Sunny Tribe District

Sunny Tribe District is a 2018 ensemble piece by writer/director/performer/choreographer, Patrick Mu’a, a graduate of TAFE Queensland’s Acting and Performance course. Collaborator, Robert the Cat, is a collective whose aim is to provide a showcase for performance students at TAFE Queensland – and the main strength of this production is that it does give its cast a chance to show their talents – in comedy and drama – and dance! There are some very funny rap acts and comedy sequences that give each performer a chance to shine. Rebecca Day, Tiahnee Solien-Bowles, Darcy Jones, Peter Wood, and Jedd Zachery play over-enthusiastic American camp counsellors dedicated to ‘correcting’ sadlings and making everyone happy. The irony is, of course, that underneath these seemingly happy campers lies a seething mess of human foibles. It all kicks off with the mysterious disappearance of top camp counsellor, Ken. When Ken’s brother, Nick (Jedd Zachery) sets out to find out what’s happened, will he be sucked into a cult? Or will he find true happiness?

The production cleverly plays with tropes of TV drama, theatrics, comedy, and soap opera to give the cast many scenes to sink their dramatic teeth into. And I thoroughly enjoyed all the performances. The whole team have superb comic timing, and Rebecca Day and Peter Wood make the most of their standout moments. It’s a strong cast who hold their own in a surreal comedy format. The simple campsite set of grass and tents (with a lake and essential comedy fish) is superbly lit by lighting designer Geoff Squires, conjuring all the necessary nods to pop culture references throughout the script. And the concept seems fun – but something about it didn’t quite feel right. At first I wondered about the cliched choice to make the characters American ... but this gag is played out later in the piece to laugh-out-loud satisfaction. Other serious themes are flippantly left to one side and never resolved. I love a good acronym joke, but some of the choices are pretty lame and I have to wonder if the writer couldn’t have dug a bit deeper or workshopped some better ideas with the cast. And I’m sure it’s not intended, but there are many gags at the expense of characters who might be gay – in a script that leans toward the importance of diversity and finding happiness in being your true self, this doesn’t feel comfortable. And that makes some of this script feel a bit outdated for the audience who will enjoy it the most – teenagers and students who will get all the fun pop culture references and enjoy the mix of styles. There is also potential to round out the storyline to something more than a surreal mash-up, and the script has been around for long enough now to benefit from some tweaks – especially as the writer is also directing. That doesn’t take away the enjoyment of the energy and obvious comic talents of this cast – and the importance of venues and producers like Robert the Cat and Metro Arts giving young performers a real stage to work on. I look forward to seeing them all shine again in future productions.

Find out more: https://metroarts.com.au/event/sunny-tribe-district/

Beth Keehn

Hero Image Artist: Peta Kishawi

Photographer: Imani Andersen