Speaker 1: All right, here we go, very professional over here.
Speaker 2: Welcome to first things first, I'm Maddie Mills. My pronouns
Speaker 2: are he and him.
Speaker 3: I'm Brook Blatton and my pronouns are she and her.
Speaker 2: And before we get started, we'd like to acknowledge the
Speaker 2: custodians of the land on which we recorded today. For me,
Speaker 2: that's the gaddigl people of the urination.
Speaker 1: And for me it's a rendering people of the cooler nation.
Speaker 1: Let's get it, Let's get into it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I'm so excited because beside me in
Speaker 2: the studio I have the one and only director Ian
Speaker 2: Michael and incredible actor Stephanie Summerville.
Speaker 4: Oh, let's give him around.
Speaker 1: I thought it was clicks. I'm oh yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh. I'm so excited to have both of you with
Speaker 2: us in studio because right now at Sydney Theater Company,
Speaker 2: Stolen by Jane Harrison is on stage and I had
Speaker 2: the absolute privilege of coming to see you guys in
Speaker 2: the rehearsal room, but also to come to opening nights.
Speaker 2: So I am so excited that I get to talk
Speaker 2: to you about it now in full length detail.
Speaker 4: How are you but good?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Good?
Speaker 2: Having us introduce yourselves that with you. Ian, who's your
Speaker 2: mom where you're from?
Speaker 5: And Michael, I'm a Wilman man from the southwest of
Speaker 5: w A. And I'm the director of Stolen.
Speaker 6: And my name is Stephanie Somerville and I'm a proud
Speaker 6: Mardoo woman, which is from the Pilbrick Gascoyne region of
Speaker 6: w A. And my pronounce is she her.
Speaker 1: Oh, I know, deadly.
Speaker 3: I love on w w A Mobila on the side.
Speaker 2: I feel like an outcast.
Speaker 3: Hey, oh, I feel like an outcast because I'm all
Speaker 3: the way in Bloody Nam in Melbourne, but yours, Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 3: and it's actually such an honor. I haven't seen the
Speaker 3: play yet, and I actually did have tickets to the
Speaker 3: premier and I couldn't go because obviously it was in
Speaker 3: Sydney and I live in Mailban. But I've heard some
Speaker 3: great things from Maddie and some great things from other
Speaker 3: people who have saw the premiere, and I just want
Speaker 3: to know more about the show. And I guess how
Speaker 3: it sort of came back because Ian we have cross
Speaker 3: paths before. So years ago Ian and I were both
Speaker 3: nominated in a youth category for the w A Awards
Speaker 3: and what's right, And I was gunning for Ian. I
Speaker 3: was like, nah, this, like I just knew like what
Speaker 3: you were doing writing, you know, as a performer like everything.
Speaker 3: And I was like, oh my god, this you were
Speaker 3: just going to take off. And I've just been silently
Speaker 3: watching Afar and I have not ever ever felt like
Speaker 3: like you know what I mean, Like I've just been like, yeah,
Speaker 3: you're feeling everything that I thought you would. Not that
Speaker 3: it matters about me, but I'm just saying like I
Speaker 3: just knew that, yeah, And I really would love to
Speaker 3: see Stolen, But could you please tell me and I
Speaker 3: guess our listeners more about the show and the synopsis
Speaker 3: and what it's about. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Stolen is a play by Mormori woman Jane Harrison. She
Speaker 5: started writing it in nineteen ninety two. Jane was working
Speaker 5: in copywriting and the company she was working for went
Speaker 5: under and so she was looking through the newspaper looking
Speaker 5: for writing jobs and Ilbideri Theater Company had posted an
Speaker 5: ad looking for a writer to write a play and
Speaker 5: the idea of it was about the stolen generations and
Speaker 5: the original title was called The Lost Children. And Jane
Speaker 5: worked with another person, a consultant to find testimonials of
Speaker 5: stolen generations people, which then became the play and they
Speaker 5: wrote it over six years, so at premier in nineteen
Speaker 5: ninety eight, and it tells the story of five children
Speaker 5: who kind of, in this nonlinear way, transpose location and
Speaker 5: time over you know, decades, Ruby, Shirley, Sandy, Jimmy, and
Speaker 5: Anne who exist in this institution home that we kind
Speaker 5: of find ourselves in and out through the play. There's
Speaker 5: a beautiful thing in it that kind of tells this
Speaker 5: what I love so much about the play. It tells
Speaker 5: is kind of generational kind of narrative where at any
Speaker 5: time these children may or may not have ever existed
Speaker 5: in this home together, which is you know, it's just
Speaker 5: beautiful strength of that plan and the writing is.
Speaker 2: That it is.
Speaker 5: And the original brief of it as well was not
Speaker 5: to just tell one story, but to tell the multitude
Speaker 5: of stories. So we see these five characters and other
Speaker 5: various characters kind of come through this home. We see
Speaker 5: them as the youngest versions of themselves when they first
Speaker 5: enter the home, and then we see them through their
Speaker 5: adult lives once they've left, and their experiences and their
Speaker 5: memories and everything that they go through as adults. I
Speaker 5: feel like so privileged to have been able to make
Speaker 5: it because for me, it's been a play that has
Speaker 5: circled my life so much as an adult and as
Speaker 5: a theater and really inspired me a lot. The monologue Canopies,
Speaker 5: which is in the play, was the first monologue I ever.
Speaker 4: Learned as an actor as well.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And it's a play that for all of us,
Speaker 5: it's kind of like we've either done scenes from it
Speaker 5: or we've read about it a lot, and to be
Speaker 5: able to kind of continue the legacy of it has
Speaker 5: been really really special. And I've just pinching myself with
Speaker 5: the people that I've got to make it with.
Speaker 1: So that is really special. I mean, yeah, sorry.
Speaker 4: I love that.
Speaker 2: It has an Australian classic feel to it. You know,
Speaker 2: we all know it. It was in the curriculums we
Speaker 2: studied it in school. It has this sort of underlying
Speaker 2: truth of you know, the Stolen Generation and what happened
Speaker 2: in this country, that brutal colonial history that it impacts
Speaker 2: all of us as First Nations people. Steph, you play
Speaker 2: one of one of the Stolen Generation's members who experienced
Speaker 2: the Stolen Generation. Tell us about your character and what
Speaker 2: sort of personal experience do you bring good light?
Speaker 6: Well, I play a character called Anne who is taken
Speaker 6: from her family and adopted by a white family, and
Speaker 6: throughout the play we follow her journey of reconnecting with
Speaker 6: her black family and how that affects her and her
Speaker 6: feelings of identity and belonging. And I mean, I feel
Speaker 6: very deeply connected to this play as well. My Nan
Speaker 6: was a member of the Stolen Generation. Her and her
Speaker 6: nine brothers and sisters were all taken from their home
Speaker 6: in coom Marina and brought down to a place in
Speaker 6: wa in Perth called Sister Kates, which was a home
Speaker 6: for Aboriginal children where they were trained to be domestic servants,
Speaker 6: which is.
Speaker 1: Basically a slave.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and which is how she described it as well.
Speaker 6: She said I just felt like this little slave girl.
Speaker 6: And my Auntie, my NaN's daughter, was then taken from
Speaker 6: her when she was a baby as well. So in
Speaker 6: this play I see members of my family in each
Speaker 6: one of these characters, and so yeah, really deeply connected
Speaker 6: to it. In such an honor to get to tell
Speaker 6: these stories and tell their stories.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, Ian you've said I read that. You said,
Speaker 2: you know, as a first nation's person you are, whether
Speaker 2: it's directly or indirectly affected by their stolen generations in
Speaker 2: this country, I know that you have a direct connection
Speaker 2: to stolen generations. Can you tell us a little bit
Speaker 2: about that experience for your father?
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, you know, with the history of the Solo
Speaker 5: generations and the timeline in which we know it as
Speaker 5: and you know what we know the kind of out
Speaker 5: of home care statistics now of children. So my dad
Speaker 5: was taken from his father in nineteen seventy three, which
Speaker 5: is you know, outside of the timeline of the stolen generations,
Speaker 5: and he was removed with all of his siblings and
Speaker 5: they were all taken and split up into different homes.
Speaker 5: And he was taken because they the government said that
Speaker 5: a black man can't raise children. And so, you know,
Speaker 5: like Steph said, like through the kind of early stages
Speaker 5: of rehearsing the play, that we'd all just sit around
Speaker 5: the table and talk about our families. And you know,
Speaker 5: every single one of us has has a story or
Speaker 5: has stories of family who were directly removed or you know,
Speaker 5: living with someone from the stolen generations too.
Speaker 4: And I think.
Speaker 5: The way in which like we were all able to
Speaker 5: share that and like hold those stories with each other
Speaker 5: and for each other. Like it's it's been like one
Speaker 5: of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of theater I've
Speaker 5: ever had in my life. And yeah, like Steph was saying,
Speaker 5: all every single one of those characters, like we see them,
Speaker 5: we know them in ourselves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 5: And we had to communit. We had the community night
Speaker 5: last week and you know, I said, and I said
Speaker 5: pre show to the audience, I said, there's always as
Speaker 5: an artist, you always ask yourself why and who you're
Speaker 5: making theater for, who you're telling stories for, And it
Speaker 5: was it was all of those people in that theater
Speaker 5: on that night. It was really special.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've heard that. It's like.
Speaker 3: I'm currently studying acting at acting school here in Melbourn,
Speaker 3: and there's so many things that I've learned more about
Speaker 3: myself than anywhere, and I had to ask myself through
Speaker 3: throughout the breakdowns and the discovery and the obviously doing
Speaker 3: the work internally, you have to sort of sometimes pull
Speaker 3: yourself out of it and remember and validate your experiences
Speaker 3: because you're bringing that to the work. And I mean
Speaker 3: as a writer, as a performer, as an actor, like
Speaker 3: you have to bring your own experiences, but it's so
Speaker 3: hard sometimes when those experiences are so close to you.
Speaker 3: And I had to sort of remind myself of the why.
Speaker 1: And I love that.
Speaker 3: Because it's like, why am I doing this? And why
Speaker 3: am I putting myself through this? And why am I
Speaker 3: doing And we, you know, Maddie and I always are
Speaker 3: driven by our why of why we start this podcast,
Speaker 3: why we want to tell people's story, why we want
Speaker 3: to talk to you guys, why I want to talk
Speaker 3: to anyone who wants to share those stories as well.
Speaker 3: And I had to remind myself of the why I
Speaker 3: did it, and I think it's because I want these
Speaker 3: stories like you guys out there and to for people
Speaker 3: to see themselves in a way that you know, makes
Speaker 3: them feel seen and heard, which is not always easy
Speaker 3: because especially of our history and our you know the
Speaker 3: context of it. But I think it's such a magical,
Speaker 3: beautiful thing that I really learned through the power of storytelling.
Speaker 3: And I think, yeah, I'm so admirable, like to all
Speaker 3: you guys, because you're able to execute that and see
Speaker 3: that as well and see the fact of people as well.
Speaker 3: So what was that community's like nightlife.
Speaker 6: It was amazing. It felt like it felt like everyone
Speaker 6: was there with us every step of the way, like
Speaker 6: we're all breathing together. That's how it felt. And afterwards,
Speaker 6: in the four year, I had this uncle come up
Speaker 6: to me and say he was a member of the
Speaker 6: Stolen Generation and how deeply he was moved by it
Speaker 6: and to me, to know that we are doing their
Speaker 6: stories justice is so yes, so uplifting and makes me
Speaker 6: just go like, oh, this is why, this is exactly
Speaker 6: why we're doing it. I just think every night, if
Speaker 6: there's just one black fellow in the audience, if it's
Speaker 6: for them and we're telling you know, their stories justice,
Speaker 6: then that's that is enough, you know. So yeah, it was.
Speaker 6: It was amazing night. I mean, community night for any
Speaker 6: show is always incredible, but to this it really felt special.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well that reminds me of Opening night there obviously, what
Speaker 2: I could say, there wasn't a dry you know, iron
Speaker 2: the house. We were all moved and affected by what
Speaker 2: we saw. I want to ask about the rehearsal room
Speaker 2: and Ian, I know that you create such a safe space.
Speaker 2: You know, it's an own You've got a reputation to
Speaker 2: be you know, a really delicate and loving, you know,
Speaker 2: director and in the industry, and I feel like this
Speaker 2: is a room that the base and you know, what
Speaker 2: you create is it needs to be safe, and it
Speaker 2: needs to make sure that, you know, the actors feel nurtured.
Speaker 2: What are some of the ways that you do that
Speaker 2: as a director to make sure that your cast feel
Speaker 2: supported when they're carrying such weighted stories.
Speaker 5: Well, I think you know, as a director, the greatest
Speaker 5: privilege is creating space and then who you get to
Speaker 5: put in those spaces. That's the greatest privilege for me,
Speaker 5: and it's the reason I got inter directing was to
Speaker 5: create spaces for black fellows to tell our stories. You know,
Speaker 5: being an actor and then going into directing, you kind
Speaker 5: of just have an understanding of what an actor's experience, experiences,
Speaker 5: and processes are as you move through rehearsals. And you know,
Speaker 5: I've been really lucky. I've had really great rehearsal processes
Speaker 5: and I've had not so good ones. So I've learned
Speaker 5: so much from my own experiences as a performer. The
Speaker 5: big thing that I always lead with every time I
Speaker 5: run a room or start a day is I always
Speaker 5: want to respond to how everybody is feeling, because that's
Speaker 5: how the only way that I want to operate is
Speaker 5: how people, where people are at every single day, how
Speaker 5: far we can go with telling that story that day,
Speaker 5: especially with plays like this, and Steph and I worked
Speaker 5: in another play called The Bleeding Tree, which was you know,
Speaker 5: about domestic violence, and we can't tell these stories unless
Speaker 5: there's moments that we can all just like press pause
Speaker 5: and laugh or you know.
Speaker 4: At each other with each other.
Speaker 5: But for me, it's always about responding to the people
Speaker 5: in the room and how they are because I just
Speaker 5: don't believe in making people. These actors are already giving
Speaker 5: so much of themselves every night on that stage, and
Speaker 5: so I never wanted in the room for them to
Speaker 5: feel like they couldn't do it, or that they couldn't
Speaker 5: do it safely, or that they weren't that they couldn't
Speaker 5: leave the work in.
Speaker 4: The room every day.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So it's always about the people.
Speaker 2: It's a really strong ensemble that you have, and you've
Speaker 2: been able to pick and choose and put this together.
Speaker 2: When I was in the rehearsal room Brook, I had
Speaker 2: a chance to go through and watch rehearsals because I
Speaker 2: was interviewing for an ITV and I was sort of
Speaker 2: looking around the room and I was just thinking to myself, like,
Speaker 2: there's so much talent in that space, you know, from
Speaker 2: you know, directing a system, directing to you know, even
Speaker 2: the stage design, but also the cast. What does it
Speaker 2: take to put together such a you know, a deadly cast?
Speaker 2: And were there people that you had in mind and
Speaker 2: didn't have to audition and someone like Steph Are You're
Speaker 2: just like, she's amazing. I absolutely know that she's going
Speaker 2: to kill this, so she just can't have the role.
Speaker 2: She would call her Marto Merrill. And speaking of laughter,
Speaker 2: we did us three were in a show together, you know,
Speaker 2: Black show Girls, And when you said pauls and laugh,
Speaker 2: I was thinking about was the Black show Girls? How
Speaker 2: different it was to this show?
Speaker 3: But how I love that show. By the way, I
Speaker 3: nearly pissed myself.
Speaker 2: But you know, this room is it's beautifully crafted, and
Speaker 2: it's testament to you but also the actors. But what
Speaker 2: does it take to put together in a space like this?
Speaker 5: It's pretty easy when you've got like actors of the
Speaker 5: color bar and skill that we have in the in
Speaker 5: the industry that we have.
Speaker 2: This is the third play that Stephan and I've worked
Speaker 2: together on She's a favorite one.
Speaker 4: Some of them will have to be in it. Megan Wilding,
Speaker 4: I knew how to be in it.
Speaker 5: And then Katana Maynard and Jaron Andy are both actors
Speaker 5: that we auditioned for Ruby and Jimmy and they came
Speaker 5: in and you know, you get like self taped from
Speaker 5: around the country and then you did. We did a
Speaker 5: day of auditions for those two characters, and Katani came
Speaker 5: in and said to me, I've prepared them on all
Speaker 5: three ways. How do you how do you how do
Speaker 5: you want to see? Which one do you want to see?
Speaker 5: And I was like, show me all of them and
Speaker 5: she showed me too, and I was like that's enough.
Speaker 5: I was like, I don't need to see anything. And
Speaker 5: then she you know, and like she walked out of
Speaker 5: the room and I was like, that's Ruby, and I
Speaker 5: was like, I don't need to see anybody else.
Speaker 2: That is so cool.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And Jaron Andy was the first actor I saw
Speaker 5: for Jimmy in the room and he walked out and
Speaker 5: I was like, that's Jimmy.
Speaker 4: Deadly.
Speaker 2: He blew me away on stage. I think that he
Speaker 2: has such like he's he's fresh right, He's like, this
Speaker 2: is his stage play. But to give a performance like
Speaker 2: that at Sydney did the company and have that as
Speaker 2: your debut, it's like you meant to be here.
Speaker 4: This is exactly what you meant to be doing.
Speaker 2: And I saw that in him and it excited me
Speaker 2: because you know, he's obviously very talented in the TV
Speaker 2: presenting world and so like we we've we've we've crossed
Speaker 2: paths a lot, but to see him on stage, it
Speaker 2: was a moment where like I felt so celebrated for him.
Speaker 5: In particular, absolutely him and Catania both have not done
Speaker 5: a lot of theater, and again, like the privilege of
Speaker 5: being a director is to give people opportunities, like I've
Speaker 5: been afforded so many great ones, and so to like
Speaker 5: to give Jaron his first play and for him to
Speaker 5: do what he's doing in that play, like is it's
Speaker 5: like something to absolutely celebrate, you know. And I remember
Speaker 5: after our first preview and he was like, that's my
Speaker 5: first show I've ever done in front of an audience.
Speaker 1: So brilliant.
Speaker 5: And Matthew plays Sandy in the show. I've known Maddie
Speaker 5: for a long time, brilliant and like in casting, these Roles.
Speaker 5: I knew that every single one of these actors, like,
Speaker 5: there's a reason why everyone's in the room, right, And
Speaker 5: for all of these actors, I just wanted them to
Speaker 5: be able to flex and show your case their entire
Speaker 5: range and skill, but also to let the audiences and
Speaker 5: the industry know like what black Fellows can do and
Speaker 5: the range that we have in storytelling.
Speaker 2: And a bit of pressure on him for doing the
Speaker 2: Canned Peace monologue for you. That was the first monologue
Speaker 2: you did, right, So how did he go? What did
Speaker 2: you think? Because I thought it was a bloody brilliant No.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I saw the show on Saturday night after
Speaker 4: not seeing.
Speaker 5: It for a few days, and usually you go in
Speaker 5: and just watch the play once or twice after it's opened,
Speaker 5: and I find it really hard to stay away as step,
Speaker 5: but I just wanted to check in because of the
Speaker 5: kind of the process that we've had has just always
Speaker 5: been so close with each other, and I really just
Speaker 5: went just to check in on the show.
Speaker 4: And I was so blown.
Speaker 5: Away by all of you and the the depths in
Speaker 5: which you're finding that story.
Speaker 4: It was. I was like, very.
Speaker 1: Very proud, flat Sydney. Yeah, bring it to Melbourne Brook.
Speaker 2: I just know you and you're going to be crying
Speaker 2: like the second scene, and I'm going to be like
Speaker 2: with that box of dishes next to you.
Speaker 3: You know when Steph was, you know, talking about Sister Kates,
Speaker 3: like I have a connection with that as well, Like
Speaker 3: I know so many stories of my family with Sister
Speaker 3: Kates and it's very known in the you know.
Speaker 1: Know what Sister Kates is.
Speaker 3: So I yeah, I felt really like I just dropped
Speaker 3: in then.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, like that hurts a little bit.
Speaker 3: But I yeah, I obviously I haven't seen the play
Speaker 3: and I would love to, so if you get.
Speaker 1: The chance to bring it to Melbourn.
Speaker 3: I know some people people I know where money is
Speaker 3: not kidding.
Speaker 1: You know you just like just smile and think.
Speaker 3: No, but just hearing just this the story, how proud
Speaker 3: you are Ian and how much this play meant to
Speaker 3: use stuff as well, Like it's just so nice. I
Speaker 3: feel like when you said the depth of you know,
Speaker 3: all the scale of what First Nations performers and shows
Speaker 3: can be like as well, like we're only I feel like,
Speaker 3: you know, obviously we've been around, but I think we're
Speaker 3: only just kind of like this is not even like
Speaker 3: we've got more, you know what I mean, Like it's
Speaker 3: only just kind of getting started. I know, there's some
Speaker 3: great shows that have been previously out there, and I've
Speaker 3: seen some wonderful ones where I have been in the
Speaker 3: the room cry like bawling mind, but I yeah, I
Speaker 3: feel like we're already just kind of getting started.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and also like who's running those rooms? And then yeah, it.
Speaker 5: Was the first kind of experience I've had as a director. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and a few experiences that I've ever had with like
Speaker 5: the majority of people in our room were black fellows.
Speaker 4: And then what that just does for.
Speaker 5: The story, what it does for the process. It's like
Speaker 5: that thing about safety and care and all that, Yeah,
Speaker 5: just inherently happens because of who's in the room, and
Speaker 5: we're you know, able to go to what we need
Speaker 5: to where we need.
Speaker 4: To go with these stories because we've got each other.
Speaker 5: And the way in which the mob like hold each
Speaker 5: other and hold each other up is Yeah, however it
Speaker 5: sees the storm makes me.
Speaker 2: I want to ask a question just about you spoke
Speaker 2: about range, and I suppose in this show there is
Speaker 2: you know, much range that you get to experience as
Speaker 2: an actor. But when you're in a show like this,
Speaker 2: it's quite heavy. Is there is the I suppose the
Speaker 2: aspiration for the next show to be something totally different
Speaker 2: so that you can find your way out of that
Speaker 2: somber energy that you sort of live through while doing
Speaker 2: this work, or does that come doesn't come into play
Speaker 2: at all. It's like whatever's next will be I don't know.
Speaker 6: I mean I always just, you know, want to do
Speaker 6: something that challenges me in some way. But yeah, for me,
Speaker 6: when it comes to like whatever I'm doing next, I'm
Speaker 6: just like, I just hope I'm working with amazing people
Speaker 6: that you know, it's exciting, I feel challenged. It's a
Speaker 6: good group of people. That's what what I look for.
Speaker 6: But yeah, listen, I'll do anything challenging.
Speaker 2: I want to know, what has been the most challenging
Speaker 2: part of this show?
Speaker 1: Yeah for you?
Speaker 6: I mean definitely the personal connection has been the hardest
Speaker 6: part for me. And you know, usually I'm not an
Speaker 6: actor that that love doing all that like that method
Speaker 6: kind of work. I'm not the kind of person that goes, oh,
Speaker 6: I'm going to attach my own personal experience to this
Speaker 6: scene in order to get the most out of it,
Speaker 6: but you just cannot help it. With this plane, everything
Speaker 6: is just so close. And so I just found myself
Speaker 6: a lot having to be like, Okay, I need to
Speaker 6: ground myself now. I need to be able to go
Speaker 6: to those places in the room to tell this story,
Speaker 6: but I have to be able to come back to
Speaker 6: my own body stuff. Yeah, and having the room that
Speaker 6: we have, having Ian and all the other cast members
Speaker 6: really felt like we're all holding each other's hands and
Speaker 6: saying like, I got you, I got you, It's gonna
Speaker 6: be all right. But yeah, also preemptively going into the space,
Speaker 6: preemptively knowing that it was going to be hard in
Speaker 6: that way and going Okay, now I'm going to have
Speaker 6: to look after myself. I know I'm going to have
Speaker 6: to do those self care things, and I'm going to
Speaker 6: have to do them before you know, you get into
Speaker 6: a bad headspace to stop yourself from spy going in exactly.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but we also had an amazing psychologists come in
Speaker 6: and do a few sessions with us about, you know,
Speaker 6: how to to ground ourselves and give us a few
Speaker 6: techniques so that we yeah, so that it didn't take
Speaker 6: us too dark of the place, which I think was
Speaker 6: really amazing, And I was like, man, I don't know why,
Speaker 6: you know, we don't have this more often in rehearsal
Speaker 6: rooms because it was such an amazing resource.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I love the industries. Industry is changing in
Speaker 2: that way where it is more about the care of
Speaker 2: the actors and it's you know, it's you want longevity
Speaker 2: in this field. Take care of yourself so that you
Speaker 2: can perform for a long time. And it's too affected
Speaker 2: by the by the you know, the work. But I
Speaker 2: want to know, what do you want the audiences to
Speaker 2: take away they come see this show? Where I feel
Speaker 2: like we are on a journey of truth telling in
Speaker 2: this country. This plays a big part in it. What
Speaker 2: does it offer to that journey.
Speaker 5: There's a quote that Jane Harrison said that I kind
Speaker 5: of have been carrying with me a lot through the
Speaker 5: process of this and even thinking about the way in
Speaker 5: which to make it and approach the all of the
Speaker 5: ideas and making it, and she says something along the
Speaker 5: lines of that this play isn't from our past, but
Speaker 5: it is absolutely in our present, and that the play
Speaker 5: absolutely does that too. Past and present are constantly like
Speaker 5: meeting each other. So for audiences that these stories aren't
Speaker 5: part of history. They are happening right now, and that
Speaker 5: that there's an understanding of that and a deep understanding
Speaker 5: of that, but also for Aboriginal audience members that we
Speaker 5: in telling these stories are honoring those people, and I
Speaker 5: think that's what we're I hope we're doing so I think, really,
Speaker 5: I think a lot about people were having an understanding
Speaker 5: that this isn't over and for these five characters, even
Speaker 5: when they you know, at the end, there's no real
Speaker 5: resolution for these characters, which is kind of the power
Speaker 5: of Jane's writing is that these characters it's kind of constantly,
Speaker 5: like you know, the way in which like the even
Speaker 5: the play begins and ends is kind of like there's
Speaker 5: no ending. It's like we spoke a lot about in
Speaker 5: rehearsals like that these five characters are almost like these
Speaker 5: kind of ghosts with memories that come out of the
Speaker 5: walls and that they it's like these characters are just
Speaker 5: five characters, but it could be any of five characters
Speaker 5: who've got these kinds of stories to tell, who are
Speaker 5: just kind of constantly like they could just start the
Speaker 5: play again. It's like that's what it feels like. And
Speaker 5: I think for audience members that they should have an
Speaker 5: understanding that that's not his historic It's not a historic play.
Speaker 5: It's not something that was written twenty six years ago.
Speaker 4: And that was it.
Speaker 5: Like this is still happening, and it's happening much much worse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and exactly, you know.
Speaker 5: What happened when our first preview there was an inquiry
Speaker 5: in South Australia about babies being taken as soon as.
Speaker 4: They were born in hospitals.
Speaker 5: And that was happening on the day of our first preview.
Speaker 5: And then you know, there's a moment at the end
Speaker 5: of the play is like, what has happened since the apology?
Speaker 4: Nothing?
Speaker 5: Nothing, What has happened since the referendum in the seventies?
Speaker 5: Nothing over the you know, yeah, I think that that
Speaker 5: I really want people to think about this play even
Speaker 5: though like we think about the Australian canon in theater,
Speaker 5: for example, being like players at are twenty six years old,
Speaker 5: like they considered the canon work, but that this play
Speaker 5: is absolutely like about.
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, present moment.
Speaker 3: I mean, my sisters, my sister's baby was taken immediately
Speaker 3: from the hospital, Like that was only a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago. He's only four, so you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: It's it's very present, it's very raw, and it's I mean,
Speaker 3: it's not an easy thing to to listen to or
Speaker 3: to hear or to read about the alone perform and
Speaker 3: direct and then execute that. So a huge credit to
Speaker 3: you guys for doing that and telling the truth, telling
Speaker 3: of our history.
Speaker 1: And I know that we need this more in a
Speaker 1: not in a.
Speaker 3: You know, a way that we want to keep readdressing,
Speaker 3: but keep telling, I guess, and keep passing that knowledge down.
Speaker 5: I just want to say, I'm so sorry that it
Speaker 5: happened to your family because that's so devastating.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah, I'm still mean.
Speaker 3: Maddie and I talk about this really openly about how
Speaker 3: the reoccurring effects and how much it has an impact
Speaker 3: on us, but how much it just gives us that
Speaker 3: fire in our belly just be like fuck like just
Speaker 3: keeps keeps doing.
Speaker 2: It and it takes us back to the start.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're also deeply connected to this story, even though
Speaker 3: even I haven't even seen it, but that I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm there.
Speaker 2: I think we'll probably wrap up soon, but I want
Speaker 2: to say, you know, this isn't this is a first
Speaker 2: nation story about First nations experiences. But it is a
Speaker 2: story for the whole of Australia to come to terms with,
Speaker 2: to grapple with, and to take on. You know, it's
Speaker 2: not just for us to hold the weight of what's
Speaker 2: happened to our people. It's about you know, accountability, seeing
Speaker 2: how you can you know, change the systems that operate
Speaker 2: in your favor and because they're still operating, you know.
Speaker 2: And one of the ways that I you know, I
Speaker 2: feel like people can learn more and be more accountable
Speaker 2: and we're more honest with their self and their privileges
Speaker 2: by saying this show, yeah go and you know, I'm
Speaker 2: sit for an hour and a half and experience you know,
Speaker 2: the heartbreak, the tragedy.
Speaker 1: The uncomfortableness, being uncomfortable knowledge.
Speaker 2: It's definitely a way in which we can all heal together,
Speaker 2: you know, as a nation. But I want to say
Speaker 2: big thank you because I am so like on it
Speaker 2: to be your friends. I'm also you know, to have
Speaker 2: you on our pod because I just know that, like
Speaker 2: the world of theater and the arts are in really
Speaker 2: good hands with both of you. I know that this
Speaker 2: is like as much as this is you know, the
Speaker 2: pinnacle of your your work right now there is so
Speaker 2: much more to come. I'm so excited to see you
Speaker 2: running theater companies around the world and and you know,
Speaker 2: and doing what you do best and Steph and Marto
Speaker 2: Merrill You're going to be killing it for years to come.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm super thrilled that we have you on
Speaker 2: today and me.
Speaker 5: Too feeling so mutual like the way in which you
Speaker 5: two and have this platform and what you do with
Speaker 5: this platform and the stories that you tell and the
Speaker 5: people you have on like it's so inspiring. Like I've
Speaker 5: truly all day have just been like waiting to get here.
Speaker 2: We've finally made.
Speaker 1: So beautiful.
Speaker 5: I was in love and at the start of the
Speaker 5: year listening to your podcast and just going like feeling
Speaker 5: so far away from home, but had you in my ears,
Speaker 5: and I was like.
Speaker 4: Thank you for all of the work that you do too.
Speaker 3: Thank you, best of luck for the continued shows. I
Speaker 3: hope to see it in Melbourne and I'll bespread the word.
Speaker 3: If there's anything we can do as well to spread
Speaker 3: the word other than this episode of the podcast, let
Speaker 3: us know, because we would love to give it more time.
Speaker 4: Social yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5: That's the same thing with theater audiences. Is like, how
Speaker 5: do we how do we make more theater? To make
Speaker 5: risk your theater. It's it's getting new audiences and bigger
Speaker 5: audiences to theater.
Speaker 2: And if you ever want to write a tree part
Speaker 2: in Brook is there?
Speaker 3: Okay you bye.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for listening to first things first,
Speaker 2: that was the Dead I and Michael and Steph some
Speaker 2: of them. Make sure you look them up, follow them.
Speaker 2: Go see Stolen if you get a chance. It's in
Speaker 2: Sydney at Sidney Theater Company woarf one.
Speaker 3: And if you loved what you hear and you want
Speaker 3: to leave us a rating and a review, let us know.
Speaker 3: And if you want us to cover anything on the
Speaker 3: next episode, reach out via our socials. My handle is
Speaker 3: at brookd up Lot and Maddie's is at It's Maddie.
Speaker 1: Meals And we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2: Bye bye, love you, ay bye