Equating Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ to the Indigenous
community disputes over land ownership in Northern Australia, ‘The Shadow King’
borrows richly from Lear and intersperses it with its own dialect and language and
culture and what we have as a result is a natural and Australian version of a
familiar play. Lear’s army is his mob and the tragedy of a blinkered possession of the land makes us do desperate and dastardly things until nature
reminds us that no-one has domain over it.
Co-created by Tom E. Lewis and Michael Kantor, who also
directed the play, accompanied by live music and on screen film projections
over an epic and imposing set, designed by Kantor, Paul Jackson and David
Miller, ‘The Shadow King’ adds a new dimension to an old story of patriarchy,
monarchy and sibling rivalry. The play does lack a control which means that
vocals sometimes struggle to compete over the music and speech lacks clarity at
times and although the premise is a simple and honest version of
Shakespeare’s tragedy, the audience is working hard to give the language and
rhythm coherence. But thankfully the energy of the show and the skill and
authenticity of its performers, especially Lewis, Jimi Bani and Jada Alberts
give the production an integrity that make it infinitely watchable and
poignant.
Bay 17 at Carriageworks, my new favourite venue in Sydney,
has been transformed into an Australian outback landscape and you literally
have to tread over the red earth to navigate your way into your seat. The
tank-like proportions of the movable set that connects to a grandstand and
doorway of interior homes, jail cells and caves is one of the best uses of
technology, metaphor and environment. The eyes of the tank look out onto the
desert with a spot firmly on the abandoned crown, another creative idea
expressed in the lighting design by Jackson.
I loved that the ghosts still have a presence on stage,
which only seems right that the spirits of those killed still wander this land
and led the living to find their way. I loved that ‘madness’ and ritual were
closely connected and until you embraced the spirit-world and its lessons, your
soul was as lost as your sense and sanity. Also interesting was the curse imposed by the
father on his children for their treatment of him or that we see his daughters
may ‘own’ the land's riches but in real terms, it does not provide them with
wealth and they are just as desperate and poor as always. It is the potential
of the land and its development that makes them embark on a villainy that sits
like a rock of regret and fractures their ultimate intentions and life.
‘The Shadow King’ is a rough diamond with interesting
parallels from an aristocratic English world to our own tribal connections.
This play is epic, exciting and uniquely Australian and the inclusion of
traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait instruments and music with rock almost
crosses this play into a semi-contemporary musical. There is humour aplenty and also a
dig here and there, such as Cordelia’s (Rarriwuy Hick) and Lear’s (Lewis)
imprisonment when she tries to comfort her father in the cell, reminding him
that “prison is something our people are familiar with” or when we are told of
Cordelia’s death in custody, made to look like suicide.
I commend this play to you as an insightful look at how
relevant the themes of Shakespeare plays are in this local context and the play
is a visual feast of ideas. Catch it as part of the festival season.
Greeat blog
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