Reedy River

Celebrating Redland Museum’s 50^th Anniversary, Reedy River - the Queensland Day Play for 2022 presented by Theatre Redlands - is an Australian bush musical that is ‘as warm as a handshake’.

The formation of the Theatre Redlands group was driven by a desire to produce community theatre that would support engagement in the Redland Museum and involve individuals of all ages and skills, and to that end they have developed a canon of new work devised especially for and about the Museum, as well as presenting Australian classics such as Reedy River, one of Australia’s best-loved bush stories.

Reedy River was written in 1953 by Dick Diamond at the request of New Theatre and was intended to be a vehicle for the re-popularisation of traditional Australian bush songs, painstakingly collected and preserved from oblivion by folklorist John Meredith. Diamond set the songs within the aftermath of the great shearers’ strike in 1891 and is an inspiring story of Australia’s working-class history. As well as traditional immigrant songs from the ‘Old Country’, the score includes Henry Lawson’s Reedy River, set to music by the late Chris Kempster and the stirring Ballad of 1891 by Dorothy Bridges and Helen Palmer.

The show opens with a performance by Brad Jones and the Reedy River Bush Band, comprising Cheryl Christie, Christine Golab and David Jacobs, of the first of many traditional bush ballads which form part of the story.

Enter a rag tag bunch of shearers, who have travelled far, post-strike, to work in and hopefully re-establish a union presence in the shearing sheds owned and run by tough pastoralist Brodie. They are joined by a couple of bullockies, Dixon and Alf, and Joe, a former strike leader who has just been released from gaol for his part in the shearers’ strike.

As the story progresses, we learn that Joe had left his wife Mary to fight for the workers’ rights and has now returned in the hope that perhaps their romance may be re-kindled, but when this former strike hero accepts the non-union position of shed boss, his pro-union mates and his estranged wife have something to say. The future of the Union and Joe’s marriage hang in the balance, and what follows is a ‘rollicking and inspiring story of mateship, courage and humour – and a love as sturdy as its characters.

In the central roles of Joe and Mary, Brent Schon and Elizabeth Ross excelled in both their character work and their strong vocals. These two performers worked beautifully together and their scenes were rich with emotional layers. The audience truly hoped that Joe and Mary would re-unite. Here we had a man torn between his passion and belief in the union and all it stands for, and a woman who had no choice but to stay behind and carve out a life for herself alone – a tough call in the 1890’s for anyone let alone a woman.

In the roles of the shearers and bullockies, Thomo (Chad Sherrin), Irish (Patrick Eveans), Nugget (Mervyn Langford), Bill (Vic Blake), Snowy (Russell Dinte), Dixon (Peter Lovegrove), Alf (Brad Jones) all acquitted themselves well in both the acting and singing departments, and as the play progressed enjoyed themselves more and more in these quirky roles. Of note was the humourous storytelling talent of Sherrin as Thomo as he regaled the other characters and the audience with his slightly inaccurate versions of stories from the Bible, and Langford as the eccentric Nugget, who thoroughly went to town in his musical renditions. It was the energy and commitment from this group of performers, who were largely responsible for the performance of all the folk tunes, that kept this musical rolling along.

As the owner of the sheds, David Welsby as Brodie was suitably gruff and as the more relaxed off-sider, Glover, Jim Gilbert was nicely calm. It was satisfying however, that Welsby showed a more reasonable side to the character near the end of the play.

The other women of Reedy River were represented by Miss Andrews (Tracy Mann), Rose (Barbara Collyer) and Maudie (Jean Spencer) and were not just placid women who let the males rule. Each performer gave their character an independent spark and showed the underlying toughness that women of the era needed to survive. Indeed, it is the female characters in this play, particularly Mary, that stand up for what is right when the situation between Joe and his union mates gets a little rough. Some softer, fun moments were exploredat the local dance in the beginning of Act Two.

This production is served well by the intimate space within the museum in which it is performed, and by the simple set concept by Jan Nary and Peter Lovegrove. Props were wonderfully authentic and high attention to detail was observed in each scene. Mention must be made of the characters Bob the Swaggie (Michael Adam-Smith) and the ‘Elderley Character’ (Linda Stevenson) who played a humorous bickering couple as they came in and out to facilitate the set changes. Their silent repartee was a joy to watch.

Director Jan Nary did a wonderful job of bringing this fun, historically informative musical to the stage with its large 14 strong cast. If you can’t make this production, the team at Theatre Redlands have two more historical treats in store at the Museum in August and October.

Reedy River continues its sold out run until the 12^th June at the Redland Museum, but put your name down on the waiting list just in case.  

Sandra Harman

Photographer: Greg Pope.