An Indigenous Trilogy Part One: Three Magpies Perched in A Tree

In Aboriginal culture ,magpies are symbolic of motherly love, security, food, and sometimes ominous signs of danger. In part one of An Indigenous Trilogy, titled Three Magpies Perched in A Tree, writer and performer Glen Shea delivers a resplendent gothic  tale set in outback central Australia - a story that is reminiscent of his own life as part of the stolen generation and his time working in an aboriginal community centre.

Shea performs as Peter, the juvenile justice worker, working with young re-offenders who seem destined to a life chained to the criminal justice system. Peter seeks the truth and looks for answers that lead nowhere. He suffers intergenerational trauma; he knows nothing of his mother’s where abouts and bears the scars of a confused and misconstrued life; it has cost him time with family and relatives, and more importantly his connection with country and his ancestry.

Shea/Peter is stoic and fierce in delivery; his adept cutting-edge poetic verse pays homage to his life on the front-line with hardened young indigenous drug addicts who know nothing but crime and a quick fix. Yet he is vulnerable, retreating to his sanctuary, a place he loves, a place where he can connect with his ancestral spirits. A time long ago, where he can rest his weary soul and listen to the gurgling lake and stare at the night starry sky.

Dreamtime is interspersed masterfully with superb voiceover narration by Elder Uncle Jack Charles (recorded before his passing), of symbolic tales of creation together with stunning visual projection (Simon Bowland), offering a spellbinding enchanting journey for the audience. This is a poignant and effective juxtaposition against Peter’s yearning and hope in search for reconciliation while he reflects on his fragmented life, recoils, and wonders in his solitary time by the campfire.

The show is finely tweaked and tuned by director Dr Kirsty M Reilly. The set (Valentina Serbrennikova) contrasts nature’s sanctuary with the rusty corrugated iron sheets symbolic of indigenous life in the outback, along with crafted sound and poignant ambience (Daniella Esposito) and dark moody lighting (Bronwyn Pringle).

This is the first instalment of a brilliant epic tale; the saga continues with part two and three in the coming weeks this November.

Flora Georgiou

Photographer: Darren Gill