with Elsa’s husband Jack (Clancy Enchelmaier), a drunken white veteran. However, Charlie is in love with Elsa and rejects Fay’s advances. Following a brawl at the club, Jack and Charlie are carted off to jail. Later it is revealed that Jack has died in jail, though how remains a mystery.
The second half is forty years later. The club faces demolition and the three key characters meet once again at their old stomping ground. Fay’s white naïve granddaughter attempts to hold a reconciliation session by following the procedures proscribed, by the Reconciliation Council’s manual. This is one of the most amusing parts of the play as the Aboriginals are bemused by the process involved. Sadly, old arguments resurface. Dark secrets from half a century ago are revealed, and we discover that reconciliation is more than saying ‘sorry’.
Lorinda May Merrypor is clearly the star of the show. Lorinda is a terrific singer, actress and proud Kuungkari and South Sea Islander woman,
There are too many issues explored in this two-and half-hour show. The spicy gay Terrenulius, the WWII veteran’s PTSD, the stolen generation, the Aboriginals’ unpaid work and domestic violence are some of the difficult social issues included.
The Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company premiered the WALTZING THE WILARRA in 2011 as part of the Perth International Arts Festival.
This current production has been produced by HIT Productions and is touring over twenty locations. Australia’s premier theatre touring company, HIT was formed in 1993 by award-winning actor and producer, Christine Harris. In recent years, the company has focused on working with First Nations artists, and connecting them with Aboriginal Communities across Australia.
