Lucy in the Leap Year adapted, from her own novel, by Nadia Wheatley. Theatre South at the ANU Arts Centre, August 20, 1996. Directed by Des Davis. Professional: matinees for school groups and general public.
I walked beside a green crocodile through the ANU grounds, meeting up with a red crodocodile in the foyer. Phalanxes were formed by firm Arts Centre staff; disco-ish music rose among the hubbub; "We're right up the top!" exclaimed a large primary boy (a bit like Adrian in the play); while a row of normally polite young ladies did roly poly hand movements in unison, pointing left and right in time to the music, collapsing in fits of laughter every few seconds.
Theatre South's highly professional team of actors did all the right things, and the staging was made for audience interaction, but something was wrong. Probably the children felt the problem at a subliminal level, and indeed I discovered the source of my feelings only when I talked with some of the actors after the show.
Here is a company with a script which has all the right intentions: to entertain while helping children to come to terms with death; cultural diversity; the fears of inner city living; the truth about astrology; understanding adult work and the risk of poverty; nightmares; and finally how everyone can live in a community, even when the family is fractured. So the nub of the matter is that this is Nadia Wheatley's first playscript, and theatre makes different demands from the discursive novel. Theatre needs tight focus: in this production the weight of responsibility falls on the actress playing Lucy, continually on stage, the communication link between the fourth wall action and the audience to whom she talks directly.
Why wasn't the script pruned, focussed on a unified theme? The answer is funding. Theatre South had only two weeks' development and rehearsal time. Any new play needs dramaturgical work and workshopping before design and rehearsal begin. Here it had to be done all at once, in a short time, and while some of the company were busy earning money in other projects. Fortunately the professional skills of the director and actors have masked the script's weaknesses very well, and audiences of children and adults will continue to respond to the inherent good intentions.
But some money is needed to re-work this script if it is to last.
©Frank McKone, Canberra
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