Papers
I bring clowning to the workshops as it gives so much pleasure and laughter to the children.
Many of them have had such difficult lives; it seems only right that they have a chance for a good laugh and some fun. As they have seen little live performance I start the workshop with a short routine where there is plenty of audience involvement. I then show them a few comic skits based around the park bench. Trying to read someone else’s newspaper, and dealing with a stranger falling asleep on your shoulder. It reminds these children, (as it does to all children that I have taught), of Mr Bean, and it is an opportunity to introduce them to the silent world of Charlie Chaplin. I invite them to try out the routines.
The challenge for the students is to let themselves to be made a fool off, allowing the audience to laugh at their vulnerability. In devising the routines they also have to work co-operatively together, where their normal playground attitude is, maybe, to try and dominate. I tell them it is the only time they have to be stupid and silly enough to fall for the joke! After the initial shock, they are good at picking up on these ideas and as participants have a go the routines, we discover the odd one who has that intuitive sense of comedic timing.
Clowning is of course about making other people laugh. In a workshop situation where participants are searching for creative ideas that may be humorous, they can discover other talents. These children can dance and sing.
They have a joy in dancing to hip-hop music, and most are very capable of following the dance steps. I introduce the idea of a clown being in a dance troupe attempting to dance correctly, but making plenty of mistakes and causing havoc to the rest of his fellow dancers. They love the idea and are happy to try.
In introducing the clown that sings we find one small girl who is a very good singer. She is able and confident enough to lead the others in many Nepalese children songs that everyone seems to know. It great to see them all join in and then others also have a go at leading. It is a wonderful way of bringing the group together.
The drama exercises have really brought a stronger sense of focus with the group, allowing me to introduce slap-stick. That is clown fights. Including pulling hair, pulling ears and the face slap. Given their difficult lives, both Anne and I are surprised how well they co-operate with each other. They start to add the slap stick to their role play with the school teacher, student routine being the most popular. Having the teacher being told off by the student gives them a lot of joy. It is allowing this sense of naughtiness, within a theatrical frame work that makes clowning for children so challenging and yet so much fun
Many of them have had such difficult lives; it seems only right that they have a chance for a good laugh and some fun. As they have seen little live performance I start the workshop with a short routine where there is plenty of audience involvement. I then show them a few comic skits based around the park bench. Trying to read someone else’s newspaper, and dealing with a stranger falling asleep on your shoulder. It reminds these children, (as it does to all children that I have taught), of Mr Bean, and it is an opportunity to introduce them to the silent world of Charlie Chaplin. I invite them to try out the routines.
The challenge for the students is to let themselves to be made a fool off, allowing the audience to laugh at their vulnerability. In devising the routines they also have to work co-operatively together, where their normal playground attitude is, maybe, to try and dominate. I tell them it is the only time they have to be stupid and silly enough to fall for the joke! After the initial shock, they are good at picking up on these ideas and as participants have a go the routines, we discover the odd one who has that intuitive sense of comedic timing.
Clowning is of course about making other people laugh. In a workshop situation where participants are searching for creative ideas that may be humorous, they can discover other talents. These children can dance and sing.
They have a joy in dancing to hip-hop music, and most are very capable of following the dance steps. I introduce the idea of a clown being in a dance troupe attempting to dance correctly, but making plenty of mistakes and causing havoc to the rest of his fellow dancers. They love the idea and are happy to try.
In introducing the clown that sings we find one small girl who is a very good singer. She is able and confident enough to lead the others in many Nepalese children songs that everyone seems to know. It great to see them all join in and then others also have a go at leading. It is a wonderful way of bringing the group together.
The drama exercises have really brought a stronger sense of focus with the group, allowing me to introduce slap-stick. That is clown fights. Including pulling hair, pulling ears and the face slap. Given their difficult lives, both Anne and I are surprised how well they co-operate with each other. They start to add the slap stick to their role play with the school teacher, student routine being the most popular. Having the teacher being told off by the student gives them a lot of joy. It is allowing this sense of naughtiness, within a theatrical frame work that makes clowning for children so challenging and yet so much fun
Training Notes from Professional Development Workshops 2011 and 2012 in the City of Casey
Training Notes.
Workshop Co-facilitation. Who you could be co-facilitating with? Other artists, psychologists, councillors or teachers.
What are some of the purposes of co- facilitation? What is to be gained? What are the different forms of co-facilitation? Working with another. Consider the roles each is taking in a group.
Active /Passive Supportive / Obstructive. Involved /Disengaged. Neutral.
Where are the tensions, creative or personality? Relating to your co-facilitator. What role is each of you taking?
Where are the compromises? Is one person dominating (all or some of the time?)
Working with your co-facilitator, when do you take the lead when do you follow?
Observation of self.
How does my contribution affect others?
The skills of co-facilitating
Preparation Negotiation Developing a theme Guiding the group. Benefits and joys of co-facilitation.
Workshop Co-facilitation. Who you could be co-facilitating with? Other artists, psychologists, councillors or teachers.
What are some of the purposes of co- facilitation? What is to be gained? What are the different forms of co-facilitation? Working with another. Consider the roles each is taking in a group.
Active /Passive Supportive / Obstructive. Involved /Disengaged. Neutral.
Where are the tensions, creative or personality? Relating to your co-facilitator. What role is each of you taking?
Where are the compromises? Is one person dominating (all or some of the time?)
Working with your co-facilitator, when do you take the lead when do you follow?
Observation of self.
How does my contribution affect others?
The skills of co-facilitating
Preparation Negotiation Developing a theme Guiding the group. Benefits and joys of co-facilitation.
Engaging participants from diverse cultural backgrounds
Warm up games.
The games we play include the following
name games
Storytelling and dramatizing the story.
In devising the story in this workshop we aim to reach a deeper appreciation of the lives of people from different backgrounds and discover what we have in common.
To start the story telling project we create structure. For this workshops, that structure starts with a skeleton of a story. We ask participants to add to it.
Our story
A mat catches your eye as you
go into the room.
Light enters the room through
a gap in a curtain.
You notice the atmosphere is
scented and you are alerted by a distant
noise.
You see a vessel.
As you rest your gaze upon it,
you recall the story of how you both came to be together in that
room.
In helping participants to develop the story we
ask specific questions that provoke the imagination.
In doing so we ask participants to be inspired by their own lived
experiences. We evoke the senses to
inspire ideas.
Where are you? Where is the room?
How do you feel emotionally about being in the space?
What is the eye seeing?
What are you smelling?
How is the sense of touch activated?
What sounds are you hearing?
Discussion on working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds
Warm up games.
The games we play include the following
name games
Storytelling and dramatizing the story.
In devising the story in this workshop we aim to reach a deeper appreciation of the lives of people from different backgrounds and discover what we have in common.
To start the story telling project we create structure. For this workshops, that structure starts with a skeleton of a story. We ask participants to add to it.
Our story
A mat catches your eye as you
go into the room.
Light enters the room through
a gap in a curtain.
You notice the atmosphere is
scented and you are alerted by a distant
noise.
You see a vessel.
As you rest your gaze upon it,
you recall the story of how you both came to be together in that
room.
In helping participants to develop the story we
ask specific questions that provoke the imagination.
In doing so we ask participants to be inspired by their own lived
experiences. We evoke the senses to
inspire ideas.
Where are you? Where is the room?
How do you feel emotionally about being in the space?
What is the eye seeing?
What are you smelling?
How is the sense of touch activated?
What sounds are you hearing?
Discussion on working with people from culturally diverse backgrounds
As Kenneth Tynan wrote of Beckett’s tramps after the London premiere of Waiting
for Godot in 1955: “Were we not in the theatre, we should, like them, be clowning and quarreling, aimlessly bickering and aimlessly making up – all, as one of them says, ‘to give the impression that we exist.’ ”
Over half a century after they first appeared on stage, the tramps, Pozzo and Lucky,
once again delight in this strongly poisonous drama. Samuel Beckett's Godot
has been generously crafted and remains for all ages, an obscure meandering in
its psychological, philosophical and aesthetic layers; in its climax without a
climax and its beginning without a beginning. Rather it has been compared by the
likes of Herbert Blau; "to a piece of jazz music, to which one must listen for
whatever one may find in it" – the cries along with the laughter,
simultaneously intertwined with significance, perhaps?
With all that in mind, I would be foolish to get myself involved in all the round table political
and ideological qualms about its meanings, futility; of Beckett's
intensely sufficient subconscious. In its expression, symbolic to absurdity and
with no specific hope, we had to wait for "Godot" – and continue to wait.
I will say one thing though about the audiences' outcome: a clear, agreed upon parallel response to what contradicts our
Australian way of life. We could not dismiss the treatment of the working class
other than something strange and lacking in humanity: but perhaps that was," the
divorce between man and life that constitutes the feeling of absurdity". Albert Camus, French philosopher, talked largely about the loss of meaning in life and of shattered dreams: the thick of the play.
The two tramps waiting for Godot near a tree spending idle time, to see the evening out, conversed and compared
songs, understood each other's inadequacies through poetry and achieved their
haunting struggle through vaudeville. One of them expressed this with, "we're
all born mad, some remain so".
Later in the night they were disturbed by passers by Pozzo and his slave Lucky twice in the play. Here we witnessed the contradictions of society, equality and personality and could not help but laugh and cringe at some of the prescribed analogy. Beckett simply said in one interview that the play was about interaction, physical interaction between different organisms, perhaps between masters and slaves, the lonely and the story tellers; all with something to gain.
The out of harmony tramps played by John Flaus and Bruce Kerr, were just enough to keep that ridiculous senseless genius awake.
The sitting, the standing, the sleeping, the brown colours and of course carrots and boots revolved in a room where everything was talked about. Languages from English to quietly whispered gibberish were stirred and stammered and screamed
and vexed. The Lordly arrogant Pozzo played by Peter Finlay, wore his character through the outside of his costume. His voice
trembling the first two rows, at least, and his pantomime silhouette, haunted
even the most eager of sadists. Lucky played by Alex Pinder, perfected for us a sorrow and the story became surrounded by his
frozen mime. His mute presence fell onto and above and within a declamation, a
visual storm dipped in ghastly screeches and hollow screams that moved the room,
better still shook our insides. The mystery of Godot and the interaction that the tramps were waiting for was played by Vivian
Schmieder – a little boy who would come down some flights of stairs and declare where the play was at; or where our dreaming was at.
If you were lucky enough as I was you would have noticed the eyes of the actors. There were glistening eyes all over the stage, piercing projections. The concentration was immensely alive with compliments and truth and at the same time ragged Chaplin physicality. You could smell the decay of things old; of things forgotten. Old doors opening and closing, a rope stretched across the floor and the sounds and dim lights of hopelessness.
If you love the theatre, and if you want to know about life and about clowns and about anger and hypocrisy – Godot has to be your path to knowledge. On the other hand if you can see reason and symbolism behind hats and whips, carrots, radishes and turnips, then Godot will purposefully enslave you with smells and texture that you yourself can paint once you leave.
A paper I gave at the 2011 ADSA Conference at
Monash University on June 28th.
My name is Jyoti Mukherjee or Jyotirindra Nath MUKABADHAI. Some of you may know me by my stage name Alex Pinder
I was born in University College London and grew up for the first 12 years of my life and mainly in London Oxford and Cambridge.
This paper is about how I have tried and, I suppose am still trying to find a place in an acting profession that is hard enough to get work in.
I settled in Sydney to at 14 with my parents my Indian father Soumyen Mukherjee and English mother who was born Dorothy Pinder.
At school I found it was in the theatre where I shone. I wanted to be an actor, After I left school in 1976 I auditioned for NIDA got close to getting in and was told to come back in a year or so. In the mean time I went to the Ensemble Studios which was part of The Ensemble Theatre run by the Hayes Gordon who was a very tough task master. He was from the Stanislavski, New York influenced school.
You did not have to audition to get in to the Ensemble Studios, Hayes expected most people to drop out as most of us would not be suited to the toughness of a very difficult profession. Along with the rigours of the learning the craft of acting he encouraged and insisted we working with a sense of integrity, That is trying to recreate life type situations with a sense of accuracy and honesty. In other words, don’t go cheap laughs
I have to admit I found the first months there extremely difficult and I was almost on the verge of dropping out , when I got a phone call to come an audition for a in one of The Ensemble’s professional shows, The English playwright Trevor Griffiths Comedians, that Hayes was going to be directing.
I could not understand why he would choose me. I felt I had not done anything in class to stand out. That was until I was the handed the script and was asked to read for the role of Mr Patel an Indian migrant to England. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather. Oh my God Hayes thinks I am Indian. Now I did not feel Indian at all, as much as one could feel a nationality, I thought of myself as English. I grew up on egg and chips and my favour the football team was Tottenham Hotspurs.
As a kid I had often been to my father ‘s child hood home in Kolkata, we spent some time in Delhi before coming to Australia could understand some Bengali ,but was really treated as the English relative. Should I tell Hayes how I feel that maybe he has got the wrong person t. I was not really Indian and he should find some else. Well of course, I took the role.
It is also about how I tried to represent characters of an Indian background on stage and screen with a sense of integrity and if I have to say “Please accept my humble apologies” and keep my dignity intact.
The Play Comedians was about, the dangers of comedy and laughing at those that different and less fortunate than ourselves. Long before political correctness came in, a very provocative play, of its time a great learning experience for an actor to be working on. I was given a wonderful experience of a 12 week season for someone so young and inexperienced.
Hayes used to give each a through line or main motivation for the play. For Mr Patel it was to belong. Well I could relate to that, being a relatively new migrant and just entering a new profession I desperately wanted to be part of. I also had my say in the design and the look of my costume, especially when I was told by the designer; it could be good to wear a turban, to help make it clear where you could be from. In the pursuit of working with some integrity I gave a definite no to the turban. And what I realised that there was very little understanding or knowledge of the Indian sub-continent and all its cultures.
It led to 18 months in about 1978, I was the offered role of Ahmed in Alex Bubo’s well known play Norm and Ahmed, written and first produced in 1968 to tour Tasmania for The Tasmanian Theatre in Education Company about to become The Salamanca Theatre Co.
For those who don’t know Norm and Ahmed is a fifty minute play where an Australian ex digger meets a young Pakistani student late one night on the streets of Sydney.
Norm’s approach to Ahmed is sometimes threatening sometimes very friendly and through it we get to know these two characters. Just when we think they are going to become friends Norm violently attacks Ahmed and calls him a fucking buong which is the last line of the play that in 1968 got the actor saying the line in La Mama production and in the Brisbane production arrested, for saying fucking, saying bung was not an offence.
Buzo wrote a classic. A strong portrayal of two archetypes. In Norm the lonely ex-digger, who is a widower and is traumatised by his experiences in the 2nd world war, he fought at Tobruk, his father was at Gallipoli, feeling very insecure about the future that is left to him Ahmed is the idealist young student , studying in Australia , also lonely but at least a very optimistic future.
The language of Norm is full old Australian phrases, and Ahmed speaks in a very formal English that he was taught from a text book in Pakistan.
The trap for actors is to fall into playing one dimensional caricatures. This was especially so for Ahmed as he had less lines and , being written in Australia the emphasis of the play was on motivations of Norm.
And of course my recent training wanted me to do it with certain integrity. And I did have the line, Please accept my humble apologies. For a young actor this line felt all wrong. Surely no one would talk like that, and with the accent, it would surely sound like Peter Sellers in The Party. How would I do it? May be just under play; even mumble it, sort of like an Indian version of Marlon Brando mumbling. Well that rubbish, you have to go with pleading and passion of the line. In doing I started to learn about my being Indian, the passion and the emotion of that part of my upbringing.
In the many after show discussions of the play I have witnessed over the years, the discussion is mainly on Norm, except when there is a multi- cultural audience, and the question is always why did Ahmed stay especially when it seems at times he was in danger? When Australian audiences were asked,
Why would Ahmed stay, the answer always surprised me? “OH he just being polite it's part of his culture. “ Polite is the sub- continent culture? I don’t think so. That would just make him a card board cut-out caricature.
Yes he may be being polite but he was also interested in Norm and his life, he says he is interested in human behaviour and people less fortunate than himself. And it makes Ahmed much more interesting to play and a more rounded character.
I have been involved in productions of Norm and Ahmed over the years. In fact in the late 70s and early 80s it was performed a number of times in Australia and there not many actors of an Indian Pakistani background , so there was quite a bit of work.
Among my peers was praise at me getting work but also the sneers? Oh, you only got the job because you were Indian, or they could get past the amusement of a Pakistani accent, which still happens when you play Indian roles.
I was asked to do a film version of it for Film Australia. Alex Buzo came on set a number times during the filming, and we discussed , I thought he jokingly how would it be if Norm and Ahmed was set in the 1980s. Well the Ahmed character would probably be Vietnamese. In the early 90s I think I did see a production called Norman and Tuan at La Mama where Norman was a Vietnam vet and Tuan was from Vietnam. The structure is the same but the dialogue has of course changed
In 2010 the writer Graham Pitts contacted me and talked passionately about the violence against Indian students that had been happening at the time. What could we do about it? He wanted to write a play about it there and then He did not have the time so through his company Many Moons he brought the writes to Norm and Ahmed, I directed it. I got Peter Finlay to play Norm and I was spoilt for choice in getting an Ahmed. How times have changed.
Through Melbourne Student Theatre I found Kevin Ponniah, an Australian resident of Tamil Malaysian background, and having also been educated in Singapore.
For a modern audience I wondered if the text going to seem too old fashioned, do we have to modernise it. If we did modernise the characters would be so different, especially Ahmed. He would surely now be a more confident consumer of education, and able to hold his ground against Norm
I think the piece is so well written that we did not change a word. Kevin found similar problems playing Ahmed as I did, but in making him interested in Norm he gave a very rich performance, and even was able to send up the clichéd Indian character. The piece was very well received proving again what a gem of play it is.
Yes the role of Ahmed did give me an entry into the profession, which I really enjoy, but was I ever going to part of its mainstream. I was asked by an agent to change my name, I probably stupidly agreed. I took on my mother’s maiden name. I use to get work on fringe, still do, and in the 1980s in subsided community and regional theatre which had little or nothing to with my Indian background.
In film and television I have been put for roles of characters with an Indian background and still I AM trying, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding in making them credible giving them integrity. It is always a problem when the lines are written as he has just stepped off the boat speaking very poor English. Or the director says, can you do it like Peter Sellers in The Party, and can you shake your head from side to side.
I have often played supporting role to overseas Indian actors, who had the lead mainly based in England some of them very well known. They told me it was hard for them to play anything except the Indian roles.
I also decided to get more training and in the mid- eighties went to L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. This gave me more strings to my bow and an ability to create my own work and confidence in directing and teaching. This also helped me keep in work, as there were not enough roles for actors with my type of back ground.
Part of Lecoq’s philosophy was that everyone has a place in the theatre it is up to you to find where you belong. That word again belong, I am still trying to find where I belong. Not that I am complaining the journey been fun at times exciting and it is always on going.
Also as a teacher I am really enjoy teaching groups that on the outer of their societies. Teaching clowning and mime to street kids in India or tribal communities in North East Thailand or indigenous schools in The Northern Territory, enabling students to use using drama and the arts to open their imagination and as a way into education.
As a director I try and cast in an interesting way. The best way I did was in Singapore at La Salle College of Arts, where in The Comedy of Errors I had to cast two sets of twins from a pool of Indian
On the positive side it the profession has taught me to understand more and celebrate my Indian heritage which of course is an endless task. I find strange that when cast in an Indian role some people feel I am an expert on India .
I would like to be able to perform more often on the main-stages and on screen playing a wider variety of roles. That is why I cannot be at the conference this week. I am in Queensland filming a role in an American TV series Terra Nova. The interesting point about this series is that all main actors are from overseas, but not all American. It seems to be a culturally diverse cast. The guest role I have is that of a scientist, and there is no mention of the character being from India or Pakistan or anywhere. It is such a relief.
There needs to be more stories told on our stages and screens especially on the main stages reflecting times the culturally diverse nature of the Australian community so we All feel we belong.
From Bangkok to Benalla Feb to April
2011
I have just completed a stint in directing student actors
at GRADA TAFE an acting course based in Benalla Victoria. It sure was a
change after spending seven months in Bangkok I had eight very enthusiastic students to direct in scenes and monologues they had chosen from the catalogue of plays from the 20th century. So scenes that were chosen included, Tennessee Williams "Street Car Named Desire" and The Glass Menagerie (my favourite), Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, to Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anachist, and Australian plays such as Michael Gow’s Away and Nick Enright’s Blackrock. We titled the evening of scenes and monologues Love and Other Catastrophes.
For many of the students this was their first experience on stage, and I must admit I felt very proud of the work they had achieved
Directing Grada students in a scene from The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
Full review of Norm and Ahmed.
Directed by Alex Pinder. La Mama, Melbourne, until August 15 2010.
Anyone who wants to know anything about playwriting, directing, acting and designing has until August 15 to get themselves to La Mama and see this brilliant account of Mr Buzo’s (a national treasure, surely) faultless first play.
Written in 1969 (which today is somehow almost too confronting to accept), it was notoriously the subject of a prosecution for obscenity – not, as La Mama’s Artistic Director Liz Jones pointed out (in her wonderful and emotional postscript to the performance) for the use of the word “boong”, but for the use of the word “fucking”. It was here, at La Mama, that Norm and Ahmed was first produced – and as a gentleman in the audience pointed out before the drawing of the famous ‘La Mama Raffle’: “Have the police been notified?” Norm and Ahmed also holds the La Mama record for the most re-stagings of a play at the theatre – with this Many Moons production being the fifth.
Mr Buzo’s script is all lean, theatrical muscle and Mr Pinder’s direction of it is absolutely beautiful in its stark and pure textual complicity. Peter Finlay (Norm) and Kevin Ponniah (Ahmed) deliver two of the most accomplished, tour de force performances in recent memory, and one has no choice but to forgive them their opening night nerves in front of a capacity house – bursting at the seams – for this rare and historic occasion.
In ‘Norm’, Mr Buzo somehow miraculously – and entirely – encapsulates a complex national identity including its deep-seated anxieties about the very essence of what it means to be different. From ‘Norm’s’ razor-sharp commentary about the “perverts” in the bushes to his moving reminiscence of his late wife ‘Beryl’ and his experiences as a soldier in the war – Norm is a monstrously illuminating creation. That people like him still exist, is cause for serious contemplation – and it is in his holding up of the cracked mirror where we, reluctantly, may find something of our own prejudices reflected, that marks Mr Buzo as a truly astonishing playwright. That it’s all done and dusted in under an hour makes him a master.
The tendency to fall into caricature in the performance of these two roles is never far from likely – such is the perilous line between stereotype and archetype around which great writers of great characters for the stage dance. In Mr Finlay’s hands, however, the immensely complex ‘Norm’ is in a craftsman’s hands. At times, through a most incredible vocal and emotional range, it was never entirely clear if Norm was going to kiss Ahmed or kill him. Norm’s vulnerability, his fear, his hatred and his quintessential Australian suspicion are all beautifully realised in this stunning performance. For anyone even remotely interested in the art of acting, this is what it looks and feels like. As Ahmed, Mr Ponniah is all wide-eyed wonderment and naivety – layered with a sense of genuine eagerness to be accepted by his marvelously engaging new-found friend. Mr Ponniah’s complete command of Mr Buzo’s dialogue was superb – and the audience loved it. The shouts and cheers at the end of the performance, with curtain calls which one sensed could have gone on all night, were entirely well-deserved.
Nothing, however, can prepare you for the final moment in Norm and Ahmed – and the woman sitting three seats away from me almost leaping from her seat and screaming “No!”, was the entire measure of this electric night in the theatre. It is compulsory viewing. Go.
Geoffrey Williams
Anyone who wants to know anything about playwriting, directing, acting and designing has until August 15 to get themselves to La Mama and see this brilliant account of Mr Buzo’s (a national treasure, surely) faultless first play.
Written in 1969 (which today is somehow almost too confronting to accept), it was notoriously the subject of a prosecution for obscenity – not, as La Mama’s Artistic Director Liz Jones pointed out (in her wonderful and emotional postscript to the performance) for the use of the word “boong”, but for the use of the word “fucking”. It was here, at La Mama, that Norm and Ahmed was first produced – and as a gentleman in the audience pointed out before the drawing of the famous ‘La Mama Raffle’: “Have the police been notified?” Norm and Ahmed also holds the La Mama record for the most re-stagings of a play at the theatre – with this Many Moons production being the fifth.
Mr Buzo’s script is all lean, theatrical muscle and Mr Pinder’s direction of it is absolutely beautiful in its stark and pure textual complicity. Peter Finlay (Norm) and Kevin Ponniah (Ahmed) deliver two of the most accomplished, tour de force performances in recent memory, and one has no choice but to forgive them their opening night nerves in front of a capacity house – bursting at the seams – for this rare and historic occasion.
In ‘Norm’, Mr Buzo somehow miraculously – and entirely – encapsulates a complex national identity including its deep-seated anxieties about the very essence of what it means to be different. From ‘Norm’s’ razor-sharp commentary about the “perverts” in the bushes to his moving reminiscence of his late wife ‘Beryl’ and his experiences as a soldier in the war – Norm is a monstrously illuminating creation. That people like him still exist, is cause for serious contemplation – and it is in his holding up of the cracked mirror where we, reluctantly, may find something of our own prejudices reflected, that marks Mr Buzo as a truly astonishing playwright. That it’s all done and dusted in under an hour makes him a master.
The tendency to fall into caricature in the performance of these two roles is never far from likely – such is the perilous line between stereotype and archetype around which great writers of great characters for the stage dance. In Mr Finlay’s hands, however, the immensely complex ‘Norm’ is in a craftsman’s hands. At times, through a most incredible vocal and emotional range, it was never entirely clear if Norm was going to kiss Ahmed or kill him. Norm’s vulnerability, his fear, his hatred and his quintessential Australian suspicion are all beautifully realised in this stunning performance. For anyone even remotely interested in the art of acting, this is what it looks and feels like. As Ahmed, Mr Ponniah is all wide-eyed wonderment and naivety – layered with a sense of genuine eagerness to be accepted by his marvelously engaging new-found friend. Mr Ponniah’s complete command of Mr Buzo’s dialogue was superb – and the audience loved it. The shouts and cheers at the end of the performance, with curtain calls which one sensed could have gone on all night, were entirely well-deserved.
Nothing, however, can prepare you for the final moment in Norm and Ahmed – and the woman sitting three seats away from me almost leaping from her seat and screaming “No!”, was the entire measure of this electric night in the theatre. It is compulsory viewing. Go.
Geoffrey Williams
Touring out back NT
Papers.
The following are letters from my tour with The Song Room to the Northern Territory in 2008
Dear All,
I am in Ali-Curung, an Aboriginal settlement about 180k from Tenant Creek in The Northern Territory. There seem to be more then one spelling of this town. It can be as above, or Alecherang. It is going to be our base for this tour that I am doing with The Song Room. I am here taking drama, clowning and mime to very disadvantaged and isolated schools in The Barkley region of the NT. There are two other artists Karen Berger from Melbourne, and a local indigenous artist Lynnette Lewis.
It seems to be a settlement of about 500 people. It set on baron dry ground with hardly a tall tree in sight. There are dozens of pre-fabricated houses, some which are homes and one is an art gallery, another internet cafe which does not seem to operate. Plenty of wrecked cars litter the landscape.
There are plenty of dogs in Al-Curung. The name comes from a local language Kayteye, meaning country of dogs or dog dreaming. Dogs must not be harmed in anyway, or put down, even when sick. “They must live their natural life”. It reminds me of the sacred cows in India. The dogs don’t look sick, and I am told a vet does came and visit them once a month. Don’t know how it works. If the dogs all know the day of the month he or she comes and line up in an orderly manor
My understanding is that this is a relatively new community set up in the 1950s.
There are four different languages spoken, Walpiri, Warumungu, Kaiditch and Alywarr. Different tribal groups were settled here after they were disposed from their traditional lands. Historically theses groups did not always get on, and sometimes fights occur. That is why they have made it a dry area, and it is run by the local Aboriginal Council.
The other night it was very noisy. I understood it was pay day. I don’t know if I was the only one who was observing the alcohol ban, but I do miss a cold beer on these hot evenings.
On our first day here children were involved in a sports carnival. We watched a mini - Olympics It was a good opportunity to meet, members of the community. There are quite a few characters around here; you would think one could be in an episode of a quirky British or ABC TV series. The most interesting seems to be the policeman, a young man (we think he is gay) from Blackpool, England, whose passion is to play the organ. He used to play in cinemas in England. I don’t why he is here and what brought him here. But everyone likes him and he seems to be very well respected.
The Greek baker, who has been here for years and bakes great bread, opens only in the afternoons. It is an agreement he has with the local government owned shop. Lettuce in the shop cost $6 each! And the super- market is in Tenant Creek
There is also a nurse from Canada who takes the elders and the kids on Bush tucker excursions. I think she does it to promote healthy eating she seems to be knowledgeable on the indigenous cultures. She seems to speak Creole, the local indigenous, version of English. She has been in Australia for 6 months or so and has only travelled in the remote areas. The only city she has spent any time in is Mount Isa!
We went along last Sunday to the bush tucker expedition. It was a mixture of old and new. They picked a number of berries from different branches. They were not for eating. They wanted them to make into necklaces, and bangles.
How ever they eat Kangaroo tail. They dig a whole and make a fire. When the coals are hot enough, they take out the tail and cook it amongst them. The tail was brought from the butcher in Tenant Creek. The Kangaroo sausages, which were brought from the super-market in Tenant Creek were barbequed on top of the fire.
The sausages were eaten with damper made from Black and Gold flour. While we were waiting for all of this to be cooked, out came a packet crisps to keep hunger at bay. I could not come at eating the Kangaroo tail, it looked very fatty. I had a small taste of the Kangaroo sausage, but being a vegetarian, I found it far too strong.
The kids all knew where to look for wild beans and some wild passionfruit, which will be ripe by Christmas. We were shown a flower that is used as soap.
Our first day in classrooms was great. You are always reminded they kids are kids where ever they are.I have been running a clowning and drama workshop like I have always run. They are calling me Mr. Bean. I think the younger ones actually think that I am Mr Bean. They are a very wild bunch and have a very short attention span. I think I have taught an entire year of a drama school in about three lessons
On the whole the kids ,especially the older ones are much shier, here then elsewhere. When- ever they have o do anything in front of others, it seems almost too painful. They do not want to embarrass themselves infront of others.
By the end of the second week we have now travelled to two other communities and their schools. Including Canteen Creek and Epinara. The only road there is a dirt road. I have done my first dirt road driving. The distances here of course are amazing. The roads are very straight, but bumpy, the country very flat.
Canteen Creek, I find a little odd. It has very dedicated teachers who are trying to do extra ordinary work in the school and the community. They look like having the first students in the area to get an HSC result. The head-master goes round the community on his bicycle, rounding up students, making sure they are there on time. He also makes a number of very loud announcements, over the loudspeaker demanding that this or that student get to school now. He also has community assemblies at the end of each week. Karen and I perform at one of them. We do a short clown routine and Karen sings some songs.
It is run in a very Christian fashion, which is surprising as it is a government school. I think World Vision are also supporting it.
It is half way through the 4th week and it is school holidays. Back at Ali Curung we are suppose to be running some workshop and we have adapted and rehearsed a short story that we are told lot of the children in the area know . It is The Ginger Bread man. I think I remember that from my childhood. The school libraries seem well stocked and I think we will adapt a few short stories.
At this holiday program people are dribbling in and out. At one point we can have 10 the next minute only 2. 3 or 4, and the odd dog as well. We said the program would start at 11am. How ever no one has a watch or clock around here. Not the kids or most of their parents. The youth worker who is organising the program has to go around the community and do a round up of kids. She does not seem to find many.
So we decide to go another community Murry Downs, about 50k away along a dirt road. They say this settlement is alot calmer and more co-operative the Ali Curung. To me the place looks like a complete wreck. Every- thing seems broken. Windows, gates, fences and there are even more wrecked cars. Theses dirt roads take their toll on the average sedan, which a lot of the locals drive.
Any way there plenty of children, and they are delightful. We have a very enjoyable workshop and performance.
Yesterday evening I was invited to listen to some music at the local Baptist church, With some trepidation I went. The music was country and western. There was a very good guitarist, and although I don’t like this style of music, it seemed to act as a fitting accompaniment to the wide open sky line and the warm evening. No religion was forced down my throat, which was a relief.
But it is a busy place, is downtown Ali Curung and the kids wanted me to go to the kids disco. It was across the road from the church, and it had all the lights and thumping music one would see at Chapel St. The kids were still very shy with their dancing. They got up, gyrated their hips for a couple of minutes and then rushed to wall in embarrassment. There is a culture of not wanting to do anything that could be seen as shameful.
I can’t believe I am in still Australia.
Dear All,
We have had our first breakdown in the middle of nowhere, travelling along a bumpy dirt road, on our way to Canteen Creek. I was driving, when we saw two guys at the side of the road fixing a tyre. It was the right and proper to stop and see if they were ok. Of course they were, and while I was taking the opportunity for a quick drink, they, having changed the tyre, gave us a wave and sped off. I started the engine. It stalled. Tried again. It didn’t start. Tried again. Nothing. May be it was time to change drivers. Karen had a go. Nothing. We decided to look at the manual. Karen thought it may be a fuse. I checked the oil. Both were fine. That is about all I know about cars. So it was a question of waiting.
Apart from our two friends changing the tyre, we had not passed anyone since leaving the main high way. Could be a long wait. After about 40 minutes, along came a four-wheel drive, from Canteen Creek. It was an assistant teacher we had met on our previous visits. She decided it had to be the battery. She tells her husband to check the battery. Now surely the battery could not be flat, we had been driving for over two hours, even I knew that. However he gives it a look and discovers one of the connections had gotten loose, I presume from the bumpy road, but I do not really know. He tightened it. It started first time.
A teacher at Epinara said to me with an air of resignation, “We are just interfering. Why are we here, why don’t we just leave these people alone? Why should they learn English, or even learn to read? They all seem happy getting on with their own lives here.” She says she loves being here but at times wonders what good she is doing. “They would be better off, if we just left them alone!”
Outside the playground is baking hot red sand. Beyond that, more scrub. The settlement sits on a dry and sandy plain. There is a river that is close by, but it is empty and has been for a number of years.
The teachers here are being hassled by Centre-Link, to make sure that kids are attending school at least 85% of the time. Family benefits will be affected by school attendance. The problem is that many of the families are moving around between the communities and some- times attending other schools.
Centre Link fly in once a fortnight to process forms etc. Most people here would depend on them. Flying in is only a recent policy. The mind boggles wondering, how people would get their forms in on time if they had to go to Tennant Creek.
When the teacher asked Centre Link for an interpreter of one of the local languages spoken in the area, the centre link officer asked “And what country does that language from?”
Another teacher at a school says there are plenty of well meaning white folk that come in with a grand scheme to improve things, they will solve the problem of lack of school attendance, or child literacy or health. All very well meaning he thinks. However they come in having pre- planned everything, without really consulting the local community elders. When doctors came to the school, with intervention last year, children were with -drawn.
I have noticed that the organisations that do come in only come for a day. They all wear some very bright T-Shirt, bearing their sponsors logos, and have a show bag of goodies for the kids. A lot of which I see littering the streets, only a few days later.
Most of the teachers are very committed, trying to get students some sort of qualification to get a job. To do so they would have to leave the community, which is very hard for them to do. Of those that do go, many, it seems, return. There does not seem much to do in these communities especially for men.
They are trying to get many of the young men to play music, and with some success. Outside the Baptist church in Ali Curung I see the guitarist practicing. He is playing gospel tunes and bit of country and western He is very good. He introduces himself to me “Jimmy Friday is my name. But today is Sunday” he laughs. If you thought my jokes were bad!! He doesn’t play anything else except country and western and gospel. He used to play other stuff he says.
“What did you play?” I ask him. “The Shadows” he says.
While in Epinara we hear young men on their guitars, drums and base, churn out what sounds like country and western tunes. They practice all day for a sports carnival that is coming up in another community.
Also there are plenty of people painting and creating works of art. Ali Curung even has an Arts Centre. You would not know it. It looks like just another house.
The older students that we meet in the various schools seem to enjoy painting. They are not at all inhibited in painting. I went with on an excursion to a place nearby known as Devils Marbles. They confidently painted a number of small landscapes. They have no art teacher, no formal training, but they do have a good eye.
In Ali Curung, a woman comes into the school staff room. She is trying to sell two of her paintings. One in particular was really good. She wants to sell it for a $100. It is a dot painting done on a small canvass. I ask her, how long it took. “Two weeks” she says. She then drops the price to $70. This is getting embarrassing. I think one of the teachers brought it for $100
We meet a local elder, she is a real community leader, one who really worries and cares for the people around her and thinks of a better future. She wants the government to do more for her and her community, she says. She is going to try and get on the board that will replace ATSIC. She had got to let them know what is needed here. She has a quiet determination. “From little things, big things grow” she says.
It is the women who are trying to lead the communities. The girls tend to be better in school. . Better at sport, and better at the more practical things in life. I was told in a class about changing tyres it was the girls who could do it. The boys sat back.
In another staff room we hear disturbing stories. Kids who have not been to school for weeks are seen wondering the streets of Tenant Creek or Alice Springs. Why are they there? They are waiting for their parents to finish drinking.
It is Sunday and a day off. The driving on dirt roads has been exhausting and I decide it would great to go for a walk. There are places we can’t go as they are sacred. I have not bothered to find out exactly where they are, so I know I have to be care- full. I walk to the end of the settlement and see a path that goes into the scrub. It looks perfect for a Sunday walk, so peaceful and still. Anywhere else I would have happily gone off, but here, I just felt it was wrong. It might be part of the sacred grounds. As I turned around to go home, a woman came running after me, saying “Don’t go there! Secret men’s place”
A few days later I get a knock on the door. A young man He asks if he could speak with us. He looks very nervous. He felt something strange as he passed by our house. He had to speak to us. He did not know what it was, but he felt something strange. He asked us where we came from, and if we had been here before. Karen had been here 20 years previously. “What do you remember?” Karen remembered the birds, as you drive in. “That is my grandfather’s dreaming” he replies He seems to relax a bit. He tells me not to go wondering off into sacred ground, (word had got around) and leaves.
We see many feral donkeys, horses, and of course dogs. Also plenty of road- kill, mainly kangaroos. On one dirt road we come across an emu. We stop and it approaches! It circles the car with a look of distain, as if inspecting it. After one circle, it wonders off. I think we are allowed to proceed.
For the first time outside India I have seen Brahmin Bulls. Cows with small humps on their backs. They look a lot more healthy then the cows roaming around the streets of Kolkata or Delhi.
I see a young naked child wondering across the road, with a bloated belly. A sign of malnutrition. That is something I have also not seen since India, and that is India of the 1970s.
The week end of the Ali Curung Sports Carnival is coming up. There will be people coming from a number of communities in the region. They will travel long distances and it is a big excuse for family reunions. Of course with family reunions there comes family arguments and violence. A few days before the carnival, anger and rage erupt at the teenage disco, when apparently a girl dances with the wrong guy. The next night I am kept awake by our neighbours throwing abuse, and I presume other things at each other. I am told a few years ago police were brought in to quell riots at the carnival.
No one quite knew when the carnival would start and what events would happen. It depends who would turn up, and if there were enough people to organise it. Some- one said there would be a spear throwing completion. That got us outsiders excited. Trouble was no-one had any spears, and when I thought about it, why would they? When people occasionally go hunting for Kangaroo, they take rifles, in four wheel- drives. I think someone set that rumour off, as a bit of a joke on us.
Of course the footy was one of the main events. It is a round robin competition with the grand final to be played on the Sunday, or if there is not enough time the Monday. It is played with all the passion of the AFL, on an oval of red sand with patches of yellow grass, in temperatures well into the high 30s. Some of teams have the same coloured shirts, some players have shorts, and running shoes, and others play in jeans and bare feet. There is prize money for the winning team.
On the Saturday night the bands appear. People danced as they did at the disco, wiggling their hips very briefly then running out of the spot light in shame. The most popular song, and it had to be played a number of times, was the 1962 Californian surf classic Wipe- Out.
On the Sunday the girls start a soft ball competition. I bump into the team from Canteen Creek, whom I had met before at the school there. For them to come to Ali Curung is like going to the big city. They were genuinely very excited to see me. They said they loved the songs, performances and workshops that we did with them. They were so surprised and excited that we were going back to their school. It was very touching. I felt quietly pleased we did not have a silly looking T-shirt, and a show bag full of junk!
Dear All,
We are heading north of Tennant Creek. At first the desert seems to gets harsher, there is less scrub more rocks and it is getting very hot. Our destination is the town of Elliot, and as we approach, the scenery starts to change. The scrub starts to makes way for trees, it is getting a little greener, and there is an increase in humidity. We were getting closer to the tropics
There is a frog on the toilet seat. I have been reliably informed by my colleague there are two frogs that live in our bathroom, but I have only seen one. This is the main tourist attraction of Elliot. Frogs that live in the dunny (that is toilet for my overseas friends) it looks very cute and every now and then a large croak can be heard from the bowels of the toilet.
Elliot is a town and, not a settlement and it is on the main highway. I expected to see more Anglo-Australians at the school, but it is full of indigenous children. This at first this was odd as you do not see them in the town, there were no local families living next door to where we were staying. They live in camps at either end of the town. There are another two different Indigenous languages are spoken here.
As we enter the class room, a young child is crying her eyes out. Through her tears, she is trying to tell the teacher what happened. A young lad comes up to her and with no hesitation or doubt hits her and wants to do so again before he is dragged off to the principal’s office. For such a young child he seems very angry.
The school at Elliot has had its problems. It has had a high turnover of teachers. Last year they had thirteen principals in twelve months.
The principal at the moment is very strong and is turning the school around, with a tough love policy. Kids must be made to feel safe and secure and fed she says. Only then can they think about educating them.
We are there working with the teacher who is running a circus program. He has the children holding hoops and marching around in a circle, trying desperately for all of them to keep in time. Some idea, I imagine he has got from The Beijing Opening Ceremony. This is of course is impossible for the kids. What they were good at was, finding their own fun and quirky movements, using the hoops.
Throughout all the schools there is a huge issue of teasing and bullying. The attitude of the kids is it is better to hit then be hit and always pick on the one smaller then you. Fights suddenly occur and for no apparent reason.
There is wildness about the kids living on the camps. They are full of energy and with the camp dogs run about everywhere without any social or physical boundaries placed upon them.
That is until they come to school.
There is such a cultural divide between their home life and their schooling. It takes very experienced and patient teachers to help students navigate their way through to what must seem a very perplexing and strange experience. To have to sit still in one room, to focus on one activity at a time such as reading in a foreign language (English) would be hard for kids anywhere. For these children who have no structure in their lives it is near impossible
Teachers have to be so on the ball and full of energy, just to keep the kids in the room. Many are young, new graduates from down south, just out of university.
It is easy to see why teachers burnout and there is a high turnover rate.
It is raining in Canteen Creek, and the sand is turning to mud. It was time for playing in the puddles and falling about in it. I have never seen so many mud soaked kids and dogs having so much fun. I have just seen two kids taking a bath in what looks like an old freezer box which is lying around outside a house.
Yes it is raining and it would not take much before it floods. There was not heavy rain but on the streets around the community large puddles and pools appear very quickly. Also the scrub turns to a very deep green. The next day with the sun shining strongly in a bright blue sky, it leaves a magnificent and picturesque sight.
On our travels along the dirt roads we have often found ourselves picking people up who have broken down. Mostly it is due to punctured tyres, or they have run out of fuel. When we drop them off at their destination, I expect a thankyou or at least a nod of appreciation. But we get nothing. Not even a backward glance as they walk out of our lives. At first I was quite taken back, but now I am expecting it, and it makes both Karen and I smile.
Just when I thought that was the way it was in these parts , one evening, we pick up an old guy who, when we arrive at his home, asks our names, shakes our hands and points out all the houses in which his relatives live
I have to say the young kids are a scruffy mob. Their hair looks like it never seen a brush or comb, bit of sand stick to their arms and legs, held there by sweat. Runny noses are every -where you look.
They are always delighted that we have come to their school and they love the performances that we give. However they never seem to pay attention to the exercises or the songs we give them. Then when we return, a couple of weeks later, as we do, they surprise us by remembering what we did with them when we were last there.
On returning to Canteen Creek we are told that history has been made at the school. For the first time they have two students that have completed their HSC. The teacher is beaming with pride. The two young men have to give a presentation on one of their projects. They were so very nervous; they were shaking and could barely be heard. However it was very moving as they tried to express how grateful and proud they were having got this far. I don’t think it is going to get him into a university course, but may be able to get an apprentice position somewhere.
While here I manage to get some of the kids to perform a clown skit. They do very well. But at the end of their performance, they run to the corner of the room to hide their shame. I have had to adapt so many drama games and exercises, to make them as simple and as non- threatening as possible. Just when I think it could get no simpler, thankfully, I seem to find away,
The principal at Ali Curung tells me that the kids have gone feral. He says it is because the council have decided to close the sports and recreation hall, as its cooling system is not working. Then not long after the local store has closed until further notice as kids have been stealing from it.
The department based in Darwin wants the older students at Ali Curung to sit for exams. They can no longer have the time to work with us. The students start not turning up for school. Some turn up not knowing there will be an exam. When realising, they excuse themselves and don’t come back.
In the school at Sterling I am told many of kids are taken under the care of their grand-parents or even great grand-parents as the parents are off drinking. I can’t understand why. I am told that there are a number of reasons, both economic and cultural. I am only just beginning to understand the complexity of the situation here.
We go to Newcastle Waters, twenty kilometres up the road from Elliot. It is a tiny school, with only six students. I don’t think they get many visitors so it seems we are something really special. The head is an indigenous teacher from the local area. She was raised in the area, went off to be educated and returned. She is able to speak the two indigenous languages of the area.
Most of the indigenous teachers are assistant teachers. Most seem to be women. Some mother the children a little, others seem to sit in the corner and have very little to do. Most seem to lack confidence, in giving students any direction. I don’t know if there is much opportunity for them to improve their qualifications without having to leave the area and their families.
One of the teachers from Canteen Creek took an assistant to Alice Springs. On the way back they stopped over at a pub. However the assistant was too afraid to go in as she felt she would not be allowed. Apparently it took some convincing to get her in the door. She was not thrown out.
This teacher, I am told, is very committed to the school and her community. She lives in a three bedroom house with over eighteen other people, and is happily expecting another, god knows how many other house guests for the up and coming sports carnival.
That is right, yet another sports carnival this time in Canteen Creek and people arrive from other communities I bump into kids who have seen us elsewhere. This has happened frequently on the tour, as families move around from community to community. I can always tell if the kids have seen us before, as they anticipate the gags we do in the clown routines, and tell their friend sitting next to them.
While at Newcastle Waters, it is Election Day for the local council. The school acts an as a remote booth for about one hour. The candidates come to do some electioneering. The booth is so small the candidates know all the voters personally.
At lunch time I hang around and start chatting with some of these would be politicians. When they realize I am working in schools, they shake their heads and tell me what a terrible situation education is up here, and blame it all on the teachers, who come from the south with no real idea, of what goes on in these parts.
We make a quick visit to Katherine Gorge, which is part of the Natimuk National Park, owned by the local Jawoyn, people and leased back to The NT government. Visiting it I realize what a great celebration of their culture it is. I listen and read plenty of their dream time stories see ancient rock paintings and marvel at the beauty and splendour of the place as I take a boat ride through two of the gorges. I was expecting a Jawoyn elder to be our guide. How naive am I? It was a geologist from Barcelona.
In Epenara, there was an incident three weeks ago. Someone died during a fight. Whether it was murder, manslaughter, or heart attack, is now in the hands of the police. The fight involved members of two different families. The victim‘s family is seeking the traditional payback from the alleged perpetrator and their family. So they have left the community. Walking through the place this time feels like a ghost town. There are more broken down cars than people and abandoned houses everywhere. I take a closer look at these houses. Some are well built, but others are no more than tin sheds. Nearly all have solar panels and satellite dishes on their roofs
The situation has affected the school. The few students that are there do not seem very motivated. I wonder if we should even be there. We decide to stay on and persevere. It was hard going and at times it looked like we were failing. But by the week’s end they were enjoying the workshops so much they did not want us to go.
During this period I race down to do another gig in Melbourne at Federation Square. (It is great to be working.) As I pass The Arts Centre and The Spiegel Tent, it all looks so pleasant and enjoyable. I try and imagine the kids from theses communities being there. I wonder what they would make of it all. I think many would find it hard to even imagine the possibility of ever going to such a place.
Art Across IndiaThis paper was originally given at Victoria University : Intergenerational Conference. July 2006 and formed the basis of our talk with the Cultural Development Network. in December 2007 Anne and I wrote a paper and gave a talk about our work in India___________________________________________________________________
We would like to share with you something of two recent visits to India. We hope the work can move you to consider the arts as a productive and enjoyable means of exchange and change, and of developing relationships between older and younger people, and between communitiesIn 2005 we had the pleasure of working as artists in communities throughout India and with organisations such as The East West Foundation, Nistha, The Mahatma Gandhi School and World Vision India.
For this talk, we will be discussing a visual art and drama project we ran in collaboration with World Vision and its potential to effect change.
I am a visual artist – and a student at Victoria University. I am undertaking a PhD examining the role the visual arts can play in healing from grief and loss resulting from trauma.
For twenty years, I have been working beside many people in many situations – people who are mostly in a state of extreme vulnerability. People living with a life threatening illness; others trying to re-construct their lives after sexual assault; young adults struggling without much education to make their way in the world. Mental illness, poverty, confusion, grief.
The life situations are different, complex and often heart-breaking; the desire for beauty, meaning and connection to others, seems to cross all cultures, ages and experiences.
My partner in this adventure is performing artist, Jyoti Mukherjee., some of you may know him as Alex Pinder. He is as an actor, director and theatre teacher. He trained at The Ensemble Studios in Sydney and L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. His great love is acting and the theatre, particularly physical theatre and comedy, and sharing this passion with others.
From very early in his career Jyoti was interested in working with people from the “other side of the tracks”. He performed for, taught and directed many disadvantaged groups, first in Sydney for Sidetrack Theatre, and touring outback areas of Northwest NSW with the New England Theatre Company. He later ran workshops for disability groups in Melbourne with organisations such as Arts Access and The Footscray Community Arts Centre. More recently has been working in Singapore.
Jyoti’s background is part Bengali, part English, and as a result he spent his early years living between India and England. He had always wanted to work in India, but the chance never arose.
Until recently India seemed too poor, and too in need of the basics to deal with someone interested in performing, theatre or running mime workshops.
That is, until a small conversation I had with World Vision Australia, offering them an arts workshop in Calcutta, where we were soon heading. They connected us to a project supporting teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds – all had been recently living on the streets. The girls now lived in a hostel, and all received an informal education. Their exposure to the arts was extremely limited; the performing arts was through folk dance and song, and basic needlework was the extent
their visual arts practice.
We had some apprehensions leading up to these workshops. How would be pitch them? Would they be interested? Would they get Jyoti’s sense of humor? He had his pockets full of his red clown noses. The group were – at first - very shy towards us until Jyoti asked what they had done over the Christmas break.
They had been to the circus. Bingo! we had something in common! The noses came out of the pocket and Jyoti performed a clown improvisation. Everyone broke into laughter. And in response, they performed their dances and songs for us.
This three-day workshop with the children and staff remains the most memorable part of that trip to India,
and it became the springboard for the tour in November.
###
India has a population of roughly 1.02 billion people, we worked with a few hundred. For every comment and observation we make about India – believe me, there are so many other points of view, but on the comments we make about the art and its potential - here we feel on solid ground!
The potential for learning and personal development revealed by the earlier project motivated the organisation to work with us, to create a visual and performing arts project which would come to involve five different communities of disadvantaged children, their community leaders and teachers.
In just over three weeks, we traveled great distances – as did many of the participants running programs in Calcutta, Delhi, Gaziabad, and in South India.
Participants traveled on overnight trains from the States of Assam, Utter Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and various nearby cities to join us.
I will talk a little of the background of the people, and of the aspirations for the work, but will focus mostly on the art, what we were trying to achieve and how we believe
this creative work can affect change.
We worked groups from: Area Development Programs (ADPs) and two schools for the deaf.
Few of ADP children had been to school. Many had lived on the streets and had current or recent experience of child or bonded labour. Through an informal education, they receive practical lessons to develop skills required for a productive work life; their education includes basic literacy, numeracy, as well as learning about social issues – like AIDs and health awareness.
One of schools for the Deaf was affiliated with a private school – although there was very little evidence of any private school trimmings; and the second was in the midst of a struggle to find funds to continue operating after Sept this year.
Although we planned to work with 20 participants, there was mostly 20 to 30 children, plus around ten teachers and community leaders in each group. At one place, we found ourselves staring into the expectant faces of more than 70 children wondering what was about to happen, before someone gave us the hurry-on!
I am sure at times we were considered prima- donnas for balking at working with large groups;Indian teachers routinely instruct 50 children.
However, the point of this program went beyond classroom teaching. It was a chance for teachers and students to learn together- to develop creativity through individual and group work, to generate and expose skills and ideas. This requires time and space – for us to teach, to look, guide and inspire, as well as interact meaningfully with students.
At each location, everyone knew somebody, but no-one knew everybody. Our first aim, therefore, was to create a community, a sense of belonging, a group. It is essential to create a space of trust, where we can all be comfortable working and creating together.
The first steps of an education in the performing arts are taken through movement and being physical. Ice braking games develop a sense of playfulness. They help us get to know each other,warm us up ready for the work ahead and establish that this is a time for pleasure. We relied onthese games to start off each new project.
The aim of drama is to bring people into themselves. Games, mime, and physical comedy techniques help the students move their bodies and stretch themselves in many different ways.
This technique was named “a non-pscyhological approach” by Jacques Lecoq – the leading,French theatre educator. Participants are encouraged to tap into their intuition.
Although these children owned very little, they did have access to PAY-TV. Watching Mr Bean and silent movies had already provided them with a good education of slapstick and clowning – and these are great skills to break down any language barriers!
Child Labour is an issue which confronts and affronts many. It affects the lives and livelihoods of millions of children and their families throughout the developing world. The reasons why children work are many and complex – and not the subject of this talk except to say for those of you who are not familiar with child labour in India, it is a not uncommon to see children working alongside parents at the market; carrying water, selling vegetables; to see children picking over the rubbish;they break rocks, work as tailors, roll bedi’s, tend families, farms and animals.
We saw children working at a mill in conditions similar to those which inspired Charles Dickens to write on the subject of child labour 150 years ago; they work as beggars, and serve in shops.
Governments, NGOs, Community leaders, and families themselves are striving to find ways to successfully eliminate this practice and offer children the opportunity of education, and choice in determining their future and most importantly, to have a childhood.
It is an onerous undertaking. World Vision asked that we give attention to child labour, and to some of the myriad issues which affect Indian communities. As our program expanded to include five locations, and contracted to touring for three weeks, we felt it unsound to concentrate on issues raising
before doing the preparatory work of group and skill development, and crucially, before building trusting relationships with communities and individuals.
We all recognized that this program could only be the start, a trial, and the inspiration for things to come …
Our approach was to focus on the right to a childhood – to play, to discover, to interact. A child wants to be open to the entire world. To be happy and solid and strong. Creativity is a way to achieve this, providing the child with the tools to cope with whatever comes along.
Experience of the visual arts was extremely limited. We set out to inspire through offering a range of materials and methods. We created precious ink drawings on tiny pieces of gold Joss paper, vibrant paintings on long pieces of fabric, and lots in between.
The images are of Northern Australian Aboriginal x-ray paintings. They are beautiful examples of work which speaks of both the external and internal; carefully executed, strong, decorative patterns, a very limited palette – ochres, white and black, exquisitely placed on the page – sheets of bark in many cases - each side of the page is touched by the drawing.
For those who have little experience of drawing and painting, these works are a great learning tool.
Look carefully at what is put in and what is left out. Look at the shape, the materials, the design;think differently – you can see two things at once, the inside and the outside – which is impossible
in life. Notice the care taken in the line work, and what can be achieved with so few colours … be inspired!
We use these striking art works to stimulate new understandings of what art is, and what it can be.
In exposing the group to artwork with such a strong cultural identity, it seemed that permission was taken to incorporate and explore their own cultures. You can see this in the work, the rat, for example, where one of the two pictures has interpretations of Australian art, and the other has interpretations of Indian art.
The ideas behind these finished works grew from the Aboriginal art; however, it was the learning about materials, developing skills, working together and thinking their own thoughts which nurtured the inspiration, and enabled such delightful pictures to be created.
CHILD EDUCATORS
Rural communities compete with larger towns and cities to attract skilled teachers to what are often poor and backward centres. Visiting some of these rural and disadvantaged communities we saw the impact of these difficulties. Our hearts went out to the three teachers of one village school confronted the daunting task of educating 275 primary school children! The Calcutta Telegraph
reported a school with 300 children and NO teachers.
Older children consequently become the educators of the young. We learnt during our wrap-up discussions, that children saw the arts program as a “professional development’ opportunity. “I feel I have mastered a talent I didn’t previously know I had. I am particularly interested in taking this back to my village to teach these skills and use them within the ADP” … Comments such as this,
surprised us (to say the least).
Drama skits have widespread use in the informal education of children and the wider community.
Messages around health awareness; attending school; and saving money are conveyed in this manner.
With this in mind, Jyoti spent time developing theatre skills to reflect the needs of the children as child educators. he set up a series of role play improvisations on the children’s working lives. They were based around The Boss verses The Servant and the very real issues of School verses Work
and HIV /AIDS awareness. Through these improvisations he taught the students stagecraft -
where to stand, how to project the voice, how to keep the scene interesting.
These scenes were turned into works of physical comedy - employing humour and physicality to portray what is often difficult to say. They all thought the scenes were hilarious, but we saw
glimpses of the violent lives these children had led.
*****
In Delhi, our group reflected the city’s significant Muslim population. The girls were shy and reluctant to join the loud abandonment of the physical comedy. Participants tended to prefer work with their own sex. We felt it imperative to provide a workshop which respected their restraint whilst, at the same time, challenged and nurtured their creativity.
Number three of the eight millennium development goals established by the United Nations and supported by NGOs and Governments is to promote gender equality and empower women.
Research tells us that developing the education and status of women has the effect of developing the community as a whole.
The arts, particularly the drama component, are a splendid vehicle to assist the progress of girls and women. They are encouraged to move out of their shyness, to meet others on an equal footing, to find their ‘voice’,and expect to be heard.
A couple of things are happening in the program to facilitate this:
Jyoti and I work as equal partners in this team; sometimes he takes the lead and sometimes I do.
We both help each other and support the processes being taught. We believe this communicates good male and female role models. Additional to this, is our expectation of equality within the group; that males and females participate equally, and all respect the work of others.
The nature of the drama program breaks down barriers through fun and laughter. Girls were robustly encouraged to shed the constraints of shoes, shawls, and a lifetime of propriety … The resistance from some was, at first, fierce.
No matter how hard they tried, it was impossible to resist the laughter, and the pleasure in watching others participate. We understand the immense step required to subject themselves to performing in front of others; it can be unnerving, scary.
Although people sometimes decline at first ,to perform; the offer is made again throughout the workshops and people do change their minds.
This is why the earlier work of establishing a group strength, and a safe art space is crucial. It is a gradual process to draw people out of their timidity, into a place of experimentation and creativity.
There were a couple of girls who were thoroughly resistant to performing, even though they were happy to work in small groups and enjoyed watching the others comedy skits. You can imagine the feelings of triumph when on the last day, just as we were winding the program up, these girls
agreed to perform for us! Wow!
DISABILITY AND DISADVANTAGE
In India, Deafness, as with so many other disabilities or differences, disadvantages further, the already disadvantaged. A child with a disability can be considered an unacceptable burden on a family - an unproductive mouth to feed; they may be excluded from education and therefore, work
opportunities.
In Kanyakumari, we see it has barely been touched by 21st Century. The number of fully trained
teachers is limited; classroom desks empty of books; charts I recognized from my own childhood
reminded me that A is for apple, and B is for Ball. Few of the aides available to assist hearing impaired children make their way here.
In this silent world, there seemed a struggle being played out between a desire to learn, a lack of ability to engage because of the deafness, and a need to herd the children towards becoming some sort of acceptable human being. It is not easy for anybody. All are hampered by out of date practices, and notions of what is an appropriate (and affordable) education for children who have a disability.
This was our most challenging location – not at all because of issues around communicating with deaf people; but because of the social and educative isolation.
On our first day at the school, 200 deaf children fidgeted, pulled faces, hit each other, and clamored for our attention.
Theirs was an education being offered through the prism of Christianity. Nobody knew anything about the arts beyond the rudiments required to visually or dramatically represent a bible story. At the end of each session we carefully put the artwork up on the walls, gradually creating an art space, filling it with colour. The first works were startling in their lack of ability.
Draw a line with a soft brush and black ink. The line is not going to be anything in particular – a curve, an angle,. Keep drawing, adding lines, shapes, patterns – but not an image. Quite a challenge for children used to drawing churches and bible stories. After the ink, we are going to add colour – but just a few.
As the colour goes on – the excitement mounts – the work is unlike anything they have done or seen. It is quite beautiful. And astonishing. To us all. Three days ago we could never believe the scribbling could transform into this!
We put the work up, as usual. The sense of pride was palpable. In the discussion, we looked at work they first did and what they had achieved since – we all felt fantastic! We have so many images of this work, child after child asked me to take a photo of their drawing.
Many wonderful discoveries were made. Untapped talent found in the most unlikely places. In the unglamorous city of Gaziabad we met a teenage boy with a life long hearing disability with incredible talent in mime and physical comedy. He jumped up and jumped in, adding ideas to Jyoti’s and taking the workshops to a new level. His exceptional sense of movement is, in theatre terms, described as “being very much in his body”.
He was capable of taking on advanced work and it was in here that Jyoti added an exercise where the actor imitates an animal and then puts that animal in a situation. You will see him as a gorilla in the video.
When we looked at the child labour issues, this young man created, with great detail, imagination and pathos, the barber shop scene. “His skits would be the envy of many performers in Melbourne "including myself”– said Jyoti (ruefully!). People tend to think that it is because of his deafness this young man so good at physical comedy –
This is not true - you will see other deaf students who don’t display such showmanship!
He has an innate talent; fortunately acknowledged by his
teachers – who are, sadly without any resources to develop his skills.
World Vision have suggested it might be possible for them to sponsor his drama, let’s hope ….
The project was funded through the generosity of an individual sponsor. He will probably never really know the extent to which his donation helped develop creativity, joy, concentration,education, self confidence and laughter. To help build relationships and offer possibilities.
As I said at the beginning – this was a small project… the start, a trial, and the seed, perhaps from which bigger projects might grow.
We believe this project can be built upon to achieve important and meaningful connections between people and offer disadvantaged communities another route to
building a better life and future.
