Breaker Morant
Fri, 1 Aug 2003, 11:48 pmWalter Plinge12 posts in thread
Breaker Morant
Fri, 1 Aug 2003, 11:48 pmI saw the Old Mill Theatre production of the Kenneth Ross play last night and was most impressed. Despite the small theatre, narrow stage and big cast of mixed experience, Garry Lawrence has achieved an amazing result.
In real life, Morant was among other things a contemporary of Ned Kelly. Interestingly, they were both executed without fair trials and both ended up national legends. I sometimes wonder whether, had he not died at the age of 25, Ned might not have gone on to be an Aussie war hero too.
The play deals mainly with the 'trial' of Morant and his comrades Handcock and Witton for the murder of Boer POWs. It raises issues of justification of violence and the politicisation of the military which are as relevant today as they were in 1902. We end up sympathising with the soldiers who were 'only following orders', although what they did was really inexcusable.
Production-wise, I found the set design, AV, light and sound all very slick and supportive of the on-stage action. The cast also all handled their roles in a professional and convincing manner. I don't usually like to single anyone out for particular praise, but the two characters that linger in my recollection are Handcock and Hamilton.
Well done, all. Hope the house is full for the rest of the run.
stinger@iinet.net.au
Thou tottering reeling-ripe burn-bailey!
In real life, Morant was among other things a contemporary of Ned Kelly. Interestingly, they were both executed without fair trials and both ended up national legends. I sometimes wonder whether, had he not died at the age of 25, Ned might not have gone on to be an Aussie war hero too.
The play deals mainly with the 'trial' of Morant and his comrades Handcock and Witton for the murder of Boer POWs. It raises issues of justification of violence and the politicisation of the military which are as relevant today as they were in 1902. We end up sympathising with the soldiers who were 'only following orders', although what they did was really inexcusable.
Production-wise, I found the set design, AV, light and sound all very slick and supportive of the on-stage action. The cast also all handled their roles in a professional and convincing manner. I don't usually like to single anyone out for particular praise, but the two characters that linger in my recollection are Handcock and Hamilton.
Well done, all. Hope the house is full for the rest of the run.
stinger@iinet.net.au
Thou tottering reeling-ripe burn-bailey!
Re: Breaker Morant
Sun, 24 Oct 2004, 07:10 pmWalter Plinge
Hi Stinger, I'm not too sure that we can describe Ned Kelly and Breaker Morant as contemporaries. The Breaker arrived in Australia in 1883, three years after Kelly's death. Kelly was born in 1855 and the Breaker in 1864. I think the claim that both received an unfair trial could be debated. I'm always suspicious of claims about the Australian character being traced back to larrikin-types such as Ned Kelly, since the bulk of Australia's population arrived here post WW2, and Ned Kelly means little to us. I think we make too much of the conflict between authority and rebels, too -- other countries had it worse than we did, and again, the convict heritage is irrelevant to recent arrivals from countries like France, USA, Lebanon, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Croatia, Italy, etc.
I just read this back and it sounds a bit negative -- I guess I'm just trying to stir a little debate on this national identity issue, which always seems to assume that no other countries have mateship, ironic humour, rhyming slang, disrespect for authority, etc.!!
I just read this back and it sounds a bit negative -- I guess I'm just trying to stir a little debate on this national identity issue, which always seems to assume that no other countries have mateship, ironic humour, rhyming slang, disrespect for authority, etc.!!