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The Cud Review: |
Bushrangers hold an interesting place in Australian history and folklore. According to one interpretation, they are lawless desperados similar to the bandits who raided and pillaged defenceless communities elsewhere. They ranged the bush because the forces of law and order were sparse away from colonial cities. On the other hand, the sympathy shown for some bushrangers such as Ben Hall suggests that they symbolise the independent spirit shown by diggers at Eureka and at Gallipoli. These gentler bushrangers have been depicted as victims of overbearing authority and are romanticised for courageous resistance against oppression.
The best known bushranger is undoubtedly Ned Kelly. His helmet is instantly recognisable and has been exploited for tourist mementoes and country mailboxes. The world’s first feature film, made in Victoria in 1906, was a telling of his story. Since then there have appeared novels, plays, films, documentaries, songs and artworks attempting to analyse aspects of the Kelly phenomenon.
Just when we thought Kelly had received saturation coverage Felix Meagher has conceived and written a musical play about the interaction between Kelly and Sir Redmond Barry, the judge who condemned him. The cast has played in Old Melbourne Gaol, Port Fairy, Beechworth and at the Mansfield High Country Festival where I was fortunate enough to be in the audience. Under Meagher’s watchful eye the play has evolved as the MMuDS players have seen new opportunities to polish their delivery.
The players do Meagher proud as do the musicians, Cyril Moran and Lou Hesterinan. Meagher plays Barry with vigour and vehemence while Anthony Penhall is a tall Kelly with a strong voice which projects very, very well. Danny Spooner has eight roles, for each of which he dons a different hat. Cora Browne is both Ellen Kelly, Ned’s devoted mother and Barry’s mistress. Lucinda Barratt is at times the image of Marvellous Melbourne itself - the Chloe whose naked body in a painting caused such drama among the establishment - and at others Barry’s maid and nurse.
Anthony Penhall is a superb Kelly. He is sometimes full of cheek and indignant about his treatment, declaiming about the politics of Victoria. At other times he is sentimentally Irish-Australian and mindful of the sectarianism of the ‘English’ establishment. Barry was Irish too and there is a sense of one man being bound to the ‘auld ways’ while the other has pursued a career that enabled or forced him to abandon his heritage - or to rise above his origins, depending on your perspective.
The music is very appropriate and well presented and the songs are the genuine highlight of this production. Kelly for example has a solo which is strong and defiant, as well as a poignant duo with his mother, a lament for his brother Dan who perished at the Glenrowan siege. Cora Browne’s harmonies enrich several trios and a quartet while Meagher himself has a commanding stage presence which suggests considerable experience playing in musicals.
In the Mansfield production, the movement of players on and off the stage was not always smooth. Maybe more music would be the solution. The set and costumes were minimalist, reflecting the wide variety of stages the cast has experienced and also the quick changes necessary for Spooner, Browne and Barratt. Danny Spooner’s hats while distinctive perhaps could have been slightly more evocative of the characters. With a little attention to stagecraft – and perhaps a more permanent home - the play could be great. Perhaps footage of that first feature film or original photographs projected onto the backdrop would immerse the audience immediately in the drama of the period.
Kelly warned Barry that he thought they would meet again in hell. Barry died two weeks after Kelly was hanged. It was probably inevitable that Australians would remember the bushranger rather than the judge. While this play is not particularly sympathetic to Barry, it does restore him to public attention. Barry v Kelly will play again in August in suburban Melbourne. Anyone who has the opportunity should go along, enjoy the beautiful songs and learn more about the Kelly legend.
A former academic, Tony Smith has written extensively on a wide range of subjects as diverse as folk music and foreign policy issues in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, the Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books, Overland, the Australian Quarterly, Eureka Street, Online Opinion and Unleashed.
