By Jennifer Beasley.
The forgotten voice of Eileen Kelly, mother of Ned Kelly, is finally heard.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I drove to DROUIN (it’s in the COUNTRY, the other place aside from Melbourne), about an hour east in Gippsland, to view this play at The Drouin Hub.
Performed by Off The Leash Theatre, this innovative company has been in operation for ten years and deserves to be on any theatregoer’s radar. Why? Because it wasn’t just a play I was reviewing.
Divided into 4 segments, the audience was presented with four interconnecting and interesting features, that all relate to the trauma of Eileen Kelly as she contemplates and girdles herself for the execution of her son, Ned Kelly. Now, no spoilers here, as most Australians are aware of the hanging of bushranger Ned Kelly, he of the iron helmet and guns a blazing, at the Old Melbourne Gaol on November 11th, 1880.
It was playwright Jeannie Haughton’s vision that the voice of the Kelly women should be heard, in particular Eileen Kelly, because, as she stated in the Question-and-Answer segment, it is only when women write that the narratives of women are included in history.
Having previously collaborated with others with the play, Quilting The Armour – The Story Of The Kelly Women, Haughton’s 35-minute play starts off this quartet.
This deconstructed play presents Eillen Kelly, played superbly by a thrilling Kellie Bray, supported in her prayerful contemplation by two narrating spirits (Tracie McDonald and Miranda Stewart) as she reminisces on happier times until conflict with the priest, John Black (Jekyll & Hyde, The Children) drenched in sanctimonious red light, supplied by Todd Miller, interrupts, and then the bell chimes to indicate the growing stakes of Ned Kelly’s impeding death, intensifies her mother’s desperation. The beaten appearance of her son, achingly played by a chained and injured Lewis Neale (The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later) as they hug shows all the love, sadness, failed dreams and terror of a woman faced with inevitability that her child will die before she will.
The language is lyrical, and Haughton has a beautiful grasp on specificity. The sweetly beautiful image of long golden sunbeams pieced his legs, is an arrow that Kellie Bray shoots to pierce into the most harden of audiences’ hearts, and the empathy she elicits as an actress raises this play to a higher standard. The two spirit characters kept pulling me out of the wonderful scenes with Eillen Kelly and I found their inclusion redundant. Greater interaction with the priest would also be welcomed, as would some indication that Kelly was situated as a prisoner as well, an item brought up later by an audience member at question time.
Themes were on point, centring around lost dreams, love and family, the conflict between the Irish and English, poverty, and a woman’s struggle to be heard. Pacing also was excellent, as was the humour that lightened an otherwise dark drama, and the 35 minutes flew by quickly.
Then we moved onto segment two: The Installation. This interactivity was fantastic. My companion bought a full-bodied red wine supplied by The Press Cellar (apparently very good. I stuck to the free cuppa tea and Tim Tams – fitting for an Australian Themed performance) as the audience moved into a separate room which held items from the nineteenth century and information boards delving further into the life and times of the Kelly women.
The third segment was the aforementioned Q & A. This discussion centred on the creatives who developed the play, film and installation. What? Film, you ask? Yes! But more on this later. Haughton discusses the concept of the play, before introducing the audience to the composer Hanna Comrie Weston, whose remarkable score accompanies the film, and I’m guessing also the play. For someone so young she has done a wonderful job and really needs to get her name out there on socials (you hearing me Hanna?). Videographer Darryl Whitaker discusses the challenges of filming the play and we finish with Director and actress Kellie Bray, who can do no wrong in my book.
After taking questions from the viewers we move into our final segment, The Film. As mentioned, this is the film of the play but as a monologue. This concept was so interesting, as the audience could weigh up which version appeals to them the most. For me, the monologue gave full reign to the power of Bray’s abilities and was all the better for it.
Overall, this was such a fun night. Played to a packed house of fifty people, I strongly encourage anyone to visit this thoughtful contemplation on one mother’s grief, which resonates today with so many women who have lost family through war, and the continuing themes on the dissolution of women’s rights in the current inflammatory climate of an impending Trump presidency.
On Waking plays at 7.30PM at The Drouin Hub until Sunday November 17th, 2024.
