One for the Road had me on the edge of my emotions

We missed the matinee, so nothing was going to keep us for the evening and final showing of Harold Pinter's 'One for the Road'. James Ballard did an incredible job directing in the small confines of the Owl and the Pussycat upstairs space, but even more was the unwavering commitment the actors gave, even between scenes when the lights were out, we could still feel the presence of the characters, and never the actors playing them. Whats more is I acknowledge these actors as family! We grew up with Paul Fischer, who plays the lead Nicolas (in fact he was my first boyfriend back in primary school!) and Frank Magree - portraying Viktor - is Sachi's partner, along with his two children Luca and Stella, who took turns playing the Vicktors son. Throughout the 45 minute play the psychology of the characters had me on the edge of my emotions. In the small space of the theatre you could see every line of agitation across their faces, and the glaring glint of a lunatic in the eye of Nicolas. I found myself confronted, uncomfortable but completely captured by everything I was observing...
Julia Sutherland illustrated a more explicit and tangible account of the production in her review: http://www.theatrepeople.com.au/reviews/one-road
All thats left for me to say is Thank You to the Pine Heights Theatre production for putting this on. I think I need another one for the road...

Sachi. Waiting in anticipation

Saci and Luca - who play Nicky in the matinee that we missed

Stella portrayed Nicky with startling innocence and authenticity

Paul - after the show, though I dont think Nicolas has quite left him:

Frank with blood stained on his hands

The beautiful Ngaire Dawn Fair played Viktors wife Gila

Quick bow at the end

Encore!

The Man I Was Taught to Fear

There are people we grieve twice in a lifetime. Once for who they were. And once for who we were never allowed to know. My father is one of them. When I was a child, my mother told me he was a paedophile. She didn’t whisper it. She didn’t hesitate. She said it plainly, as fact. As warning. As control. When we misbehaved, she would drop us at the greyhound station and force us to spend sleepless weekends with him. I remember the noise of the station. The way my stomach would knot. The terror that would sit in my chest at night when the lights went out. I was absolutely terrified to sleep. He was a workaholic. Twelve-hour days. Long hours. Absence disguised as provision. He would leave cash on the bench, stockpiles of food in the fridge, and the television on - a wild luxury I couldn’t enjoy because fear had already moved in. At home with my mother, we weren’t allowed a TV at all. Looking back now, my father was unemotional, but never unkind. He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t offer hims...

Versions, and “Versions”

I’ve already written about The Wiiyaan as a journalist. That piece lives in the Tweed Weekly . It’s careful, respectful, measured. It honours Bundjalung origin story, place, and the quiet authority of listening. It was written for a broad audience, many of whom - like me - come from settler families, carrying our own histories alongside the land we now call home. But after filing that story, I knew I wasn’t done. Some stories ask something back from you. This one did. So this is the version that doesn’t fit in a newspaper column. This is the version that explains why that exhibition cracked something open in me - why listening to Kyle Slabb speak about holding one version of Country, with care and restraint, felt like a mirror I wasn’t expecting. Kyle spoke about perspective. About how this telling is not the story, but a story - shaped by lineage, responsibility and law. He was clear, careful, and deeply respectful of other versions held...

The Painter on the hill

I went to meet Scott McDougall deliberately underprepared. This is not how journalists are usually meant to begin. We are supposed to research, cross-check, read the biography, study the exhibition history, arrive with neat questions and enough knowledge to sound vaguely authoritative. But Scott had been recommended to me by artist Hobie Porter, who told me he was someone I might find interesting. That was enough. I did not want to arrive with the internet’s version of him already sitting between us. I wanted to meet the man, see the work, stand in the room where it happened and absorb it without the corruption of other people’s opinions. I am not an art writer. Not really. But I am an artist at heart. A fashion designer by training. A lover of light, texture, form, fabric, structure, composition and the controlled drama of a perfectly judged line. Becoming a journalist has opened a new lens. It has also made me realise how often I underestimate people. My general disappointment in hum...

Rada Priya

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