1991

Florence Who?

by Roxxy Bent

Junction Theatre

Red Like the Devil

by Teresa Crea

Doppio Teatro

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Now in their new possie in Thebarton, Junction Theatre continue their Art and Working Life series with Florence Who? by Adelaide writer Roxxy Bent. Commissioned by the Australian Nursing Federation, the play takes a lively look at the practices and politics of a profession often distorted by stereotype. Roxxy Bent, widely-regarded for her quirky writing for Vitalstatistix, noted that even though the women in her own family were nurses, researching the play was an eye-opener  for her as well.

Florence Who? describes four women at various points of the medical pecking order- a student nurse, a new age healer, a cynical long-termer and a frazzled Director – all colliding with the system and often with each other. Bent has a distinctive lightness of touch and a fondness for loopy plotlines which actors Janet Kitcher, Anna Linarello, Emma Salter and Jayne Thomson negotiate with notable zeal. Director Geoff Crowhurst has opted for pacey farce, facilitated by Lisa Philip-Harbutt’s selectively literal set.

As with all the works in the series -whether the Cranney/Crowhurst collaborations for Mainstreet or the Junction projects – theatre pieces purpose-built for workplace performance to specific occupational groups do not always fare well for GP audiences. Conspiratorial reference to industrial situations, jargon, in-jokes and proselytising are part and parcel of special interest theatre -and properly so- but they can seem simplistic and heavy-handed to those outside the circle.  Florence Who? has some of that problem, it carries a lot of ideological freight at times. Health professionals in the audience registered warmly though. Played  in a hospital, I imagine, Florence Who? would be like opening a window.

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Doppio Teatro’s Tinti di Rosso (Red Like the Devil) is the latest work by writer/director Teresa Crea. Her Ricordi of several years ago remains memorable as to a lesser extent will this highly theatrical treatment of the not-at-all accidental death of anarchist Francesco Fantin interned at Loveday, a camp near Barmera in 1942. More than two thousand Italian residents, accused of Fascist and other alien sympathies, were held at Loveday. Fantin, a passionate anarchist was murdered by a blackshirt, an event Australian authorities regarded with indifference.

Teresa Crea bases her play on Fantin but it is not a precise account of events. Rather she creates a series of vignettes of Italian experiences of the time. Among the internees, Ettore and Rocco  make their support of Il Duce belligerently apparent. Ettore is a fastidious dandy, played with the occasional comic flourish by Nicola Primaro while Nic Tudini’s Rocco has a self-possessed ferocity about him. Vincenzo (Max Lorenzin) and Salvatore (Silvio Ofria) have been caught in the net like many innocent citizens. Fantin’s politics are not elaborated on except that  flashbacks indicate his mother’s commitment and Clara, his sweetheart’s equivocation. As Fantin, Nicholas Papademetriou has a likeable presence, highlighted in the scenes with Clara (Lucia Mastrantone). Rick Henshaw completes the strong cast list, doubling as the prisoner Nicola as well as the unacceptable face of the Australian military

James Coulter’s inventively simple  set design consists of a back panel indicating the prison wall, decorated with galahs and kookaburras fashioned from corrugated iron. A series of collage sculptures of heads with torsos are hung along the wall as the events unfold. Lighting designer Domenic Marafioti uses familiar, even hackneyed  devices to surprisingly good effect- bathing the stage in red light for instance. Again, Michael Fuller has created stage movement which brings strength and structure to these  visuals. As with Ricordi, Crea uses music extensively- folk songs, political anthems and even operatic choruses are featured along with synth compositions by Bob Petchell.

While Red Like the Devil is accomplished theatre it is not without its difficulties. The text is not always easy for the monolingual to follow and the narrative is at times elliptical. The political issues are superficially portrayed.  We don’t know why Fantin is an anarchist or what it means to be one, and so his exit to death at the hands of unseen assailants is  unsatisfactorily romantic. The play ignores the subsequent  enquiry and cover-up  minimising the responsibility of the Australian authorities. Instead, Fantin is left in an almost happy glow of martyrdom- which seems to get us all off the hook.

“A Happy Glow” The Adelaide Review, No.89, June, 1991, p.28.