Abstract
The Secret River, adapted for the stage by Andrew Bovell from the novel by Kate Grenville, was a brand new play that was received as an ‘instant classic’. What defines this understanding of the classic category? The play, based on a successful historical fiction novel critically retells an early settlement story. The success of the stage version relied on physical Indigenous representation, which was absent in the novel. This reset the postcolonial ambitions of the narrative. Discussion moves from the adaptation process to the dramaturgical structure, and to key scenes and scenic elements that brought a specific kind of theatricality and meaning. The use of Indigenous language on stage highlights the complex critical response. This understanding of classic explores the tension between the aspirations of the company and the expectations of its intended audience. Who is classic for? What can classic do? This case study exposes the prescriptive charge of the term ‘Australian classic’.
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Notes
- 1.
Wiseman’s Ferry is the name of the settlement township on the Hawkesbury River named after Solomon Wiseman, and is also the oldest ferry crossing still in operation in New South Wales.
- 2.
These include: Kim Scott: Benang: From the Heart 1999, That Deadman Dance 2010; Peter Carey: The True History of the Kelly Gang 2000; Richard Flanagan: Gould’s Book of Fish 2001.
- 3.
A later subversive cultural reversal of the term was seen in Black Arm Band, a music coalition formed in 2006 by an Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander artist association to promote the future of Indigenous music.
- 4.
The Mabo judgement in 1992 was the first time Indigenous peoples were recognised as the legal occupants of the continent. This profoundly changed the perception of what it meant to be a settler Australian. The High Court decision fundamentally rejected the notion of terra nullius, that no one occupied the land at the time of British settlement and the assumed legal basis for British possession of Australia. This legally contradicted the idea of an empty land peacefully settled by the British and confirmed the dispossession of the original occupants. The highest court in the land recognised in common law ‘Native Title’: a new form of customary land title for Indigenous Australians (Rodoreda 2018: 2–3). This legal basis for a new moral foundation of the country deepened political and social divisions, as the conservative government of the day introduced legislation to protect pastoralists and reduce the scope of native title (Macintyre and Clark 2004: 288).
- 5.
Warts and all: on writing The Secret River, University of Sydney News 29/8/2006.
- 6.
A message from our Artistic Director, The Secret River Theatre Program 2013.
- 7.
STC Season Program 2013.
- 8.
Earlier theatre works have been produced by all major theatre companies in Australia, in the US and Europe, receiving many national and international awards. His film work includes A Most Wanted Man (2014) and Lantana (2001).
- 9.
The Secret River, STC, STCSA, Adelaide Festival Marketing materials.
- 10.
Neil and Rachael on The Secret River – Adelaide Festival 2017, Youtube 9/1/2019.
- 11.
Deeply moving evocation of a tragic conflict, Aus 14/01/2013.
- 12.
The Secret River, SN 25/01/2013.
- 13.
The Secret River, RT March 2013.
- 14.
Written by Tim Winton first published in 1991, Cloudstreet is recognised as one of Australian literature’s greatest works. Adapted for the stage in 1998 by Nick Enright and Justin Monjo, and directed by Neil Armfield, it toured across Australia and to London and New York. The 2019 revival at Malthouse was directed by Matt Lutton.
- 15.
Holy Day Sydney Theatre Company, SMH 15/8/2003.
- 16.
For example, Bovell, Wal Cherry Lecture 2018, 1/10/2018.
- 17.
STC Press Release The Secret River 2013.
- 18.
Moving portrayal of troubled past, SMH 14/01/2013.
- 19.
Performance analysis is based on live viewing of performances on 6 February 2013, at the Sydney Theatre, and on 21 March 2016, at the Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne, and subsequent multiple viewing of one-camera video documentation of a 2016 performance at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.
- 20.
The Secret River exquisitely illuminates the unspeakable under the stars, The Conversation 3/3/2017.
- 21.
An adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth was performed in the Aboriginal Noongar language at the 2020 Perth Festival. Noongar language reborn in Hecate, an Aboriginal translation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the Perth Festival, ABC 24/1/2020.
- 22.
STC’s The Secret River – runs deep, JW 27/1/2013.
- 23.
STC’s The Secret River – runs deep, JW 27/1/2013.
- 24.
The Secret River – Sydney Theatre Company, Aussie Theatre 20/1/2013.
- 25.
Deeply moving evocation of a tragic conflict, Aus 12/1/2013.
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McClements Wyss, S. (2023). An Instant Classic: The Secret River. In: Classic-ing on the Australian mainstream stage. Szene & Horizont. Theaterwissenschaftliche Studien, vol 11. J.B. Metzler, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-68175-6_6
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