Boundless Plains to Share

This is show about Australia’s refugee policy – that is, what we do with asylum seekers. You might think that it’s either very brave or very crazy to present that stuff at a comedy festival.  I’d say brave – although with a title like ‘Boundless Plains to Share’, audiences just might have an inkling of what to expect.  The near 70% of Australians who think we should treat ‘illegal maritime arrivals’ more harshly probably won’t show up for anything to do with sharing boundless plains.

On the night of the 28^th the show was sold out – and the Supper Room at the Town Hall holds close to 300 people.  Was it the subject matter or the fact that Tom Ballard is a ‘personality’, a known (and liked) quantity?  Probably both – but here he is engaging, enormously energetic and very funny.  Directed by Scott Edgar (of ‘Tripod’), the pace is relentless and the humour pretty black – but it comes from the heart – and a sharp mind.

The show begins with Mr Ballard getting us all on our feet to sing the second verse of our national anthem – which contains that now ironic line, ‘We‘ve boundless plains to share.’  The  underlying theme here is fear – Australia’s Fear of The Other – and Mr Ballard traces it back through the very first act of the new Australian Federal Parliament in 1901 and then the White Australia Policy and the first ‘boat people’ and Bob Hawke and the students after Tiananmen Square and Keatings’s introductions of mandatory detention… and right up to now.  Tampa and offshore processing and leaky boats and why people get on them and how we’re stopping ‘em. 

If all that sounds like a sermon or telling you stuff you think you already know, you could be right, but it’s a lot better and funnier than that.  Yes, Mr Ballard is angry, but ‘angry’ is a much better driver of funny than the all too familiar ‘poor me’ comedians’ attempts to ingratiate themselves with the punters.

The show runs seventy minutes, but it doesn’t flag.  The factual material is extensively researched and superbly, economically organised.  The persuasive use of history, irony and pointed wit is complemented by a very telling slide show – a mix of facts, faces and visual gags. 

Then there are ‘questions from the audience’ that are pretty much Dorothy Dixers, but that’s okay and funny too when Mr Ballard acknowledges that’s what they are.  A ‘late-comer’ gets abused and corralled on stage, and one of the ushers abuses Mr Ballard.  ‘F**k off, Tom!  Bring back Tony Abbott!”  These ‘interruptions’ and disruptions are cunningly placed in the ‘serious’ stuff so as to give variation, light and shade and relief from the torrent of sad facts.

At the 2015 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Adam Hills had an unexpected go at raising this topic.  The late-night, boozy audience – just there for a good time, mate - went frosty: the chill in the air was palpable.  Mr Hills, a real pro, quickly changed the subject and worked hard to win the audience back. 

Mr Ballard runs his whole show on this topic, but there were no cries of outrage and no one walked out.  He is careful to make no accusations and if he mobilises guilt, it’s about inaction rather than indifference.  He assumes that we do care, really, or, as he puts it, ‘We’re better than this.’

You might say that he’s preaching to the converted, but, as he also acknowledges, solidarity is important too.  He claims to have a ‘solution’… but then admits he doesn’t; he only has some things we might do – like question our politicians, or visit a detention centre and get the stories of these ‘illegals’ (they’re not, of course) first hand. 

Chances are that Boundless Plains to Share will quickly sell out, so if you’re up for a bit of hilarious agit-prop, book now.

Michael Brindley

Photographer: Nicholas Wilson.