Stolen

Stolen was a landmark in 1998 for debut playwright Jane Harrison and director Wesley Enoch and for our Indigenous theatre.  After so many productions which followed, and now this STC version, we realise why it’s such a landmark, and especially so in the whole sorry business of the Stolen Generation.

Stolen is about five Aboriginal children snatched from their homes by Welfare and thrown into a government home, and left waiting to be collected by their Mums – some for two decades. Communication is denied, letters unanswered and kids told they were abandoned, or their Mums are dead.

Renee Mulder punctuates a wide empty stage with a giant institutional bed frame, an equally huge filing cabinet and a clutter of old suitcases.  The rest is left up to this talented ensemble inventively directed by Ian Michael, sharply lit by Trent Suidgeest, and already looking tiny in this monstrous setting.  Harrison uses short and urgent vignettes, often jumping in time, to tell their stories.

Jimmy (Jarron Andy) is a sullen boy and then angry man left searching for his family and his place; while Sandy (an impressive Mathew Cooper) is a little wanderer but armed with evocative stories from his country, despite the abuse inflicted on him.

The women are strong: Rose (Kartanya Maynard) retreats into herself as she regularly returns abused from outings and later as a bullied home servant; while Stephanie Somerville plays Anne who’s adapted by a white, “well-meaning” couple (brilliantly realised by huge puppets).

And Megan Wilding steps beyond her agile comic skills playing a superbly etched Shirley, a girl lost with just old family pics, who grows into a mother who loses her own daughter.

And no fear, Harrison’s play also has much humour and theatrical flourish, and the adult cast are warmly engaging as kids, avoiding the usual saccharine overacting.  And holding together this remarkable storytelling is James Brown’s ongoing orchestral score, sublime but understated, and punctuated with sounds and (adult) voices driving the story. 

Brown’s outstanding work relieves the repetition in Harrison’s regular pace of short scenes, but so does her final chapters when the grown-up kids depart and the Home is closed, to be converted into luxury apartments!  

This updated version even adds a moving Kevin Rudd saying Sorry.  See Stolen.

Martin Portus

Photographer: Daniel Boud