1990

The State Theatre Company production of Capricornia opens in the Playhouse tonight. Director, Kingston Anderson talks to Murray Bramwell about the process from novel to stage.

You might say that Kingston Anderson’s professional career has been dominated by a single word -Capricornia. This  point is not lost on him either. “Justine Saunders and I have a joke that we will meet in the street when we are eighty and say `When will you be doing Capricornia again?'”

Anderson was twenty-seven when he was offered the chance to direct an adaptation of Xavier Herbert’s 1938 classic  as part of the theatre programme commissioned by the Bicentennial Authority for the 1988 celebrations.

Raised in Sydney’s South Western suburbs, Kingston Anderson describes his conversion to the theatre when he began working with the Shopfront group. “I came to this place where kids were creating their own plays and saying things about their own lives- being strong and clear and confident. I was fifteen.” He went on to work full-time with Shopfront as well as beginning full-time degree course majoring in Drama at the University of New South Wales.

A year or so after completing his degree he enrolled  for the one year post-graduate directing course at NIDA.

“I needed a chance to work with professional actors and to promote myself also, I suppose. 1987 was the best year for me. I directed my graduation play which was an adaptation of a radio play, The Song Room by Louis Nowra.It was the best thing I’d done and it became a watershed for me.”

From there came the offer to work with Louis Nowra on Capricornia. “I was part of the process which created the play,” he recalls.”It’s a rare chance to be given that opportunity, to work with a group of actors and a writer and designers – a whole team. We started with a novel and ended with a play. I was involved from conception to production.”

So how did they define their purpose ? “A lot of things affected it. It was 1988 which was an important year in this country. More than people realise, for a whole range of reasons. As we were looking at ourselves as a country, and particularly our history in terms of the Aboriginal people, it became clear that the sections of the novel we chose were a most important story.”

“The novel is a huge epic. It is the kind of classic mini-series material that could run for five or six hours. It covers about forty years, and more than 160 characters although  Louis and I agreed that the part that really grabs you is the story of Norman, the illegitimate son of an Aboriginal woman and a white man , Mark Shillingsworth. Norman comes back to Port Zodiac (Herbert’s name for  Darwin) unaware that he is Aboriginal. He has been told his father is dead and that his mother was a Javanese princess. Our story begins with his journey back and his discovery of the truth. Since it wouldn’t work to do the whole book it was clear to us that not only was this the most naturally dramatic part but gave us a chance to explore everything else in the novel.”

“We actually cast actors as opposed to roles. It was an unusual situation because we started without a play although we knew roughly what the parameters were and we needed actors to be part of the process. They were chosen not only for their ability as actors but for what they could contribute. Some requirements were self evident we had to have Aboriginal actors – Justine Saunders and Laurence Clifford were chosen – and an Indonesian, Yul Sastrawan.”

“What is exciting about Capricornia is that it is a melting pot. Everyone went into the theatre expecting- you know, horses and so on. But Darwin’s not like that. In this period the  Chinese population in Darwin was larger than the European one . It had an enormous range of nationalities. It very much reflected what our country has become. It reflects what we are now rather than what people think we were.”

While this production will see the return of some of the originals- Lydia Miller and Justine Saunders for instance- Queensland actor Bradley Byquar replaces Laurence Clifford. Also featured are Ulli Birve, Syd Brisbane, Giordani Gangl, Daphne Grey and Claudia La Rose as well as other members of the State ensemble. This time around the design is by Shaun Gurton, costume by Bronwyn Jones, music by Paul Adolphus and lighting by Mark Ilowett.

For Kingston Anderson the present production is a return to a work which was developed intensively in workshop and rehearsal by the foundation cast. “Coming back to it is a unique experience for me, ” he observed. “I actually also did it last year in Alice Springs- outdoors for one performance. There is a chap there named Ted Egan, who knew Xavier Herbert and the family on whom the Capricornia story was  based. He saw the show and fell in love with it. He planned this huge event at his house and arranged for me to bring together some of the original cast plus some local players. We had about twenty actors and we staged it outdoors in the red dirt at Alice Springs. It was a magical experience.”

“This time is different again. I’m bringing some of the original players but it is basically a new cast. It has been a re-learning process. Once again it has become a journey for us- for me particularly. The play deals with areas we don’t understand, we are not taught about it in schools. It was new information for us before – and it is the same for this cast.”

“I want them to create what they create and it is a matter of allowing that to happen but obviously, also keeping the things that I know are structurally important to the way the play works. As a directing task it is difficult because you want new things from the new people but you are also fighting against the sense that you know what works. It is difficult to know how far to impose.”

Of the style of the play, Anderson, explains- “It’s like a whole group of people telling a huge story. It has something like forty scenes which go from a ship  in the middle of the ocean to an outback station to an island to the north of Australia. Settings range from a hotel to a morgue  to a shop. It goes everywhere. With its short scenes you might say it is almost filmic. There is no way you can present that naturalistically.”

“Right from the word go the audience is aware that the actors tell the story creating the sounds and the music. There is no illusion. We only use the things you need to tell a story. We use the elements of theatre to say- `Welcome for the next two and a half hours we are going to take you on a journey.'”

“We were acutely aware  that when people come into the theatre their perceptions are quite fixed. We wanted to capture the multi-racial, multicultural aspect of Capricornia . There is a scene where a character says -I was down at the saleyard and I bought this Indonesian demon from a fisherman and someone else says, what are those Japanese soldiers doing there ? Then someone comes on speaking Greek. That was what it was like.”

“Musically we wanted to reflect that. We didn’t want the old format where you see an Aboriginal and the next minute you hear a didgeridoo. The culture of the Aboriginal people is much richer than that. The people we deal with in the play are Tiwi people- they have an amazing vocal, musical quality, there are no didgeridoos in their society. We wanted to break down the stereotypes about Aboriginal culture.

“The Asian influence in the North is strong. There is a song which originated in Darwin but is written in Malay. We also use Balinese gamelan music. The music is the soul of the play. The words are one thing but the music adds another aspect. It is an important and connected part of the theatre.

“The sound effects are often created with musical instruments – a conch as ship’s horn for example. We also use a soundtrack created by Graeme Revell. He won an AFI award for his work for Dead Calm and he has worked with Wim Wenders and others. He intercuts Tiwi voices  with a variety of sounds including  orchestral music. It is a powerful effect. The play opens with a strong mix of musical and visual images which immediately says to the audience that this is not going to be an armchair comedy.”

Talk of music brings Anderson to the work of Peter Brook whom he met in Adelaide just before the 1988 Festival. One of four young directors selected to sit in on rehearsals for The Mahabharata, he found the experience valuable.

“It was terrific because I was a great admirer of his work and fortuitous  because it happened before I began work on Capricornia. It confirmed what I thought was the right way to go. How do you tackle something as massive as The Mahabharata ? The answer is not to go away from it but instead to tell a lot of stories and create the environment for that. Brook has come back to that approach after doing very elaborate work with the RSC.”

Kingston Anderson is enthusiastic that such strategies invigorate the theatre and offer a way to unexplored subjects. “There is so much we can learn about ourselves. and maybe where we can go.  That’s why Capricornia is so close to us. I think it reflects who we are without denying what we’ve done. The Aboriginal history is a hidden history and until we come to terms with that and what we have done as white people I don’t think we can move forward.

“I think Capricornia is a very positive play. It is not a whipping post for anybody and it’s not a feel-sorry-for-yourself play, whingeing and  saying ` Aren’t we terrible?’ It is saying- `Own up , do something, change the future.'”

“Journeying to Capricornia” The Advertiser, September 8, 1990, p.12.