'The Miracle Worker- Stirling Players and those bums on seats

To begin this review / observation, I must warn you the reader that I’m an abject failure at twittering, and that my punctuation, prose and spelling usually earns me a slap on the wrist from my dear friend Mr Prosser. In commencing this blurb, I have no idea, how many words I shall tap out. All I know is that Stirling’s production of “The Miracle Worker’ deserves far more than one or two sentences. Last night I was fortunate to attend the opening night of Simon James’s latest work. I confess that my attending this particular production had all to do with me being invited to do so by one of the cast members. That said, at times, I like many others have used Helen Keller’s life story as inspiration. Anyway, I went along, expecting to have an enjoyable night at the theatre, a chat with friends, and to return home with my evening fast fading into my rather limited memory bank. Alas, a sleepless night lay ahead. More on that later. I had an inkling we were in for something special upon viewing the set. Not as elaborate as Garrick Theatre’s set for ‘Charley’s Aunt’ (which was brilliant,) but nonetheless impressive. The lights dimmed, the music (perfect for the piece) played, and a wonderful cast, swiftly drew us into the story of Annie Sullivan (Rachael Maher), and Helen Keller (Kaitlin Shawcross). I won’t dwell on the performances of Rachael and Kaitlin, for I have no doubt they both will receive accolades in spades for their outstanding performance. Suffice to say, if I were the parent of these girls my emotion would have had me drowned in tears of pride before the end of the first act. Often, plays are carried on the backs of the leading actors, on this occasion; all on stage played an integral part in the telling of story. Wonderful performances from all on ground. The on-stage talent was matched by the off stage crew, …in particular, the sound and lighting, which added so much to the story. Costumes, set changes all faultless, and when you hear an Independent Theatre company goes to the trouble of sourcing props from Melbourne, you have some idea of the level of commitment that goes into the production. It was this commitment that led to my sleepless night…. before I move on to that, may I just say, thanks to Simon and co, for bringing us something very special. And now to my sleepless night…as I was watching the play, my mind, as is its want, whispered that this was show fully deserving big ‘SOLD OUT’ signs. It would be a crime if there was a single seat left vacant. Although, having seen a number of quality local productions, I suspected a crime would be committed. And so, when it really should have been counting naked girls jumping over fences, my mind pondered how do we as memers of the ITA get the message to the masses, those being the unconverted? During the conversation, the voices in my head convinced me that we in the theatre world had it all wrong. How so? By our imploring the converted (theatre goers) to come out and support such and such a production, when in fact, we actually needed to preach to the unconverted. Surely it is they, we should be encouraging to leave behind their slimline, fat inducing, mega screens to witness something that may stir their emotions a tad more than news of K-Mart’s 40% off lingerie sale. This led me to look back on the most recent productions, I’d attended, and whom I’d subsequently recommended the production to. I realised that all I’d done, was preach to the already converted. DOH! My mantra from here on in, is to preach to the unconverted. Sure, I’ll make my usual recommendation to the converted, but my main aim will be to bring the non-believers aboard…dare I suggest we all adopt the mantra? Hey, we could even tag along behind the Jehovah’s Witnesses on a Sunday morning, offering an alternative method of enlightenment? Food for thought.