The White Mouse

With Anzac Day rapidly approaching, The White Mouse is an important reminder that while we remember all who fought in conflicts, there are heroes that have been ‘hidden’ or forgotten over the years. I must confess, I had never heard of Dame Nancy Wake until this production.

Known as ‘The White Mouse’ for her ability to escape capture, Nancy helped hundreds of Allied servicemen and would-be political prisoners escape to England via Spain and the Pyrenees and helped turn the tide against the Germans. She was their No. 1 most-wanted fugitive, with a price of five million francs on her head.

Set mainly in a forest clearing, Wake (Emily-Jo Davidson) parachutes onto the stage swearing like a trooper. The White Mouse is Nancy’s story and Davidson inhabits the role and makes it her own. She is feisty, practical but with a vulnerable side that quickly endears her to the audience.

She is perfectly matched with Tabi (Theon Ajax), a French resistance fighter, who after initially having reservations about being led by a woman, quickly develops a unique bond, and together they make a formidable team. Ajax has one of the best French stage accents I have heard and has a quiet intensity.

Completing the cast are Charles Herkes, playing three roles, and Tim Cousins, playing two. The scene with Herkes, as a young captured German soldier, and Davidson, is intense and moving. Herkes embodies the misdirected devotion of Hitler youth.

Tim Cousins, as Buckmaster, serves as a narrator of sorts and his impersonation of Churchill is eerily real when matched with his costume and facial expressions.

The White Mouse, written by Peter Maddern and directed by Malcolm Harslett, not only celebrates our forgotten heroes and the role played by women in protecting the freedoms we enjoy, it is also an intriguing imagining of a small part of the fascinating life of an incredible Australian.

Barry Hill

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