Africa

Company: My Darling Patricia
Venue: Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre, Walsh Bay, Sydney
Dates: to 17 September 2011

There are very few adults that can safely say that they have ever enjoyed or even felt educated by a puppet show, right? This is not the case with Sydney Theatre Company’s Africa; an adults-only puppet show that focuses around domestic Australian households and parental negligence from writer and director Halcyon Macleod.

Loosely based on a true story of two German children who tried to travel to the dark continent of Africa to elope, Malthouse Theatre’s My darling Patricia brings to the stage for a second successful time a dynamic, evocative and experimental performance. Three unkempt children from Australian suburbia (Bubba, Courtney and Cheedy) decide to run away to Africa after watching a glorified documentation of the bushland which lures them in by promising fanciful elements like chips growing on trees. Too young to realise - first of all that chips don’t grow on trees in Africa – and that to travel to another continent is not possible without the help of a parent or guardian their unrealistic dreams are soon crushed. Julia, the mother of the two girls (the young boy is a neighbour) played by Jodie Le Vesconte is every child’s nightmare; her days are filled with nursing painful hangovers and screaming at her useless and abusive boyfriend Brad played by Anthony Ahern.

The backdrop of African animalistic rituals is constantly present with the young children transforming into deserted lion cubs while the mother lioness preys and then later protects her cubs in their den. The symbolism, although a bit too vivid is also provoking; the children’s hunger to reach Africa and become one with nature is soon played out in their very own home. The progression of the mother from irresponsible party-animal to instinctive protector is rewarding.

The puppets superbly designed by Bryony Anderson are not your usual run-of-the-mill characters; their desolate bodies and facial expressions are thoroughly realistic, discouraging and emotive. The characters of Bubba, Courtney and Cheedy are played by puppeteers Clare Britton, Michelle Robin Atkinson and Sam Routledge who all deserve honourable mention for their valuable timing and ability to separate themself from the action on stage – using a puppet to present a character is definitely not as easy as it looks, especially when extra props are involved. The combination of boisterous live action from Le Vesconte and Ahern and inventive puppetry is exhilarating and not quite what you see in ordinary theatre productions.        

Stage and sound designers Declan Kelly, Lucy Birkinshaw, Bridget Dolan and Tim McGraw collaborate to create an unyielding, brutish atmosphere that compliments the entire spectacle flawlessly. The focal point on stage is the home living room which is divided into different levels and scattered with dirty, broken toys a rundown couch and a dated, barely working TV. This domain is primarily run by the children, which helps to explain the filth and mess. The top level of the set covered by a foggy glass screen is Julia’s escape which acts as part kitchen, part bedroom and part front door.  

The idea behind Africa is extremely simple yet brilliantly executed. It is an evocative and promising portrayal that is both promising and controversial.

Haylie Pretorius