The veil between worlds was blurred so successfully by Joan Lindsay’s Australian gothic novel that the disturbing disappearance of three private school girls and their teacher on Valentine’s Day in Picnic at Hanging Rock has bled into accepted reality. So much so that there’s a thriving tourism industry emanation out of the ancient rocky outcrop in the bush outside of Melbourne. Steeped as it is in First Nations lore, who’s to say what truth lies at the haunted heart of this supposedly fictional myth?
Peter Weir’s seminal cinematic adaptation mesmerised audiences at home and abroad, further deepening a mystery that many still believe to be true. A recent television update starring Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer upped the heaving melodrama. The spooky shadow cast by the ill-fated rock, the site of a forcible colonial dispossession that did not stick, is long indeed. All this makes New Theatre’s latest take the perfect post-Halloween fix.
Running from November 17 to December 19, Tom Wright penned the newest adaptation of the age-old tale, which has already enjoyed runs at the Black Swan Theatre in Perth and Malthouse in Melbourne. This will be the first time it has haunted the darkest corners of Sydney’s psyche, summoned forth by director Sahn Millington (Cats Talk Back).
“This production is not going to be what people might expect,” Millington says. “Forget pan pipes and floaty frocks, Tom Wright has drawn deeply from Joan Lindsay, incorporating much of her highly poetic language. It’s much closer to the book than to Peter Weir’s film.”
Five women take on all roles, including Alice Birbara (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Alana Birtles (Once in Royal David's City), Audrey Blyde (Collaborators) and, making their New Theatre debuts, Megan Bennetts and Sarah Jane Kelly.
Ever relevant, the work bends the arc of time in a circular fashion First Nations people are more familiar with, and wraps in new meaning in this year of sideswipe chicanery, and the summer of disaster that preceded it.
“It’s a story about those of us left behind,” Millington adds. “Like any tragedy, there are those that must live on, inevitability changed by the experience. I also see this production coming at a poignant time in our own relationship with the Australian landscape. For me, it's the contemporary challenge of Australia to reconcile itself to its land, and in this era of climate change and fear of a destabilised environment through bushfire, drought, or flood, the story can take on a new relevance.”
Love horrifying theatrical tales? Unveil The Picture of Dorian Gray at STC.
