Big hART. The Canberra Theatre Centre. 2 Sep 2015
As a Canberra lass, I often drive through the quaint alpine town of Cooma on my way to somewhere else. Of course I take note of the Snowy Hydro Scheme Discovery Centre as one of the attractions that doesn’t involve ski and snow chain hire. However, I fail to comprehend the significant changes the building of this engineering marvel made to the social fabric of the town and its surrounding areas. Ghosts in the Scheme pays homage to this interesting chapter of New South Wales’s regional history.
Ghosts in the Scheme is written and directed by Scott Rankin of Big hART, an Australian arts company with a strong social justice ethos. It marks a departure from their Indigenous focus they have had to date, with acclaimed theatre productions such as Namatjira, Ngapartji Ngapartji and Hipbone Sticking Out, to take a more global perspective.
It’s not just the cultural subject matter that has changed in this latest offering by Big hART. Ghosts in the Scheme moves away from the very distinctive, free flowing campfire story telling that defined the productions mentioned above, to more of a fictional melodrama punctuated with historical snippets.
The play revolves around the lives of Morgan (Bruce Myles) and Grace (Anne Grigg), a married Anglo-Australian couple who grew up amongst Cooma’s massive cultural changes resulting from the Snowy Hydro’s migrant workers. Also featured is their friend Tony (Lex Marinos), a European immigrant whose father worked on the Scheme.
Morgan is a recently retired local newspaper photographer, reflecting on his years of work and wanting to put his photographs of Cooma to use in a historical exhibition. Grace is a dissatisfied wife, harbouring an open secret that is leading their marriage to breaking point. Tony, diagnosed with a degenerative disease, is caught in the middle of their acrimony.
While this storyline starts out quite disjointed, it does unravel into something intriguing and serves as a vehicle for reminiscing about Cooma’s hey day. However, it seems that Rankin has, on this occasion, buried the lead. The small world of Morgan, Grace and Tony’s turmoil really just feels like a distraction from the real story, which is actually the exciting, dangerous, melting pot history of Cooma – to which the audience is only treated to a small taste.
In terms of performance, Myles, Grigg and Marinos are compelling. The chemistry between them is powerful and they engage in a fun and easy manner with the audience in some cleverly scripted ‘breaking the fourth wall’ moments. It’s just that one expects Ghosts in the Scheme to paint a colourful canvas of Cooma’s past and the lives of those that made it their community, rather than the fictional threesome that relegate Cooma as background noise to their foibles.
There are some Cooma locals from a diverse cultural background (Roslyn Carroll, Margaret Keefe, Nettji Thereciana, Tyas Smith and Claire Neumeyer) present on stage for the production, though they mostly play token roles; meandering around looking slightly awkward, mumbling random musings and joining in with some of the songs.
Suave eastern European band Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentleman (featuring Mikelangelo, Pip Branson, Guy Freer, Sam Martin and Philip Moriarty) are also integrated into the production, performing some quirky Cooma-themed musical interludes. Mikelangelo’s hypnotically deep baritone voice is especially enjoyable to listen to. The band’s presence mostly worked, despite seeming out of sync with the storyline at times, and went some way to give the audience the historical fix they are starved of.
As with all Big hART productions, Ghosts in the Scheme is visually sumptuous. The creative team behind this aspect of the show (Gillian Schwab, Mic Gruchy and Genevieve Dugard) are highly innovative, using image projection to create some stunning effects that transport the senses.
Although Ghosts in the Scheme doesn’t pack the same punch as Big hART’s previous works, it’s still a powerful production – just for the wrong reasons. Regardless, there will no doubt now be many more Canberrans giving Cooma more than just a passing thought next time they travel through there on their way to somewhere else.
Deborah Hawke
When: 2 to 5 Sep
Where: Canberra Theatre Centre
Bookings: Closed
