★★
Palmerston Project Pty Ltd. 24 Feb 2023
The White Mouse was Peter Maddern’s “twice-over sold-out” – whatever that means – 2020 Fringe hit, but that’s not the case this year. The story of Nancy Wake certainly deserves attention and better treatment than in Peter Maddern’s script. Maddern’s play postdates Russell Braddon’s 1956 biography and Wake’s autobiography in 1985. She got the Peter FitzSimons treatment in 2001 and the German point of view in 2012. There was even an Australian mini-series in 1987. And now Maddern’s play.
Who was she? Kiwi-born and Sydney-bred, she got francophiled though her marriage to a French industrialist before WWII. Wake bravely parachuted into central France and fought with and lead some French Resistance prior to and after D-Day. She received medals from France, the UK, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Everybody wanted a piece of her action.
Maddern’s script is maddeningly crammed with background information that disrupts the narrative. There is way more exposition than action. We use our imagination to accept that a bare stage is actually a forest hide-out in central France. Often the direction doesn’t make any sense. People inexplicably sit away from the representational campfire instead of around it. Or can you imagine Nancy Wake turning her back on a captured rabid Nazi Youth-now Panzer tank crewman she’s interrogating, alone, after she casually puts down her revolver and picks up a cup of tea? Or turning off the radio in the midst of an announcement that the Allies have landed on France’s Mediterranean coast, like it was boring? How about Nancy returning from operations in a bright white blouse? It was rather confusing that Wake’s fellow fighter and her husband in a flashback in Paris were played by the same guy in exactly the same way.
Maddern’s and Emily-Jo Davidson’s Nancy is constantly heroic and a natural leader, so no drama there. And the French seem to be doing quite well against the Nazis, so, oh well, good on’em. I’m not surprised there is no directorial credit, but the other two cast members go unmentioned in Palmerston Projects’ media.
While the education about this amazing war hero is most welcome, the production is flaccid.
David Grybowski
When: 17 to 26 Feb
Where: Goodwood Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
